July 2019

A good retirement plan? Try leaving gradually, instead of all at once

Because demography is destiny, more older people than ever are working in America, with a lot more to come. The question is how best to get there? One idea gaining traction is “phased retirement,” which lets workers gradually cut their hours and responsibilities while remaining on the job. The longer tenure improves their financial outlook and often provides social and emotional benefits. For employers, it’s a way to hold on to senior talent and institutional knowledge, which are...

US. Bernie Sanders Introduces “Right to a Secure Retirement” Plan

Independent senator and 2020 Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled his “right to a secure retirement” plan Friday. The plan includes expanding Social Security; protecting pensions; guaranteeing housing, food assistance and care for seniors; and providing fully covered healthcare through Medicare for all. Sanders introduced the plan as he and 16 other Democratic hopefuls participated in the AARP presidential forums in Iowa over the past week and weekend. Read more @Democracy Now

Zambia. Government proposes to hike NAPSA contributions, abolishes private pension schemes

The PF Government has proposed to increase pension contributions to the National Pensions Scheme Authority from the current 5% to 10%. Currently, the employer and the employee contribute 10% of their gross monthly earnings to NAPSA, a mandatory pension scheme. According to a proposal from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, their monthly contributions will rise to 10% employer and 10% employee. The proposal also seeks to limit the pension schemes allowed to exist in Zambia to have...

US. What Congress Could Do To Stop a Pension Crisis

A looming retirement crisis is facing the U.S. taxpayer that will become an economic tsunami if Congress doesn’t act. The pensions of 1.3 million workers in certain multiemployer pension plans and the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are set to collapse. Only Congress can prevent this from cascading throughout the economy, to taxpayers and into healthy pension plans and their employers. How things spiraled into this crisis is complicated, but important to understand. Some say it’s a...

Canada’s pension fund OMERS seeks new green energy deals

Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) is scouting for acquisition opportunities in India, in an affirmation of the country’s position as a green energy hot-spot. With net assets of more than $100 billion under management, OMERS has been attracted by the presence of other Canadian investors in India such as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Brookfield Asset Management. This comes at a time when India’s emerging...

U.K. keeps pressure steady on poorly governed plans

Defined contribution master trusts in the U.K. could see an additional boost in assets as the U.K. Pensions Regulator pressures single-employer plans to step up their governance and investment oversight. The Pensions Regulator has been on a mission to weed out poorly governed defined contribution plans in the U.K. for quite some time. After asking master trusts, also called multiemployer DC plans, to obtain new operating permissions to stay in the market, the number of DC master trusts was...

Japan faces long-term challenges despite ruling parties’ election success

The third House of Councillors election since the launch of the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ended. And while Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has fewer seats in the upper house than it did before the election, the ruling LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito managed to maintain the majority in the chamber. One could say that voters indicated a certain measure of support for the long-term administration, which has been in power for 6...

China to walk fine line between sustaining growth, pension system

China is attempting to walk a fine line between lowering corporate burdens to boost economic growth and making the country's pension scheme more sustainable amid an aging population. In its latest step, the government vowed to roll out a nationwide pilot program announced in 2017 that transfers stakes in state-owned firms to social security funds. This comes as the 2-trillion-yuan (about 291.55 billion U.S. dollars) reduction of tax burdens and social insurance contributions of enterprises helped lower corporate burdens...

Macron to trigger French pensioners crisis as he calls for French to work more

The reform is potentially explosive, with unions having traditionally sent millions of people onto the streets to protest against previous changes to pensions. Mr Macron has been hit by wave after wave of angry, and often violent, protests in the past year. Beginning last November, Gilets Jaunes protestors have shut down major French cities in protest over tax reform and other deeper issues in the country, such as class division. Read more @Express

Retirement Readiness From a Global Perspective

In the United States, the average deferral rate in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans is 8.6%. American workers with access to such plans have saved and invested substantial assets for retirement, many of them utilizing the help of expert financial advisers. Reports show the mean 401(k) account balance has soured 466% in the last 10 years. But how do these figures compare to other nations? Are there takeaways advisers and investors can derive from studying the saving/investing behaviors of...