March 2025
07Mar

On International Women’s Day, let’s focus on the gender pension gap

By Ivana Zanardo   Women in the workforce have made significant strides in recent decades: the gender wage gap is shrinking and more women hold a growing share of senior leadership positions at Canadian companies. But as we celebrate International Women’s Day, there’s another gap that should get more attention – the gender pension gap. Despite advancements made in the workplace, according to Stats Canada, women still face an annual income gap of 29 per cent. And what’s more worrisome is that we...

March 7, 2025
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07Mar

US stock market meltdown hits UK pensions as Donald Trump’s tariffs spark panic

US shares have continued to fall as investors fear Donald Trump's trade wars will cause huge damage to the American economy. The decline in the value of US-based businesses will hit millions of people with savings in pension funds in countries such as the UK as well as across America. This is because many funds from across the world are invested at least partly in the US. The NASDAQ market, which has a particular focus on technology stocks, has fallen...

March 7, 2025
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07Mar

Women’s Employment Rate in Urban India Rises by 10% in Six Years: Report

Women’s employment in urban India has increased by 10% over the last six years (2017-18 to 2023-24), according to a report released ahead of International Women’s Day 2025. The white paper, published by the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, highlights that women in their 40s have the highest employment rate among urban women, reaching 38.3% in 2023-24. Challenges Persist Despite Employment Growth Despite this positive trend, the report warns of several pressing challenges, including: Underutilization of educated women’s skills Lack of flexible work arrangements Commuting challenges Risk of a diversity backlash According to the findings, over 89...

March 7, 2025
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07Mar

Switzerland raises concerns over handing pension fund management to US banks

For all intents and purposes, the funds appear to have been well-placed, yielding a return of 7.33% last year, thanks to positions in bonds, equities, oil and gold. Compenswiss, an independent public body that manages the assets (46.1 billion Swiss francs, or 48.9 billion euros) of Swiss social security insurers, has been pleased. "At the end of 2024, all asset classes were clearly in positive territory," said institution director Eric Breval three weeks ago, while presenting its annual results....

March 7, 2025
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06Mar

Canada’s biggest pension fund calls for economic diversification as tariffs hit

Canada must diversify its economy and position itself as more competitive on the global stage if tariffs promised by U.S. President Donald Trump take effect, Canada's biggest pension fund said on Tuesday. Edwin Cass, chief investment officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said his country's economy was "tied at the hip" to the U.S. after Trump said on Monday 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect almost immediately. "One of the things we obviously should have been doing...

March 6, 2025
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06Mar

Women in Hong Kong face huge retirement income shortfall, Fidelity study shows

For nearly half the working women in Hong Kong, their main concern is insufficient income after retiring, according to one of the largest managers of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), the city’s compulsory retirement scheme. Women in Hong Kong generally retire earlier than men at 62 and expect to incur an average monthly expense of HK$24,235 (US$3,120) in retirement, according to Fidelity International’s Asia-Pacific Investor Study released on Thursday, ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday. The amount accounts for nearly 70 per...

March 6, 2025
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06Mar

UK. Pensions: New warning to women who risk running out of money

Women have been issued a pension warning as new research revealed they risk emptying their pension pots 14 years too soon. The research, released ahead of International Women’s Day (Saturday March 8) indicated that, based on current pension withdrawal rates, women could empty their private pension savings by the age of 73. Legal & General (L&G), which published the research, said that, with the average life expectancy of a 60-year-old woman in the UK sitting at 87, some female retirees could be left with a...

March 6, 2025
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06Mar

The U.S. has a record low fertility rate. Is that good news or bad news? It’s complicated.

The U.S. fertility rate — the average number of children each woman gives birth to — fell 22% between 1990 and 2023, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). It’s not a new trend; the decline began in 2007, just ahead of the 2008 recession. Coupled with the rapidly aging American population, the falling fertility rate has long made policymakers nervous about draining Social Security funds and generally causing...

March 6, 2025
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05Mar

More Than Half of U.S. Households Have Retirement Accounts, CRS Says

More than half of U.S. households had retirement accounts in a just-released study by the Congressional Research Service. That’s 54%, to be exact, according to the CRS in “Distribution of Retirement Account Balances: Analysis of the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances,” released on Feb. 26, 2025. The CRS defines “retirement account” for purposes of this study as defined contribution (DC) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). It recognizes, however, that U.S. households have other sources of income during retirement as...

March 5, 2025
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05Mar

The European country tearing up its pensions – and why Britain should take note

Apathy rules supreme in workplace pensions. Almost 30 million people work in the UK’s private sector and for many, a pension contribution is just another line on the monthly payslip. It’s precisely this mindset that government ministers were counting on when they introduced auto-enrolment in 2012, forcing employers into offering workplace pensions but leaving employees with the final decision. The hunch proved to be well-founded. Although workers can opt out at any time, very few have. Within a decade, the proportion with a workplace...

March 5, 2025
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