February 2017

14Feb

Behavioral Interventions Helping Americans Budget Better and Save More / New report one of the most significant applications of behavioral economics in field of LMI financial decision-making

Common Cents, a financial research lab at Duke University and supported by MetLife Foundation, today unveiled its 2016 Annual Report. The report details findings from seven completed behavioral intervention programs and ongoing research begun in 2016. The work is part of a three-year effort to improve the financial well being of 1.8 million low-to-moderate income (LMI) households in America. Common Cents is one of the first to use social science field experiments within financial organizations for the purpose of gaining...

February 14, 2017
News
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12Feb

Retirement Advice in the Trump Era

A federal judge in Texas did President Trump a favor last week. It came in a decision in a case filed by the financial industry against the Labor Department to overturn an Obama-era regulation called the “fiduciary rule,” which requires financial advisers to put their clients’ interests first when giving advice and selling investments for retirement accounts. The judge, Barbara Lynn, called the plaintiffs’ objections “without merit,” “unpersuasive” and “at odds with market realities.” If Mr. Trump were smart, he’d see...

February 12, 2017
News
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12Feb

Low Returns, Longevity Mean Greater Retirement Savings Rate Needed

Investors facing inflated asset prices, and the lower expected future returns they imply, must accept the reality that they will need to save more to maintain their lifestyle in retirement, researchers conclude. In a research report, “Required Retirement Savings Rates Today,” written by David Blanchett, CFA [Chartered Financial Analyst], CFP [Certified Financial Planner], head of retirement research at Morningstar Investment Management LLC; Michael Finke, Ph.D., CFP, dean and chief academic officer at The American College of Financial Services, and Wade...

February 12, 2017
News
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12Feb

Watch What Indexing Does for Public Pensions

The unfunded liabilities of public pensions are out of control across the country. My state, Illinois, is the most severe case, with only 40 percent of those liabilities funded. Given the magnitude of the problem, and the political and legal obstacles to fixing it, it remains tempting to underplay the importance of straightforward financial changes that could put the funds on much more solid ground. Worsening the problems of public pension systems nationwide is that they have proved to be...

February 12, 2017
News
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12Feb

US court upholds Obama-era retirement advice rule

A US federal judge on Wednesday upheld an Obama-era rule designed to avoid conflicts of interests when brokers give retirement advice, in a possible setback for President Donald Trump's efforts to scale back government regulation. The stinging 81-page ruling comes just days after Trump ordered the Labor Department to review the "fiduciary" rule — a move widely interpreted as an effort to delay or kill the regulation. The decision by Chief Judge Barbara Lynn for the US District Court for the...

February 12, 2017
News
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10Feb

Why More Encore Entrepreneurs Would Help Aging In America

“You build companies the way other people bake cakes" is a compliment a fellow professor shared with me a few years back. Maybe it’s partly because I’m the daughter of an entrepreneur — the founder of a paint company (even though my dad wanted me to have a "secure job" by becoming a teacher and then a professor, which I’ve done). But I loved, and still love, the adventure of building companies. And I think there’s blue ocean water for...

February 10, 2017
News
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10Feb

Why Pensions Top To-Do List of Brazil’s President: QuickTake Q&A

Facing a make-or-break year to pull Brazil out of its worst recession in over a century, President Michel Temer is betting that reforming the nation’s pension system will restore public and investor confidence. It’s a task that proved too difficult for former presidents as popular as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and as market-friendly as Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Both Temer and the pension reform are unpopular, but the president has widespread congressional support and argues that he is prioritizing...

February 10, 2017
News
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09Feb

Two thirds of homeowners want to downsize at retirement, says NOW: Pensions

“Over the next ten years, we estimate that 7.7million* people will retire. Our recent research** revealed that downsizing their property is the preferred route for two thirds (63%) of non-retired UK homeowners to release their property wealth. Two in five (39%) agree that it’s important to have the option to access their housing wealth. “To be able to downsize, there needs to be enough suitable homes by the time they retire, of the types of homes that retired people want...

February 9, 2017
News
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09Feb

Los traspasos entre las AFPs chilenas alcanzaron en noviembre su nivel más alto desde 2002

El penúltimo mes de 2016 mantuvo la tendencia al alza en los traspasos de las AFPs en el sistema de pensiones chileno. De acuerdo al informe mensual de Ciedess, en noviembre se cambiaron de administradora un total de 62.770 personas, el nivel más alto desde la creación de los multifondos en 2002. Durante el periodo, la AFP que sumó más afiliados con el mayor número de traspasos netos, fue Modelo, con 8.452 personas, mientras que la administradora con el saldo...

February 9, 2017
News, Spanish
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03Feb

DC Pension Fund Best-practice Design and Governance

By Gordon Clark & Roger Urwin The design and governance of pension funds is an important topic of academic research and public policy and has significant implications for the welfare of participants. Here we focus upon the design and governance of defined contribution (DC) pension plans which have become the de facto model of occupational pensions in most countries. The study synthesises the findings of a year-long research project based upon in-depth interviews with the sponsors and managers of leading...

February 3, 2017
Corporate Governance, News, Pension design, Regulation
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