March 2022

México. Las mujeres están más expuestas a la violencia cuando por su trabajo deben estar en la calle

Por Fernanda Pintle La participación de mujeres en la fuerza de trabajo en México fue de solo 45%, un nivel muy por debajo de los países miembros de la OCDE. Además, las mujeres que están bajo el trabajo informal representan 12.6 millones, según estadísticas del Inegi. ONU Mujeres comparte que también se enfrentan a salarios más bajos y empleos en condiciones inseguras, como el acoso sexual. La participación de mujeres en la fuerza de trabajo en México fue de solo...

Why women’s pensions need more attention to reach equality

By Helen Morrissey International Women’s Day asks us to imagine a world free of bias and look towards a more equitable future. Equal pay and financial prospects are integral to this but remain an area where women continue to struggle as they remain significantly lower paid than men. This issue affects women throughout their working lives and leaves them retiring with a total pension income that is on average a whopping 37.9 per cent less than men. This is more than...

The Complex Formulas Of Responsible Investing

By William Baldwin Distinguishing good from evil on Wall Street is a challenge. Be grateful there are analysts doing most of the homework for you. An ethical portfolio excludes the shares of irresponsible companies. Which ones are those? Once upon a time that was a fairly simple matter. A handful of mutual funds had portfolios omitting certain industries, such as weapons, alcohol and tobacco. Today, separating good equities from sinful ones is an industry unto itself. There are thousands of analysts at work...

State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own

US. State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own

By Edward Siedle Across the nation politicians are naïvely calling for state pensions to dump their Russian investments to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine. Since state pensions have in recent years agreed to let Wall Street fund managers keep secret their investment holdings, states don’t even know the Russian assets they hold. Yesterday, state Attorney General Dave Yost publicly called upon Ohio’s five public employee retirement funds to divest themselves of Russian financial holdings to further punish the...

January 2022

Why Women Need to Take a More Active Role in Their Financial Futures

By Stacia Williams Too many women leave decisions about their financial futures to their husbands — and that’s hardly a retirement plan. And because women tend to live longer than men, it’s imperative that they take an active role in plotting out what’s happening with the money that will see them through the latter part of their lives. How to go about that? Any good retirement plan breaks down into five areas: income, investments, taxes, health care and legacy. Retirement income typically...

Opinion: Do ‘ethical’ pension funds have a private equity problem?

Do ‘ethical’ pension funds have a private equity problem?

By Brett Arends The people running public pension plans these days like to boast about their “ethical” investment policies, for example when it comes to the environment or “diversity, equity and inclusion.” Meanwhile they pour billions of dollars into secretive private-equity funds in pursuit of extra profits. Now comes yet more evidence that some of those private-equity managers in turn are using that money for the opposite of ethics. “Private equity ownership leads to an increase of 147% in the percentage of… financial...

Private climate investment needs to get intentional about gender and equity — here’s how

By Suzanne Biegel The private capital committed by members of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) has the potential to transform climate investments. Yet climate investment decision-makers don’t reflect the diversity we need for a just transition. They are therefore likely to overlook the women outside of their networks driving many solutions. Read also ESG Investing Is Not Sustainable Investing This is true in both developed and developing markets. Growing research shows that having more women in decision-making positions results...

November 2021

US’s shot at a sustainable future

By John D. Vincent The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15 will help to fuel America's economy for the next decade, driving sustainable and innovative growth across multiple regions and sectors. It is less ambitious and more focused than first envisioned but, under the bipartisan deal, the IIJA will invest approximately $1 trillion in revitalizing America's transportation, energy infrastructure, clean water infrastructure and broadband, among other priorities....

UK. State pension payments still delayed for thousands

By Kevin Peachey Thousands of newly-retired people are still yet to receive their first state pension payments after a deadline for backlogs in payments to be cleared. Most delayed pensions to people who have just turned 66 are now being paid following a catch-up exercise by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). But applications have yet to be processed for 4,900 people from whom the DWP has asked for extra details. The pandemic and staffing issues were blamed for problems over the...

Can ethical investing really help in the fight against climate change?

By Ralph Benson What links climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Facebook whistleblowing controversy? They’re all impossible to ignore when it comes to investing your money ethically. As global leaders and climate activists gather in Glasgow this week for COP26, in the face of the threat of climate catastrophe, the term ‘ethical’ will be bandied about in relation to all topics, from government finances to corporate responsibility. We, as potential pension investors, can play our part in this by...