August 2025
29Aug

Other nations mandate retirement savings — the U.S. does not. Here’s why it matters

Retirement funding looks very different depending on where you live. While the United States leans heavily on voluntary 401(k)-style savings plans, other nations rely on mandatory contributions or more traditional pensions to ensure broad coverage and steady income. Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index takes these structural differences into consideration when ranking some of the world’s biggest retirement systems. “We do it because we want to give a picture of the retirement landscape,” said Christine Mahoney, global pensions leader at Mercer, a consulting firm. “We try...

August 29, 2025
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29Aug

UK. How to work until retirement when your body has already checked out

Over the years, the state pension age in the UK has changed several times, to coincide with the increase in life expectancy and to ensure fiscal sustainability. The age was 60 for women and 65 for men between 1948 and 2010, after which point the state pension age for both men and women became 65. It has subsequently shifted again, with the current retirement age being 66. This is set to rise once more from 6 May 2026 to 67. As...

August 29, 2025
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29Aug

China Is Trying to Expand Its Social Safety Net. Yet Many Chinese Are Worried.

As of Sept. 1, all employers in China must contribute to benefits for their employees, to support their pensions, medical care, maternity leave and more. That should come as good news to many ordinary Chinese, given how threadbare China’s social safety net has been. But rather than celebrating, many in China have reacted with worry and frustration. Small business owners have said that their labor costs will skyrocket. Workers have speculated that their bosses will lay them off or lower their...

August 29, 2025
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28Aug

US. BlackRock decries ‘politicizing’ pension fund management

Top asset manager BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab on Wednesday pushed back against pressure from U.S. Republican and Democratic officials, saying both sides have injected politics into the running of retirement assets and it only seeks to fulfill its fiduciary duties to clients. The message isn't new but it came in an unusual memo the company sent to 43 state treasurers, auditors and other officials of both major political parties, seen by Reuters. In late July, 26 Republicans signed on to a letter, opens...

August 28, 2025
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28Aug

Japan and South Korea Task Force To Tackle Birth Rate Crisis

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have agreed to launch a joint task force to tackle shared issues of concern, including birth rates. Why It Matters More than half of the world's countries now have total fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman needed to sustain a population. Longer lifespans, rising living costs and shifting social attitudes among younger generations have contributed to the decline. South Korea (0.75) and Japan (1.15) have among the...

August 28, 2025
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28Aug

Pensions UK to lobby for changes to mandation rules in Pension Schemes Bill

Pensions UK, the retirement industry trade body, is to step up lobbying against investment mandation when the Pension Schemes Bill returns to parliament next week. The bill is due to be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee at sittings scheduled for next week. Pensions UK’s director of policy and advocacy Zoe Alexander will give evidence to the committee at the first session on 2 September. Pensions UK said it “believes in a pensions sector that puts fiduciary duty to savers at its...

August 28, 2025
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28Aug

1 in 5 Europeans will retire in poverty without urgent reform, EU watchdog warns

Poverty in old age will be the norm for a large chunk of Europe's population unless current retirement policies undergo deep reform, the EU's workplace pensions regulator has warned. "One in five Europeans is already at risk of living in poverty at old age," said Petra Hielkema, chief of the Frankfurt-based European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority. "[That's] a ridiculously high percentage, frankly. And if you then look at women, they have a 30 percent larger risk for that," she told...

August 28, 2025
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27Aug

UK. 94% of pension transfers raise scam warning in July

Some 94 per cent of cases reviewed by the XPS Scam Protection Service raised at least one scam warning flag in July 2025, data has revealed. XPS Group’s Scam Flag Index found there was a “sharp” increase in the amount of pension transfers that raised a scam warning flag, with 6 per cent more cases than June. July’s finding represented the second time the index has surpassed 90 per cent over the past 12 months. XPS Group senior consultant, Helen Cavanagh, said: “The increase...

August 27, 2025
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27Aug

Canada. Outdated retirement system could leave many financially struggling, investment management group says

A leading investment industry group is calling for policy changes to update Canada’s retirement income system, warning that without reforms, many Canadians may fall short of what they need in retirement. In a report released Wednesday, the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA) said that the current retirement income system hasn’t kept pace with longer lifespans, higher living costs and the decline of workplace pensions. To address these issues, the group recommends policy changes aimed at supporting private savings, including raising...

August 27, 2025
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27Aug

Nigeria’s wage and pension crisis

By Shu’aibu Usman Leman   Earlier this month, the United States government released a sobering assessment of Nigeria’s human rights record in its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Among the stark revelations was the shamefully low national minimum wage of ₦70,000—a figure described as “woefully inadequate” amid rising inflation, a weakened naira, and an ever-worsening cost of living. At just $47.90 per month by current exchange rates, this wage is not merely insufficient—it is an affront to human dignity. In...

August 27, 2025
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