The start of a new year is a great time to make some resolutions that could change your personal financial picture for the better. One such pledge is to sock away more money for retirement in the coming year -- an especially crucial move for folks who are currently behind on savings. Here are five ways to make that happen. 1. Bank your raise If you were lucky enough to snag a raise this year, you have a great...
The American workforce is getting older. In fact, by 2024 the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 25% of the US workforce will be composed of workers over the age of 55, and a third of those workers will be older than 65. The reasons, for the most part, are due to the country’s overall ageing population as a result of declining birth rates and better life expectancy. But there’s also something else going on. Employees are not only working longer...
It’s a new year and people’s worries about retirement security remain high. Policymakers at all levels can help or hinder retirement security in 2019. Much of people's concern over retirement stems from uncertainty about jobs at older ages since many people would like to work longer, either to remain productive or to supplement their small savings. Other worries center around savings, Social Security, high debt and rising health care costs.Against this backdrop, policymakers can shape five economic trends in 2019:...
The pension reform which went into force on January 1 envisages raising the retirement age to 67 as of 2033, penalising early retirement by 0.3% per month, i.e. by 18% for five years, and enabling all pensioners to work four hours a week while keeping their pensions.Second pillar beneficiaries can choose in which system to exercise their pension - only in the first pillar with a 27% supplement for the period up to 2002, plus 20.25% for payments after that...
Irish pensions fund trustees have been told to “diversify and de-risk over the coming year” amid the huge losses of global stock markets and falling bond yields for some European markets.Pensions firm Aon said the fallout of market turmoil has led to a fall of 5.2% in “the traditional Irish pension managed funds” last month.“Global equity markets fell over the month as weak economic data from China and Europe fanned concerns of a global economic slowdown, leaving investors...
The giant Norwegian “Oil Fund,” or Government Pension Fund Global, has over $1 trillion in assets and one of its largest single investments is in tech-behemoth Apple. The fund is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and consists of two wealth funds operated by the Norwegian government, the first was formed in 1967.The part known as the Oil Fund was established nearly three decades ago to invest surplus revenue from Norwegian oil and petroleum. It’s not a...
The pensions industry is “light years behind where it should be” in the way it handles data, endangering the success of modernisation drives such as the government’s pensions dashboard project, according to a former pensions minister.Many small firms still handle employee data manually from spreadsheets, and half of customer auto-enrolment data uploaded by these companies to pension scheme providers’ systems subsequently contains errors, according to research.Conservative peer and former pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann said the high error...
Fourth quarter decline in stock market derailed improved funding trend for year The funded status of the nation's largest corporate pension plans slipped at the end of 2018 as a sharp decline in the stock market during the fourth quarter offset what looked to be a second consecutive year of improved funding, according to an analysis by Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company. Willis Towers Watson examined pension plan data for 389...
This time last year French president Emmanual Macron was riding high. By July the ride was over. After a hellish few months, there are doubts that he will be now be able to push through his proposed reforms for 2019. Macron's big thing was his determination not to back down in the face of opposition - until he did. His decision to find 10 billion euros to try to placate the Yellow Vests might not have neutered them and...
The average U.S. corporate pension plan lost 4.7 percent last year after stocks tanked in the fourth quarter, according to Willis Towers Watson. Steep year-end declines in U.S. stocks left America’s largest public companies deeper in the hole for their pension obligations, according to analysis by consulting firm Willis Towers Watson. Pension funding levels for Fortune 1000 companies dipped to an estimated 84 percent after a volatile fourth quarter culminated in sharp losses in December. The Standard & Poor's...
