November 2020

20Nov

Bridging Japan’s Pension Savings and Returns Gap: A Focus on Younger Generations

In May 2020, the Japanese National Diet passed pension system reform legislation broadening the eligibility of part -time workers – mainly women and the elderly – for the public pension system and raising the maximum age to start receiving benefits to 75 from the current 70. Issues surrounding the “super-aging” society are among the most pressing public policy priorities in Japan, and this latest legislative change is just one of many attempts to reform the country’s pension system. Japanese...

November 20, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
20Nov

US. Nearly 30 Million Baby Boomers Forced Into Unwanted Retirement

In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 28.6 million Baby Boomers have left the job market and retired, according to the Pew Research Center. The study shows that Covid-19 has contributed to the rapid increase of Boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—being forced out of the labor market. Since the onset of the outbreak, the number of Boomer-aged retirees has increased by about 1.1 million. Over 65 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since March...

November 20, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
20Nov

Millennials buck the trend when it comes to retirement planning

RETIREMENT planning is something that Millennials and Gen-Zers are taking seriously, says MHA Tait Walker Chartered Financial Planner, Leonard Birnie. While Leonard specialises in the retirement market, he says the focus has shifted and it’s now all about ‘lifestyle’ planning for today’s younger generations who know who they are, who they want to be, and with a bit of help, how to get there. He said: “The younger generations are no longer purely focused on what their future might...

November 20, 2020
News, Slider,
Read more...
19Nov

Canada. More firms disclosing climate-related risks, strategies: report

Within the last three years, Canada’s financial firms have increasingly begun providing insight on their material climate-related risks and goals in alignment with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), A new study from the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services (GRI) said there’s been a 40% increase in the number of companies that provide TCFD-related disclosure and information. There are now 25 firms, include big banks and pension funds, that follow TCFD recommendations, compared to...

November 19, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
19Nov

UK. More Consumers Than Ever Are Managing Their Pensions Online

New figures from the UK’s leading online pension provider, PensionBee, show that consumers are increasingly managing their pensions online, following a 96% increase in PensionBee app users, as well as an 85% growth in the number of invested customers year on year. PensionBee, the UK’s leading online pension provider, has experienced an 85% increase in the number of invested customers over the past year. Invested customers, defined as having pension assets in a PensionBee plan, currently number around 60,000....

November 19, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
19Nov

Nigeria. Retirees protest unpaid pensions

Pensioners in southwestern Nigeria stormed a government building Wednesday, protesting a lack of payments, local media reported. Angry protestors raised placards, in front of the Government Secretariat in the town of Abeere, adjacent to Osogbo, the capital of Osun state, according to local news website The Punch. The report did not elaborate on the reason for the state administration's alleged failure to pay pensions Nigeria, an oil-rich nation that has one of Africa's highest populations, has been suffering...

November 19, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
19Nov

Pension transparency needs a benchmark

viaIn a first formal collaboration, Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking have teamed up to develop the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark (GPTB). The GPTB establishes a new global benchmark that brings a focus to transparency in a bid to improve pension outcomes for members. Transparency, or lack of it around costs and other issues, has been a problem area for pension funds over many years, and in the industry there is room for improvement in this area. Transparency is a positive...

November 19, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
19Nov

Australia. 12% superannuation hangs in the balance

The federal government will release the findings of its review into retirement incomes on Friday. Amongst other things, the review is believed to support a recent warning from Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe that the legislated increase in the superannuation guarantee (SG) will reduce wages and economic growth. The SG is slated to rise from 9.5% to 10% in mid-2021, but the government is set to delay a decision on proceeding with this increase until it hands down the...

November 19, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
18Nov

French Senate passes social security draft budget, revives pensions polemic

Before the modifications in the Senate, the bill passed the National Assembly with 190 votes in favour, 106 votes against and 50 abstentions. As France deals with the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, senators voted to increase health provisions overall. Retirement age, again The Senate is dominated by a right-wing opposition and has re-introduced a proposal to extend the retirement age in order to balance the pension system. It recommends both pushing back the legal retirement age to 63...

November 18, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
18Nov

Latin America’s leaders will have plenty of headaches

For latin america´s leaders 2021 will be about steering economic recovery while fending off a debt crisis and trying to persuade their citizens that democracy can still deliver results. What are the prospects around the region? With populations ravaged by covid-19 despite long lockdowns, many countries may have some degree of “herd immunity”. But the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic will linger: after economies contracted by 8% or so in 2020, Latin America will have some 40m “new poor”,...

November 18, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...