August 2023

Care Economy and Gender-Transformative Social Protection in India and the G20 Countries

By taking a gender-transformative and a rights-based entitlement approach, this Policy Brief stresses the importance of investing in the care economy within the context of COVID-19 recovery plans, the G20 agenda of striving for just and equitable growth, and India’s Vision 2047. Ensuring greater gender equality in the distribution of paid and unpaid work can be socially transformative and enhance gross domestic product. This Brief explores inequality within the care economy in India, specifically focusing on the unpaid care...

Contributions to 401(k) Savings on the Rise; So Are Withdrawals

A study of more than 4 million 401(k) plans shows that workers are doing better at saving for retirement. However, in a signal of potential economic headwinds, more are also taking emergency withdrawals and borrowing from their accounts. The quarterly Bank of America Participant Pulse report shows that 401(k) balances are up an average of 9.6%, or $7,250, so far this year. However, the report also showed higher hardship withdrawals and account loans.1 “The data from our report tells two stories—one...

Reforms Must Ensure Fair User Payment in Aged-Care Funding

Aged-care services will cost taxpayers more than A$35 billion this year. Treasurer Jim Chalmers argues it's one of the government's biggest ongoing funding challenges. The last intergenerational report, which looked out over the next 40 years, came to the same conclusion. In a search for answers, the government has set up an aged-care taskforce to report on how aged care should be funded, and by whom. Its report is due by the end of the year. The aged-care funding system is...

Democratic bill would require spousal consent for 401(k) distributions

Spousal consent would be required to start most distributions from 401(k) plans, under two companion bills sponsored by Democrats in Congress. The legislation aims to make defined-contribution plans more similar to traditional pensions in that regard. Unlike defined-benefit plans, DC plans aren’t legally required to make account holders get sign-off from a spouse when initiating payouts other than required minimum distributions or those made in the form of one of a few types of annuities, such as qualified joint and...

‘Smart financial move’ could see you boost your UK state pension

The state pension is linked to a person’s National Insurance record, meaning someone who has gaps could get less than the full amount. Checking for gaps, and filling them where possible, may be worthwhile in order to boost one’s income in retirement, an expert has warned. Mark Routen, head of tax at Hoxton Capital Management, told GB News: “Boosting your UK state pension by plugging gaps in your National Insurance record is a smart financial move that can provide you with...

DWP stops payments to thousands of people claiming State Pension while overseas

State Pension recipients have been warned over the risk of losing their payments if they move abroad. It comes after thousands of claimants saw their payments suddenly end. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) explained that this move was not down to any administrative errors by officials. Instead, it was due to those involved choosing to go and live overseas. People can choose to receive their State Pension abroad as long as they have paid enough UK National Insurance contributions...

Here’s the real story of next year’s Social Security COLA

The Social Security COLA for 2024 is likely to be just as high as it was in prior years. It’s important to point this out in order to counter the alarmist narrative that’s taking hold in some quarters that next year’s cost-of-living adjustment, widely known as COLA, will be much lower than in prior years. Retirees and others living on a fixed income are naturally upset. To be sure, we won’t know the exact COLA until Oct. 12, which is when...

Engage teachers’ unions before making further NSSF deductions

The payment of pensions and other benefits to teachers and civil servants in Kenya was started by the colonial government, first for Europeans in 1927 and for non-Europeans from 1932. The Pensions Act (Cap.189), of the laws of Kenya, came into operation in its present form on January 1, 1946. Since then, it has been amended from time to time in order to accommodate the changing phases of work and the work environment of workers. The Pensions Act (Cap.189) makes provisions...

Request to the federal government: New pensioners get an average of one hundred euros less

“Two-thirds would be against such an adjustment” This is the current opinion of Germans. Janina Mütze from the opinion research institute Civey explains what moves Germans when it comes to the following topics: Retirement, the danger of AI for jobs, the financial liability of politicians and border controls. Those who retired last received a hundred euros less than other pensioners. This emerges from a request from the left-wing faction to the federal government. New pensioners only received an average pension of...

Japan pension giant GPIF hits record profit of $133bn

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest institutional investors, said on Friday that its profit in the first quarter ended in June hit a record high of 18.98 trillion yen ($133 billion), buoyed by sound performance in stock investment. This is the fund's highest-ever surplus for a quarter, surpassing the 12.48 trillion yen recorded in the April-June quarter of 2020. The return ratio was 9.49%. Gains by asset were 7.08 trillion yen on domestic stocks, 7.81 trillion...