October 2022
04Oct

US. Rehiring Retirees And The Impact To Retirement Plans

The IRS had previously issued FAQs to explain the retirement plan rules of the CARES Act. The original guidance answered questions about expanded distribution options and favorable tax treatment for retirement distributions needed because of the impact of coronavirus. In October, the IRS expanded the FAQs to include guidance on retiree benefits. While these new answers by the IRS relate directly to pension plans, they might be useful in administering a 401(k) plan, too. An employer has a choice when...

October 4, 2022
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04Oct

Exercise Can Slow the Ageing Process

The tradition of sending a telegram to every British citizen on their 100th birthday was started just over 100 years ago by George V, who sent out just nine letters. Last year, the Queen had to sign over 16,000 birthday letters. The UK has an ageing society, with falling birth rates and increasing life expectancy. Improvements in public health and medicine have helped to achieve this amazing effect on lifespan. But for far too many, old age is endured and...

October 4, 2022
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03Oct

MPs to inquire into pensions strategy behind UK market sell-off

MPs are to probe the pensions regulator over its role in supervising thousands of pension plans that were this week left teetering on the edge of default following unprecedented market turmoil. The work and pensions committee said on Sunday that it intended to write to The Pensions Regulator, which supervises about 5,200 corporate defined benefit plans that deliver a secure income to around 10mn members. Thousands of pension plans that had used derivatives contracts to mitigate the impact of movements in...

October 3, 2022
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03Oct

Corporate pension plans have staying power

While many U.S. corporate defined benefit plan sponsors have frozen their plans to benefit accruals or transferred their liabilities to insurance companies, they still represent hundreds of billions of dollars of investible assets and reports of their demise are premature, experts say. It was 10 years ago in June that General Motors Co. stunned the institutional investing industry when the automaker announced a $29 billion pension buyout deal with Prudential Insurance Co. of America. The event seemingly portended seismic implications for...

October 3, 2022
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03Oct

Denominator effect causes plans to rethink allocations

A major reason pension funds are rethinking their asset allocations is an increased exposure to private assets — due, largely, to the denominator effect. Pension plans with private investments have seen that part of the portfolio "hold up pretty well vs. public equities and bonds that are down double digits this year," said Sona Menon, Boston-based head of North American pension practice at Cambridge Associates LLC. "This is a combination of what we call the denominator effect — because the...

October 3, 2022
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03Oct

Integrating sustainability in DC pensions

Workplace pensions are an integral part of the social infrastructure in our society, and most workplace pensions are now defined contribution schemes (DC). In contrast to the defined benefit (DB) world, there is no sponsor underwriting scheme risks and no Pension Protection Fund to fall back upon; massive responsibilities rest upon the shoulders of scheme trustees. A further important differentiating factor is the relative maturity of the two markets. Today’s active contributors to DC schemes are likely to be still...

October 3, 2022
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03Oct

Germany. Pension levels in the east are still well below the west level

More than 30 years after reunification, the pension level in East Germany is still well below the level in West Germany. In 2021, for example, pensioners in eastern Germany received an average of EUR 1,329 after 45 years of contributions, compared to EUR 1,527 in western Germany. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Labor to a written request from Left Party member of the Bundestag Sören Pellmann on the Day of German Unity, which was...

October 3, 2022
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September 2022
30Sep

Macron faces strike as French unions flex muscles

A nationwide strike on Thursday disrupted the French energy sector, taking a large chunk of the nuclear production offline, as workers push for a pay hike amid rising tensions between unions and the government over a planned pensions reform. "Thousands of workers are on strike today," said Philippe Martinez, chief of the hard-left CGT union as he attended a protest march in Paris along with several thousand people, many of them waving red labour union flags. "This is a message to...

September 30, 2022
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30Sep

US. Why Small Businesses Are Upping Their Retirement Plan Offerings

Last year was a fantastic for small business growth, and in its 2021 New Business Insights, Intuit QuickBooks predicted as many as 17 million new small businesses would form in 2022. It marks an increment of 2.5% from the previous year and grows to 9.8% in four years, from 2017 to 2021. While it was a great year for starting businesses, it was a not-so-great year for staffing them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021, more than...

September 30, 2022
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30Sep

Kenya. State to pay pension savings for 15m Jua Kali workers

The Kenya Kwanza regime has pledged to top up by half the retirement savings made by workers in the informal sector in an ambitious plan aimed at more than doubling national savings in the near term. President William Ruto said his administration will add a shilling for every Sh2 saved by workers outside the formal sector, up to Sh6,000 every year in a planned drive that targets more than 15 million workers in the Jua Kali sector. “We intend to overhaul...

September 30, 2022
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