August 2025
13Aug

Bulgaria’s Pension System Faces Challenges Ahead of Eurozone Entry in 2026

Bulgaria’s pension system stands at a critical juncture as the country prepares to join the Eurozone in 2026. This transition will bring pensions denominated in euros instead of leva, prompting questions about the system’s future stability amid demographic shifts and budgetary pressures. Our analysis explores the structure of Bulgaria’s pension scheme, current challenges, and projections looking ahead to 2070. The Bulgarian pension system consists of three pillars. The first pillar is the state social security system, funded through the pay-as-you-go...

August 13, 2025
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12Aug

UK. CDC could signal new era for pensions adequacy

ZEDRA has stated that, with the right approach from trustees, Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pension schemes hold the potential to address long standing challenges around adequacy and sustainability in retirement provision, significantly improving member outcomes. Kim Nash, Managing Director of ZEDRA Governance said: “CDC is an exciting prospect, not just because of the potential for higher more stable member outcomes, but also because it shifts complex decision making to trustees, making retirement planning simpler for members. It challenges us to...

August 12, 2025
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12Aug

One in Three Older Households Is Cost Burdened

The recently released State of the Nation’s Housing 2025 report highlights worrying trends in housing affordability for older households (those led by someone age 65 or over). In 2023, over a third (34 percent) of older households were cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing. This represents a new high of over 12.4 million households and an increase of nearly 2.3 million households just since 2019. More than half of these households, 6.7 million, pay over...

August 12, 2025
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12Aug

China’s pension system needs an overhaul because it is neither fair nor sustainable

By Zhou Xin Mainland China’s pension system has again become an issue of debate after the Supreme People’s Court ruled that any private agreement between employers and employees to evade payment of retirement funds was invalid. While the legal interpretation reiterated existing laws and regulations, it struck a nerve with the population and triggered doubts about the pension system’s fairness and sustainability. China’s pay-as-you-go system, which requires workers to contribute funds into a state-managed pool to pay for their retirement, essentially serves as a...

August 12, 2025
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12Aug

German second pillar reform ‘falls short’, say industry bodies

Germany’s occupational pensions industry has expressed disappointment with draft legislation to reform the second pillar pension system, calling for further changes to fully unlock the potential of company pensions. The draft law, prepared by the finance ministry and the ministry of labour and social affairs, aims to extend occupational pensions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via defined contribution (DC) schemes under the so-called social partner model, widen automatic enrolment, and allow occupational pension vehicles such as Pensionskassen and Pensionsfonds...

August 12, 2025
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12Aug

Ghana. Pensions Regulatory Authority urges churches to own tier three pensions, register members

Dr Williams Ohene-Adjei, the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional Manager of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), urged churches to own the Tier Three Pension and register their congregations under the scheme to guarantee their future financial security. He explained that every individual working in the informal sector could register, join, contribute to and benefit from the tier three pension scheme. He asked the churches to set aside some of the dues paid by members and contribute to the pension...

August 12, 2025
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12Aug

India. Income Tax Bill 2025: From UPS benefits to commuted pension rules — top 5 things every pensioner must know

The Lok Sabha passed the revised Income Tax (No. 2) Bill, 2025 on Monday, August 11, a move towards replacing the six-decade-old Income Tax Act of 1961. Introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament, the bill aims to streamline and modernise the country’s tax framework. It will now move to the Rajya Sabha and, upon securing Presidential assent, become law. Out of the several provisions mentioned under the proposed bill, some key measures are specifically aimed at pensioners....

August 12, 2025
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11Aug

Rolls-Royce offloads UK pension fund in £4.3bn deal with PIC

Rolls-Royce has sealed a £4.3bn deal with insurance specialist Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) to offload its UK pension scheme as the engineering giant presses ahead with simplifying its balance sheet. The deal, which was announced on Sunday, covers the remaining pension obligations of 36,000 members — including 15,000 current pensioners and 21,000 deferred members — and marks the largest pension risk transfer in the UK this year. It comes as the Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of the FTSE 100 darling, moves to slim...

August 11, 2025
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11Aug

Vanguard: Emergency Savings Mean Retirement Savings

Employer-sponsored 401(k) plans help millions of Americans save for retirement, but not all those savings make it to retirement age, according to new research from Vanguard. According to the firm’s June research note, “Emergency Savings Protect Retirement Savings,” one-third of Vanguard plan participants who left their jobs in 2023 withdrew their 401(k) balance as a cash lump sum—often incurring withdrawal penalties and jeopardizing their retirement readiness. For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.  “It’s really about...

August 11, 2025
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11Aug

China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations

China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3 per cent in the first half of 2025. Despite US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, China’s exports grew by 7.3 per cent and contributed more than one-third of the first half of the year’s growth. But domestic demand remains weak and prices are still falling. The conventional wisdom identifies weak consumption as the culprit. The Chinese authorities have prioritised boosting household consumption. A 200 billion RMB (US$28 billion) programme was...

August 11, 2025
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