August 2019

21Aug

A New Approach To Financing Retirement

‘Whatever you do, don’t try to sell us an annuity.’ When 60-something couples visit a financial adviser’s office for help with retirement planning, these are often the first words they say after sitting down. Most of what they’ve read about annuities has been eye-glazing or frightening. But don’t write off annuities yet. Owning annuities can pay off in the long run—especially if you’re married and in decent health, don’t have a gilt-edged pension, and aren’t sure that your savings...

August 21, 2019
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21Aug

Indian regulator clears Canadian pension fund stake in Delhivery

An Indian government regulator cleared the way for the investment arm of Canada’s public pension fund to acquire up to 8 percent of the logistics firm Delhivery. The Competition Commission of India announced the decision in a tweet on August 20. The deal, reportedly worth about $150 million, gives the e-commerce fulfillment company the backing of one of the world’s largest private equity investors, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). CPPIB will purchase shares from existing investors, according...

August 21, 2019
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21Aug

UK. Ruth Wishart: Principle on which we base the state pension is flawed

By Ruth Wishart YOU remember good old Iain. Chap who used to be leader of the Conservative Party till they found out he was pretty useless at it, so they got rid of him. The bloke who was put in charge of benefit reform and took years to come up with that model of equity and clarity: Universal Credit. Which turned out to create more anomalies than it was set up to solve. So they got rid of him....

August 21, 2019
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20Aug

South Africa. Prescribed assets: What government could do with your retirement savings

The ANC’s economic policy head said the party is investigating using prescribed assets to avoid an IMF bailout. Prescribed assets will force SA asset managers and pension funds to invest in the country’s bonds and state-owned-enterprises. The last time South Africa had prescribed assets, the apartheid regime forced retirement funds to invest half of all savings in government bonds. ANC economic policy head Enoch Godongwana made headlines over the weekend when he said the party is investigating the use...

August 20, 2019
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20Aug

Israeli household income plummets after retirement

The average income of Israeli households plummets by more than one-third upon retirement, a new study has revealed, leaving pensioners with lower incomes than retirees across almost all developed European countries. According to a new study carried out by Dr. Aviad Tor-Sinai and Prof. Avia Spivak at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Pensions, Insurance and Financial Literacy Center, income after retirement among Israeli pensioners stands at 65.9% of their pre-retirement income The dramatic decline by age 67, just two...

August 20, 2019
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20Aug

Execute your watchdog role effectively: President of Ghana to regulatory agencies

President Akufo-Addo has charged regulatory agencies in Ghana to be up and doing in the discharge of their duties in order to safeguard the activities of the private sector. Addressing the opening ceremony of the National Conference on the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement in Ghana on the theme; “Harnessing the Benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for a Ghana Beyond Aid,” at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), President Akufo-Addo...

August 20, 2019
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20Aug

How UK has worst elderly poverty in western Europe: Study

The proportion of elderly people who are living in severe poverty in the UK is five times what it was in 1986, the Pension Reforms and Old Age Inequalities in Europe report found. The rate has shot up from 0.9 percent to around 5 percent. Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus of the University of Oxford blamed state pensions for the rise in poverty among people aged 65 and over. He told The Observer: “The UK is a good example of the...

August 20, 2019
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20Aug

US. The looming crisis in long-term care

Taking care of the aging population is a crisis in the making, and no one — not families, not government programs and not the health care workforce — is prepared for it. The big picture: Providing health care to aging Baby Boomers will strain Medicare’s finances, but the problem is even bigger than that. Long-term care — the kind of services typically performed in a nursing home or by a home health aide — largely falls through the cracks...

August 20, 2019
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19Aug

South Africa should look to pensions instead of an IMF bailout: ANC

The ANC is looking at the possibility of using private and public pension funds to rescue the country’s struggling state-owned enterprises. In an interview with the Sunday Times Enoch Godongwana, head of the party’s economic transformation subcommittee, said that the asset management industry currently has R6 trillion under management which should be borrowed by government. Godongwana said using this approach to gather funds is better than going the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout. “Why would you go...

August 19, 2019
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19Aug

Australia warns retirees over heavily investing in cryptocurrency self-managed pensions

Australia warns retirees over heavily investing in cryptocurrency self-managed pensions The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has issued 18,000 warning letters to investors of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) for concentrating the majority of their retirement savings in cryptocurrencies, according to local news outlet Micky. In its letter, the office said that retirees have a “duty to comply with legal requirements to adopt investment strategies avoiding risky investments.” Non-compliance could see them face a fine of up to AU$2,400 (US$2,852). As...

August 19, 2019
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