February 2017

27Feb

5 Ways Fake News Could Be Sabotaging Retirement Plans

We've been hearing a lot about "fake news" lately and now there's some concern that the president's budget will use overly optimistic economic assumptions. Regardless of how you feel about the budget and the assumptions it's based on, that's certainly not a mistake you want to make in your own planning. After all, the government can simply pass on any mistakes to current or future taxpayers, but we have no such luxury. Here are some overly optimistic assumptions that...

February 27, 2017
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27Feb

Retired Teamster to meet with Paul Ryan, Bernie Sanders in hopes of saving crumbling retirement fund

Faced with a potentially devastating meltdown of their pension fund, retired Teamsters across the country are mobilizing to save themselves. Across 37 states — mainly in the Midwest and South — ex-truckers who had hoped to be living out their retirement in a state of relaxation have turned to political activism, building a grassroots network that rivals anything put together by a professional operative. On Monday, retired Teamster Bob Amsden will show up again in Washington — a trip he's made...

February 27, 2017
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27Feb

Savers hoping for flexible retirement face working into late 70s, expert warns

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, warned that the dream of a flexible retirement where people gradually go part-time before giving up work entirely when it suits them could turn out to be a "mirage" - if people only contribute minimum amounts into their workplace pension pot. Sir Steve, who is now director of policy at Royal London, said an average worker wanting a "gold standard" of retirement - where their pension income equates to two-thirds of pre-retirement levels...

February 27, 2017
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27Feb

Rethinking Retirement for Longer Lives With Fewer Safety Nets

Five days a week, Kim Moske makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and brown-bags it to work. “I’ve been doing that for 30 years and saving what I would have spent eating my lunch out someplace,” she said. “That’s added up to a lot of money, and truthfully, I don’t care what I eat for lunch.” That is a small gesture, but it is indicative of the advantages of making daily choices to help save for a financially secure...

February 27, 2017
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27Feb

The public pension system is under stress, thanks to global ageing

Rene Schaaf, senior vice president and chief operating officer, Principal International, is responsible for global business development, strategy and operations of the company in Latin America and Asia. She met Mint during a recent visit to India and discussed global trends in the pension industry. She also elaborated how India is in a unique position when it comes to the retirement market, thanks to the relatively younger population. Schaaf stresses the importance of defined contribution plans for sustainable evolution...

February 27, 2017
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26Feb

Extreme Poor Persons in UE get support to set up Micro Enterprises

Four thousand one hundred and ninety four extreme poor persons in the Upper East Region have so far been supported by the Japan Social Development Fund Project (JSDF) to set up their own micro enterprises. Majority of the beneficiaries who are women and are drawn from the Bawku West , Talensi, Kassena-Nankana West, Garu –Tempane, Builsa North, South and the Nabdam Districts were trained in the areas of entrepreneurial skills, business advisory services among others in addition to receiving small...

February 26, 2017
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26Feb

Creating a Pension to Fit the Needs of the Rural Poor

Pensions are, in a sense, a necessary by-product of a rich economy. But what will it take to sell the idea to the rural poor? Especially when their income (never particularly substantial) is seasonal, increasing at harvest time and with demand in the cities for construction-related labor. What are the inducements that can convince them to invest for a future forced upon them by the changing social structure? Olivia S. Mitchell, a Wharton professor of business economics and public policy...

February 26, 2017
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26Feb

In Puerto Rico, pensions’ decline pits retirees against lenders

As Puerto Rico attempts to sort out its tangled financial web, retirees may face bigger cuts than those in past US municipal insolvencies, due in part to an unconventional debt structure that pits pensioners against the very lenders whose money was supposed to sustain them. The US territory is doing all it can to present itself as a reliable place to invest, but resolving the pensions issue will require a careful balance. Benefit structures are widely seen as unsustainable, but draconian...

February 26, 2017
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25Feb

In sweeping move, Trump puts regulation monitors in US agencies

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to place "regulatory reform" task forces and officers within federal agencies in what may be the most far reaching effort to pare back US red tape in recent decades. Trump signed the directive in the Oval Office with chief executives of major US corporations standing behind him including Dow Chemical (DOW.N), Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and US Steel (X.N). The sweeping order directs every federal agency to establish a task force to...

February 25, 2017
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24Feb

Pensions Alert: Benefits for unmarried cohabiting partners

Supreme Court issued a unanimous judgment in a case concerning a claim by the unmarried cohabiting partner of a member of a public service pension scheme that she should be entitled to receive a survivor's pension. In this Pensions Alert we provide an overview of the judgment and consider the possible implications for private sector occupational pension schemes. Facts of the case The scheme in this case was the Local Government Pension Scheme in Northern Ireland (Scheme). The regulations governing the...

February 24, 2017
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