April 2024
29Apr

Germany to hike pensions nationwide by 4.57%

The more than 21 million pensioners in Germany would receive a substantial 4.57 percent pension increase beginning on July 1, after the German Cabinet approved the adjustment in Berlin. With this increase, pensions are set to rise faster than inflation in the country. The last time pensions rose faster than inflation was in 2000. The increase is larger than originally predicted, which the Labour Minister Hubertus Heil, credited to strong wage growth in Germany. In the autumn, estimates had predicted an increase of...

April 29, 2024
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29Apr

Czech Republic. Government to debate proposed pension reform next week

The government is set to discuss proposed changes to the pension system on Tuesday. The proposal envisages a gradual increase in the retirement age linked to a higher life expectancy, a different basis for calculating old-age pensions, a lower indexation of pensions and a minimum pension amounting to 20 percent of the average wage. Most of the changes would affect people born after 1966. The present retirement age is 65 for both men and women. According to Labour Minister Marian...

April 29, 2024
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26Apr

Mexican lawmakers approve new pension fund backed by president

Mexico's Senate approved the creation of a new pension fund on Thursday aimed at boosting payouts to the lowest-earning recipients. The creation of the fund, which is part of a pension reform proposed by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, won the support of 70 senators, with 43 against and two abstentions, after a heated debate that went into the evening. The reform aims to ensure that pensioners receive 100% of their last monthly salary up to about 16,777 Mexican pesos...

April 26, 2024
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26Apr

Nearly Half of the Largest US Pension Funds are More Than 100% Funded, Milliman Reports

Milliman, which tracks the status of the largest 100 corporate defined benefit plans in the U.S., reported that corporate pension funding is near its all-time highs in the recent results of its 2024 corporate pension funding study. Among Milliman’s findings, the funded status of these plans declined slightly from 99.4% to 98.5%, due to a slight decline in plan discount rates. The funded deficit of these plans increased from $8.5 billion to $19.9 billion in 2023. However, this is far from...

April 26, 2024
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26Apr

UK. Public trust in pensions rises, but reservations remain

Trafalgar House’s Trust and Confidence Index polled 2,000 people to assess how much they trust the pension industry and whether they believe it will meet their retirement needs. It asked participants to rate their trust in the pensions industry on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being “not at all” and 10 being “a lot”. The index found that trust in the pensions industry increased to 5.26 out of 10 in 2023, up from 4.95 in 2022. This...

April 26, 2024
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26Apr

Ghana. SSNIT reserves projected to hit zero in 12 years – ILO

This was revealed in an actuarial valuation study of the Social Security and National Insurance Trusts (SSNIT) viability. According to ILO, total income including contributions, investment income and other income, will no longer be sufficient to pay for annual expenditures including benefit payments to pensioners by 2029. “Starting in 2029, total income (contributions, investment income and other income) is no longer sufficient to pay for annual expenditures. "The reserve starts to decrease. During the year 2036, the reserve drops to zero” the...

April 26, 2024
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26Apr

Canada. 73% of OPB plan members want ESG considerations included in investment decisions: survey

Roughly seven in 10 (73 per cent) Ontario Pension Board plan members believe environmental, social and governance factors should play a critical role in the plan’s investment considerations, according to a new survey included in the investment organization’s inaugural ESG report. The survey, which polled roughly 10,000 plan members, found nearly two-fifths (39 per cent) of respondents said environmental protection is one of their top investment considerations, as well as climate change (38 per cent), human rights (34 per cent) and...

April 26, 2024
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25Apr

U.S. corporate pension funding remains near 100% in 2023 — Milliman

U.S. corporate pension plan funding ratios fell slightly to 98.5% in 2023 due to falling discount rates, according to Milliman’s annual Corporate Pension Funding Study. The study of the 100 U.S. public companies with the largest defined benefit plans showed that the average funding ratio fell from 99.4% a year earlier due to a 17-basis-point decline in the average discount rate to 5.01% from 5.18% at the end of 2022. The study also showed that 48 of the top 100 plans...

April 25, 2024
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25Apr

UK. Nearly half of pension holders haven’t considered inheritors

Almost half (46 per cent) of UK adults with pensions have not considered who should inherit them, research from Canada Life has found. The firm's research revealed that over half (54 per cent) of UK adults with pensions haven’t completed an expression of wish form, with one in 10 (10 per cent) admitting that the expression of wish is neither up to date or they simply don’t know. The expression of wish form is held by the pension company, and in...

April 25, 2024
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25Apr

China’s unique retirement plan: why children still matter when it comes to support in old age

At the end of last year, the number of people in China aged 65 and above reached 217 million, making up 15.4 per cent of the total population. This has led to concerns that with rapid ageing, the existing pension system may fail to keep pace. As a result, elderly people have turned to raising children to look after them in their old age. This is commonly known as yang er fang lao. Here, the Post explains the phenomenon. What is it ? Simply put yang...

April 25, 2024
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