August 2020

05Aug

Your Pension May Be Gambling On Human Life, Profiting From COVID Deaths

Whether you know it or not, your pension may be gambling on highly-speculative life settlement funds which profit when people die prematurely from COVID. Life settlement funds are controversial for a host of obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. Read also Coronavirus is creating retirement insecurity. These 10 steps can diffuse the timebomb of an ageing population These investments in a pension ensuring the retirement security of workers is doubly problematic. Many public and private pensions are gambling on highly speculative funds...

August 5, 2020
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05Aug

How to Improve Women’s Retirement Savings: Brookings

Women get the short end of the stick when it comes to retirement. It starts with differences in earnings and, thus, less money to save for retirement. But other factors come into play: They are more likely to leave the workforce to care for children or parents, and they live longer. But a Brookings Gender Series paper recommends several policy changes that could address these issues. “Public policies that aim to boost women’s status in retirement should focus on...

August 5, 2020
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05Aug

Nigeria. Operators invest N55.25bn pension funds in infrastructure

The Pension Funds Administrators have invested N55.25bn under the Contributory Pension Scheme in infrastructure as of the end of May, latest statistics from the National Pension Commission has revealed. The commission stated this in its report titled ‘Summary of pension fund assets as at 31 May, 2020’ obtained by our correspondent on Monday. According to the statistics, the total assets under management by the operators stood at N10.79tn in the period under review. The commission had stated in its...

August 5, 2020
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05Aug

Belarus to promote system of voluntary pension savings

We will promote a system of voluntary pension savings, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he delivered his annual address to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly on 4 August, BelTA has learned. “The average pension will be maintained at 40% of the national average wage. In order to increase pensions, we will be promoting a system of voluntary pension savings with the participation of citizens and businesses” the head of state said. He is confident that some...

August 5, 2020
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05Aug

Retirement anxiety heightened by COVID-19

The song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” describes how people feel about retirement these days. That’s the song chosen by nearly half of the respondents in a survey released on July 29 by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, a nonprofit educating Americans about protected lifetime income in retirement. Most people surveyed (7 out of 10) say “the pandemic has made them more pessimistic about their retirement plans” (with 63% being somewhat more pessimistic and 7% much more...

August 5, 2020
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04Aug

Coronavirus is creating retirement insecurity. These 10 steps can diffuse the timebomb of an ageing population

To redesign a retirement that builds the necessary financial resilience for longer lives, the World Economic Forum and Mercer have created a ten-point checklist to redesign retirement. Safeguarding financial wellness requires an all-encompassing view of a person. This means considering their tangible assets (including savings and property), but also less tangible assets such as health, skills and career readiness to work longer. It will also require coordinated efforts across stakeholder groups, including individuals, employers, financial services providers and governments....

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

UK. FTSE 350 pension deficit rises as COVID19 lockdown eases

Mercer’s Pensions Risk Survey data shows that the accounting deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s 350 largest listed companies increased from £90bn at the end of June 2020 to £103bn on 31 July. Liability values rose by £13bn to £970bn at the end of July compared with £957bn at the end of June. Asset values were £867bn (unchanged since the end of June). Charles Cowling, Chief Actuary, Mercer, said: “Pension scheme deficits worsened again...

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

Greece. New pension reform in the pipeline

A new overhaul of Greece’s pensions system is being prepared, in which first-tier, or main pensions, will be higher and second-tier, or auxiliary, pensions will be invested, providing an element of risk. The proposal, prepared by a committee under Cypriot-British Nobel laureate Sir Christopher Pissarides, is expected to be made public Monday for public consultation before being adapted into a bill and tabled in Parliament. Kathimerini understands that there will be significant changes in the pension system’s structure. Specifically,...

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

US. Beleaguered Public Pension Funds Make Record Gains in Second Quarter

Public pension funds set a 22-year performance record in the second quarter, recovering some but not all of their losses from the first quarter. Double-digit stock gains pushed pension returns to a median 11.1% for the second quarter, according to Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service. Even with the rebound, median annual returns for the public pensions whose fiscal years ended June 30 were 3.2%, far short of the funds’ long-term investment-return target of around 7%. “That’s the funny thing...

August 4, 2020
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04Aug

Women Are Leading Latin America’s Fintech Revolution

Finance services is an industry that has been particularly male-dominated, with women holding less than 10 percent of senior positions. Despite predictions that the fintech industry could disrupt the gender balance in the traditional finance sector, female leadership in fintech remains low in most of the world. Read also How to Improve Women’s Retirement Savings: Brookings In Latin America, however, women are stepping up as fintech leaders, with five times as many female-founded fintechs as the global average. The Latin...

August 4, 2020
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