July 2025
15Jul

Former Liberation Fighters in South Africa Decry Delays in Military Veterans Pension Payments

Former liberation soldiers are voicing their deep disappointment over the prolonged delays in receiving their military veterans pensions. These ex-fighters, who left their families to battle in foreign lands against apartheid, now find themselves in dire straits, begging for support from the very government they helped bring to power. At least 300 former combatants from the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe, the PAC’s liberation army APLA, and AZANLA from Azapo, applied for their pensions in 2023 but have yet to...

July 15, 2025
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14Jul

UK. DWP benefits warning as payments could be slashed by 15% in certain scenarios

Universal Credit and Pension Credit are essential sources of financial support for many in the UK. Yet, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cautions that, in highly exceptional cases, claimants could experience reductions of 5% to 15%. These cuts, called 'third-party deductions', happen when a benefits recipient owes debts like court fines, rent, Council Tax, or energy bills. Usually, deductions are made at a fixed rate until the debt is paid off, with a maximum of three debts being...

July 14, 2025
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14Jul

South Korea Boomers Having Their Wages Cut for Continuing to Work

South Korea's older workers are facing steep wage cuts and insecure work conditions simply for staying on the job past a certain age—a reality drawing criticism from rights groups. Why It Matters South Korea has one of the highest rates of elderly poverty in the developed world. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), 38 percent of people over 65 live in relative poverty. The nation's "peak wage" system and mandatory retirement policies are pushing many older workers into lower-paid, more precarious jobs, even as...

July 14, 2025
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14Jul

Swedish pensions reform efforts must heed rise of anonymous owners, says AMF

AMF, Sweden’s second biggest occupational pension fund, has issued a stark warning about the negative effects of the rise of huge passive investment funds on corporate governance in the Nordic country, and said legislators must take this into account when shaping pension reforms. Anders Oscarsson, head of equity and stewardship at the SEK850bn (€76.3bn) pensions institution, said large index funds were increasingly dominating as owners of Swedish companies — a development he said posed a threat to the Swedish ownership...

July 14, 2025
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11Jul

US. How Much Should You Have Saved for Retirement If You Live To 100

Planning for retirement requires an effective strategy that covers everything, including inflation, long-term healthcare, vacations, debt, the uncertainty of Social Security, taxes, the unexpected and living expenses. What makes it even more challenging is people are now outliving their savings because life expectancy is longer. According to a new survey from Allianz Life, 64% of Americans, mostly Gen Xers, worry more about not having enough money to cover their lifetime than they worry about dying. While many fear about running out of...

July 11, 2025
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11Jul

UK. DC pensions continue to back Net Zero despite ESG backlash

Barnett Waddingham’s latest DC Sustainability Report finds a 34% increase in allocations to funds with a climate target in the growth stage since original 2021 report. Despite this, providers have on average 35% of growth assets exposed to investment managers who have stepped away from climate collaboration initiatives. Misalignment between UK DC schemes and global asset managers on sustainability requires a strategic shift to ensure ESG ambitions are fulfilled.     Against the backdrop of anti-ESG sentiment among many global institutional investors,...

July 11, 2025
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11Jul

Eiopa calls for stricter supervision of liquidity risk at pension funds

The EU pensions regulator has issued binding guidance requiring national supervisors to oversee liquidity risk at institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) more closely, citing margin call risks, asset fire sales and the need for proportionate stress testing and liquidity buffers. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) concluded that better supervision of liquidity risk management across institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) was necessary to preserve financial system stability and ensure pension schemes could meet their obligations. In...

July 11, 2025
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10Jul

UK. Older Brits delay retirement while younger workers risk being underprepared

Older Brits are delaying retirement due to the rising state pension age (SPA), according to research from the University of Bath, yet many younger workers, particularly women, risk being underprepared by holding onto unrealistic early retirement hopes. The research revealed a “clear” gap between expected and actual retirement behaviour, with younger workers expecting to retire before reaching SPA, while older workers tend to revise their plans when they are already close to retirement when opportunities to boost savings and continue...

July 10, 2025
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10Jul

US. 7 Things Retirees Need To Know About the Big Beautiful Bill Act

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law by President Donald Trump over the July 4, 2025, weekend, is a sweeping multitrillion-dollar package that blends tax cuts with significant spending reductions and changes to the social safety net.1 For retirees, the new law brings both opportunities and uncertainties—from temporary tax relief on Social Security benefits to potential changes in required retirement distributions. While some provisions offer immediate benefits, others create planning challenges that could affect retirement strategies for years to come....

July 10, 2025
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10Jul

UK. BoE governor says mandating pension investments is ‘not appropriate’

The government's proposed power to influence investment decisions within defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, outlined in the Pension Schemes Bill, has faced renewed scrutiny after Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, cautioned that such an intervention would not be "appropriate” and require “a lot of heavy lifting". According to the Press Association, Bailey said today (9 July) that he supports structural changes in the pensions industry but rejected the idea of mandating where schemes should allocate capital, stating: “I do not...

July 10, 2025
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