May 2021
12May

US. In Reversal, Retirements Increased During the Pandemic

After decades in which it decreased, the retirement rate rose during the pandemic, according to the latest government data. This makes retirement one exception to the many ways that the pandemic accelerated pre-existing trends, such as toward suburbanization and online shopping. In the year since the pandemic started — the 12 months ending in March 2021 — 17.0 percent of Americans aged 55 to 64 were retired, up from 16.8 percent in the two previous years. But this is still...

May 12, 2021
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12May

Kenya. Civil servants mass departure pushes pension to Sh150bn

Mass retirement of civil servants has pushed pension payouts to more than Sh150 billion, underlining the burden of a fast-aging public service to taxpayers on the back of delays in implementing reforms in the past. The Treasury has projected the pension department will require Sh153.64 billion in the financial year starting July 2021 to honour monthly pensions claims and gratuity pay by senior citizens. Read also South Africa: Green light for infrastructure investment by retirement funds? This is a 38.24 percent jump...

May 12, 2021
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12May

Chicago Boys’ Free-Market Pension Model Is Unraveling in Chile

Chile’s privately run pension funds are in a battle for survival, reeling under the impact of billions of dollars of withdrawals as politicians and social movements attack a system once viewed as a model for the world. Chileans have taken out more than $30 billion from their retirement savings in the past year and congress has authorized a third wave of withdrawals that could drive the figure to more than $50 billion. That would leave the pension funds with about...

May 12, 2021
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12May

Australia’s Budget Takes Steps to Narrow Gender Gap in Pensions

Australia is taking steps to lift retirement savings of women in a bid to address the gender pension gap. The government will remove the A$450 ($352) per month earnings threshold before employers are forced contribute cash into their workers’ retirement funds by July 2022, according to budget documents released Tuesday. Australia will also increase compulsory pension savings to 10% of a worker’s wage from July 1, as previously legislated. Read also Australia Considers Paying Pensions on Parental Leave Program The plan comes...

May 12, 2021
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11May

Why China and east Asia’s ageing population threatens global Covid recovery

For many years China watchers have been concerned that its ageing population will slow economic growth, causing social as well as political problems. So today’s census data may be an alarm bell for leaders in Beijing. But it is not just China that is witnessing this trajectory. Most countries in east Asia, even without fertility control policies such as China’s one-child or two-child policies, share the same predicament: how to continue economic growth while encouraging people to have more children? This...

May 11, 2021
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11May

US. Public pensions won’t earn as much from investments in the future. Here’s why that matters

State pension systems dropped the rate of return they assume for their investment portfolios again, continuing a two-decade long trend that public-finance experts say is necessary, even as it presents some challenges for the entities that participate in such plans. The median assumed return in 2021 is 7.20%, according to a report published early in May by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, down roughly 1 percentage point since 2000, as the investment managers charged with managing trillions of...

May 11, 2021
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11May

UK. DB transfer victims lose up to 40% of compensation

Victims of defined benefit transfer mis-selling stand to lose an average 40 per cent of compensation payments thanks to changes in the way redress is calculated. While this problem could affect every victim of DB transfer misadvice across the UK, the discrepancy has come to light because steelworkers at Port Talbot have been 'comparing notes' on the compensation levels they have received so far. As a result, campaigners helping former British Steel Pension Scheme members to get redress have warned the way the...

May 11, 2021
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11May

German utility giant Eon starts €2.5bn pension fund

German utility giant Eon has created a new pension fund structure that will cover 10,000 members and have €2.5bn (£2.15bn) in assets under management. Eon acquired German energy company Innogy from RWE in 2019. Innogy’s pension assets from RWE Pensionsfonds were transferred to Willis Towers Watson’s Pensionsfonds in December that same year as an interim solution. Eon will use the pension expertise of Willis Towers Watson for both implementation and the ongoing operations of the new pension structure. Stefan Brenk, head of...

May 11, 2021
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10May

US. How Mass Retirement Is Affecting the Bond Market

Public work is a different ballgame, but in the private sector, defined benefit pensions have largely been replaced by 401(k) plans. However, there's still a massive amount of pension liabilities floating around in the market, and with mass retirement setting in, how those funds are managed can affect retirees everywhere – regardless of work history. Read also US. Biden’s $86 Billion Pension Rescue Set to Boost Corporate Bonds “There remains $1.8 trillion in assets in the largest 100 public companies’ pension...

May 10, 2021
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10May

Average Czech pension crosses 15,000 crowns per month

The average pension for senior citizens in the Czech Republic crossed 15,000 crowns for the first time this year, reveal stats from the Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ). The CSSZ paid out an average of 15,351 crowns monthly to retirees by the end of the first quarter. In a year-on-year comparison, CSSZ expenditures grew while the total number of allocated old-age pensions dropped, largely due to effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Czech pensions rose in January 2021, increasing by an average...

May 10, 2021
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