April 2025

Finland. More than half of working-age people save for retirement, especially young people

Private savings for retirement have increased significantly over the past decade. According to a comprehensive survey by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, more than half of people aged 25–67 are saving or have saved for retirement in 2024. According to the study, the most common pension savers are the self-employed, people with above-average incomes and Finns close to retirement age. Savings rates among people under 30 have increased compared to previous similar surveys. In 2024, 45 per cent of the under-30-year-olds...

Why ageing well takes a village

For people to age well, they need systems, sectors and policies that create the conditions to support good health and economic well-being. One element of this involves creating policies that ensure people are not forced to stop working simply because they have reached a certain age. Policy-makers, employers and the public sector have collaborated on legislation that enables older people to keep working if they wish. Like everything in life, ageing is not something we do alone. That’s even more true when...

US. More and more Americans are draining their 401(k)s to survive — with ‘hardship withdrawals’ at 15%-20% above normal.

More Americans are tapping into their 401(k) to make ends meet — treating it more like an emergency fund than a retirement savings plan. Hardship withdrawals are running 15% to 20% above the historical norm, Empower CEO Ed Murphy told Bloomberg TV. Empower is the second-largest retirement plan (by number of participants) in the U.S. While new rules make it easier to withdraw funds, some people may be turning to their retirement savings as prices on consumer goods — from groceries to...

Nigeria. PenCom to recover unpaid pensions from power firms

The National Pension Commission has intensified efforts to recover unpaid pension contributions from electricity generation and distribution companies across the country. In a statement made available to our correspondent on Sunday, PenCom’s Director-General, Omolola Oloworaran, during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission recently, led a delegation to seek NERC’s intervention in enforcing compliance among erring power companies. According to Oloworaran, at least 16 power generation and distribution companies have failed to remit billions of naira...

US Labor Department considers overturning pension fund ESG rule

The US Department of Labor has requested that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals suspend litigation over a Biden-era rule that allows pension funds to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. With federal agencies now operating under the Trump administration, a number of states have attempted to overturn the Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights rule, which enables retirement fund managers to take ESG factors into account in the case of a tiebreaker between two financially...

China’s Pension Fund Returns Outdo Many in US, Europe, Former Official Says

China’s pension returns on investment are better than those in many developed countries in Europe and the US and are in a globally leading position, the former chairman of the National Council of Social Security Fund of China, which manages the country’s largest pension fund, the National Social Security Fund, said yesterday China’s strong pension returns are mainly because prices in the country are relatively stable and the investment products are reasonable, Dai Xianglong, who is also a former governor...

UK. Bill for underpaid state pensions set to hit £1 billion

New figures from DWP suggest that the total amount of state pension arrears to be paid out by the Government because of multiple errors is set to pass the £1 billion mark this year. Following the government's plans to consolidate small pension pots, it has also published the latest update of how much has been underpaid in state pensions to date. There are two separate correction exercises currently underway. The initial correction exercise which started in January 2021 and is nearing conclusion relates...

Brazilian police probe a pension fraud scheme that stole $1 billion from retirees

Brazil 's federal police said Wednesday they are investigating a scheme that diverted over 6 billion reais ($1.05 billion) from pensions paid by the National Social Security Institute. The probe targets 11 organizations that operated between 2019 and 2024, authorities told reporters. The scheme had retirees listed as members of associations that collected part of their monthly pensions as fees for the organizations. However, the retirees had never joined such associations nor authorized the deductions. As part of the probe, the president...

UK. Mind the gap: younger DC members care about the planet, their pension funds should take note

Today, we manage pensions for members living very different lives, different ages, different time horizons, different priorities. Yet too often, we rarely ask them: "What do you want from your money?" Younger members are already telling us. Over 80% of under-40s in the UK care about climate change. They want their savings to deliver purpose, impact, and value not just financial return and they want to be able to retire into a liveable world, not have to adapt just to survive in...

Canadian plan sponsors watch China’s pension opt-outs for gig economy warning signs

More than 40 percent of flexible workers in China—including delivery drivers, livestreamers, and freelancers—are choosing not to participate in the national pension system, according to Morningstar Canada. Their shift away from the system has contributed to the state pension fund’s first cash-flow deficit since 2018, raising concerns about its sustainability. 29-year-old delivery driver Liu Xin works six days a week in Chengdu but cannot afford the $195 monthly contribution to the state plan. “That’s two weeks of groceries,” he said. “I can’t lock...