More than 50 percent of the world’s population is under the age of 30. But raging global inflation means most of Gen Z, born in the late 1990s to late 2010s, can barely afford to pay rent and food bills. However, Gen Z is starting to harness its increasing buying muscle (see Fig 1) and the way they view their financial choices is different to previous generations. So, who are Gen Z listening to and trusting? Dr Michael Harrison is...
Despite what the young might like to think, ageing is inevitable as adulthood progresses. In How We Age, geneticist Coleen Murphy provides no silver bullets for remaining youthful. Rather, she offers a scholarly account of the state of ageing research that is both lively and personal. She also gives real insight into the ups and downs of leading a research laboratory. The book is a paean to the power of invertebrate model organisms such as the worm Caenorhabditis elegans and fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster,...
American public pension funds and university endowments continue to invest billions in China, according to a report from Future Union, an advocacy organization. The “Rubicon Report” criticizes institutional investors and funds for financing what the organization calls adversarial states. According to data collected by Future Union, public pension funds in 43 U.S. states currently hold investments in China and Hong Kong, according to private and public databases as of June 30. Of the 74 largest pension funds, 29 have made...
Workers who turn 62 years old might be tempted to increase their income by claiming Social Security retirement benefits. But those claimants should understand that their Social Security benefits may be temporarily reduced due to the income they earn. That Social Security rule — the retirement earnings test — is "poorly understood by the public," finds a new report from the Social Security Advisory Board, a bipartisan, independent federal agency. Between 20% and 50% of pre-retirees do not know that their monthly benefits might be lowered if they...
How will the aging population impact the provision and sustainability of care? We put the question to Dr Yukari Nakano, Executive Officer at the Japanese Nursing Association People are living longer than ever before, and though this is a positive sign of improvements to physical and social surroundings, many still spend their twilight years in poor health. Population aging also equates to a greater demand for long-term care and an expanded healthcare workforce capable of providing the specialized care many...
Moving to another country to eventually retire requires a lot of careful research and planning, taking into account social security, health care, and finances. U.S. consultancy Mercer issues a closely-watched annual report that analyzes 47 different retirement income systems around the world — with European nations often coming out on top. In fact, three countries have dominated the Mercer CFA Institute’s global index since 2021. Namely, Iceland (a 84.6 average), the Netherlands (a 84.4 average) and Denmark (a 81.8 average) have...
By John Stepek Welcome to Money Distilled. I’m John Stepek. Every week day I look at the biggest stories in markets and economics, and explain what it all means for your money. The good news on UK corporate pensions Merryn talks to Kokou Agbo-Bloua, global head of economics, cross-asset and quant research about the outlook for 2024, and why he thinks a slowdown in the US is inevitable. But what should you buy? There was a story over on our Markets Live blog yesterday that caught my eye, as I’d missed...
At a technical level, not an awful lot changed in the world of pensions in 2023, but a huge number of changes have been proposed – and some of those are seismic. Perhaps the most significant of those in the first half of the year was the announcement by chancellor Jeremy Hunt that the lifetime allowance would be scrapped, followed within minutes by the pledge from the opposition that it would be reinstated should they gain power. As it was, the charge was...
U.S. pension risk transfer sales totaled $10.4 billion in the third quarter, down for the year-over-year period, although there were a record number of contracts executed, a LIMRA survey found. The total volume in the third quarter fell below the record-setting third quarter of 2022, which saw a total of $26.1 billion in volume, according to the survey. However, the third quarter of 2022 experienced the record volume due to a single transaction. International Business Machines, Armonk, N.Y., purchased group annuity contracts...
New figures published by the UK Government show that at the end of March 2023, the number of people making voluntary National Insurance (NI) contributions to top-up their State Pension has surged by 85 per cent over the last year. The National Insurance Fund Accounts indicate that £391,973,000 worth of Class 3 NI contributions were made for the year ending March 31, compared to £212,311,000 paid in the previous year. However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is urging people thinking...
