December 2025

Cananea Mine Strike Ends After 18 Years, Agreement Reached

After nearly two decades, the labor conflict at the Cananea mine has come to an end, as miners from Section 65 of Mexico’s National Miners’ Union unanimously approved a final agreement providing long-awaited compensation, access to social security and pensions, and a comprehensive resolution for more than 650 workers and their families. According to Section 65, the assembly unanimously endorsed the agreement, which followed negotiations involving the union, the federal government, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labor and...

May 2025

Canada’s top pension fund drops net-zero emissions target

Pension and climate activist group Shift on Wednesday criticized Canada's top pension's plan to abandon its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 commitment. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), which manages C$714.4 billion ($516.93 billion) in assets, said it planned to abandon the commitment announced in February 2022 to make its operations and investment portfolio align with the goal. Shift said the change, covered in the FAQ section of its website, was made on Wednesday but Reuters could not...

UK. Starmer announces U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts

Sir Keir Starmer has announced plans to ease cuts to winter fuel payments, in a U-turn following mounting political pressure in recent weeks. More than 10 million pensioners lost out on the payments, worth up to £300, when the pension top-up became means-tested last year. Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said ministers would change the threshold to allow "more pensioners" to qualify again. But it remains unclear how many will regain their entitlement for the payments, or when the changes...

The Dual Burden of Housing and Care for Older Adults

As the first baby boomers turn 80 in the coming decade, a growing number of older households will face challenges paying for both housing and the supports and services they will need to remain in their homes. In a new paper out this week, we find that after paying for housing and basic living expenses, only 24 percent of single and partner households age 75 and over had sufficient income to afford a daily paid visit from a home health...

Morningstar study on long-term care costs gets pushback from think tank

A new Morningstar report warns that long-term care expenses could dramatically undermine the financial readiness of American retirees. But the study’s conclusions are facing pushback from a Washington-based policy expert, who argues the analysis exaggerates households' actual exposure to those costs. In "The Overlooked Cost: How Long-Term Services and Supports Impacts Retirement-Income Adequacy," Morningstar researchers Spencer Look and Jack VanDerhei used a proprietary model to simulate the retirement outcomes of American households under two conditions: one that includes long-term services and...

US. Opinion: How good will your retirement be? Depends on where you live.

Geography is destiny, the saying goes, but money redraws the map. It’s certainly true with the U.S. economy, where the bulk of GDP is generated in urban, coastal areas. It’s also true, says a new study, for just how financially well off our retirement may be. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Urban areas, says a recent Brookings Institution study, outperform rural ones in metrics like GDP per capita, job creation and wage growth; it stands to reason then that benefits, including...

Donald Trump considers order to open US retirement plans to private equity

Donald Trump’s administration is debating an executive order that could open the nearly $9tn US retirement market to private capital groups focused on corporate takeovers, property and other high-octane deals. The order would instruct agencies such as the departments of labour and Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission to study the feasibility of opening 401k plans, a primary vehicle for US retirement savings, to the private funds, according to four sources familiar with the talks. Trump opened the door for...

$125B Danish Pension Removes Defense Stocks From Blacklist

PFA Pension, the largest pension fund in Denmark, will reverse a rule that prohibited investments in a select number of defense stocks. The 828-billion-Danish-kroner ($125 billion) pension fund will no longer blacklist companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons, the fund announced Monday. The change comes as many European countries are preparing to increase defense spending over the next decade. “The world has changed significantly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and there is both here at home and broadly in...

UK. Pension surpluses ‘here to stay’; improved funding levels offer ‘huge’ opportunities

The estimated aggregate IAS19 surplus for the FTSE100's UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes was £40bn as of year-end 2024, LCP's annual analysis has revealed, marking the fifth year in a row showing an overall surplus. Whilst this equates to an average surplus of over £600m for every FTSE100 company with a UK DB pension scheme, LCP clarified that the surpluses are unevenly distributed, with five companies accounting for half of the total. According to the analysis, the five companies with...

Ghana. SSNIT bets on mobile money to drive accessibility

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust is betting on the widely used mobile money to improve pension accessibility and convenience, as it deepens its digital transformation strategy to reach a broader base of contributors. With mobile money transaction volumes and values surging to record highs in 2024, SSNIT is integrating mobile money platforms into its service delivery model. The aim is to make pension-related services more accessible to informal sector workers and the broader population who already use mobile...