July 2025
04Jul

Living to 100: As lifespans rise, retirement planning needs a major reset

Longevity is quickly becoming one of the largest unaddressed risks in retirement planning: The number of Americans living to 100 is expected to quadruple by 2054, yet most retirement plans aren't built for 90 or 100-year lifespans. Yet despite this surge in longevity, new research from Nationwide Retirement Institute and The American College of Financial Services reveals a troubling disconnect: While lifespans are rising well into the 90s and beyond, financial planning hasn’t kept pace. As a result, millions face a growing risk...

July 4, 2025
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03Jul

UK. IFS recommends state pension and auto-enrolment changes to boost adequacy

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has made four recommendations for improving pensions adequacy that it believes would improve the state pension and boost private pension savings by around £11bn a year. The recommendations are the result of a two-and-a-half-year research project exploring how to improve retirement outcomes, and come as the government has promised to begin its own pension adequacy review in the coming months. The report calls for changes that take into account the needs of low earners who...

July 3, 2025
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03Jul

Tax-free pensions may spark a new era of savings for Kenya

The recently enacted Finance Bill 2025 has introduced sweeping changes to the country’s pension and tax framework that will effectively redefine retirement planning while offering much-needed relief to workers grappling with high inflation, constrained incomes, and economic uncertainty. At the heart of the law is a bold move; to make all pensions and gratuity payments, whether in the public or private sector, fully tax-exempt. This is a significant departure from the current regime, which taxes certain pension and insurance payouts,...

July 3, 2025
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03Jul

PLSA rebrands to Pensions UK as part of fresh five-year strategy

The pensions industry’s trade body has rebranded itself as Pensions UK following a detailed review of its strategy, and set out a plan to expand its reach and influence over the next five years. Pensions UK, as the organisation will now be known, was previously the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), a name it adopted 10 years ago. Announcing the new brand and strategy at an event last night (1 July) in London, Emma Douglas, chair of Pensions UK, said...

July 3, 2025
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03Jul

Ghana. Eleven-member board for National Pensions Regulatory Authority inaugurated

Mr Rashid Pelpuo, the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment has inaugurated the new governing board of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) with the charge to accelerate the expansion of pension coverage to the informal sector. He said the informal sector held a significant share of Ghana’s working population and untapped pension contributors hence innovative policies and tailored products must be developed to harness and protect their hard-earned savings. Mr Pelpuo said their appointment came at a time when Ghana’s...

July 3, 2025
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02Jul

UK. Govt urged to take ‘decisive’ action to address ‘serious’ pension risks

The government has been urged to take "decisive" action and introduce a four-point pension guarantee, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies' (IFS) pension review suggested that "serious problems" remain for the next generation of pensioners. As its review of the pension system draws to a close, the IFS, in partnership with Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, shared its final report outlining a comprehensive roadmap for reform, which is aimed at addressing "serious challenges" facing the UK pension system and "substantial risks"...

July 2, 2025
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02Jul

US Government Reopens Discussion of Private Pension Investments Expectations

The Department of Labor has taken two recent actions that indicate where the approach to retirement investment policy may go under the new administration. Policy on the appropriate management of retirement funds has not been spared the tide of changes in the political landscape. While the language of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) sets the standard for plan fiduciaries to act “solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries,”1 the practical implications have been caught up in...

July 2, 2025
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02Jul

ESG round-up: Investors call for EU to preserve key parts of sustainable finance rules

More than 80 investors and financial institutions have called on the EU to preserve the core of the EU Sustainable Finance Framework. Key European investors supporting the statement include Allianz SE, First Sentier Investors, La Banque Postale AM, Nordea, PKA and Storebrand AM. The signatories stated that regulatory simplification can be achieved without compromising on the substance of sustainability rules or their significant benefits for businesses across the EU. They have recommended that the European Sustainability Reporting Standards – which...

July 2, 2025
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02Jul

What the U.S. can learn from Japan’s experience with an aging population

The U.S. population is older than ever, and that trend is accelerating. As baby boomers age and birth rates decline, the country is heading toward a demographic reality that Japan has been grappling with for decades. In Japan, more than one in 10 people is now over the age of 80, and nearly a third of the population is over 65. This marks a dramatic shift that has reshaped healthcare, the economy, city infrastructure, and cultural norms. By learning from Japan’s...

July 2, 2025
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01Jul

US. California public pension fund, the nation’s largest, faces probe launched by concerned retirees

In recent years, the handling of the nation’s largest public pension fund has caused growing alarm among a group of retirees who rely on it. They have sought an outside audit of California’s $530 billion pension fund, known as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS. They have also tried to persuade legislators to install an inspector general to monitor its operations. Both efforts went nowhere. Now, they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands. The retired public employees are...

July 1, 2025
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