November 2019

14Nov

UK. Pensioners lose decades of savings in 24 hours

As part of a campaign called ScamSmart, the UK Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator have revealed £82,000 (AU$154,202) is the average amount victims of pension scams lost in 2018. It would take an ordinary working saver 22 years to amass that amount, according to the FCA. Despite the significant cost of scams, 24% of people surveyed admitted to deciding on a pension offer within less than 24 hours. One of the main warning signs of a scam...

November 14, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
13Nov

Zimbabwe. NSSA increases pension payouts

The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has more than doubled its minimum pensions from $80 to $200 a month, while workers' compensation scheme minimum pensions have been tripled from $80 to $240. Read also The Monetary Benefit of Delaying Retirement The increases have been backdated to October 1 with the payments due from today. NSSA funeral grants on all schemes have been pushed up from $300 to $2 000. In a statement yesterday, NSSA board chairman Dr Cuthbert Chidoori said...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
13Nov

British expats face losing £50k with pension freeze

The 666,000 retired expats who live in Europe and a handful of countries further afield, such as the US, Jamaica and the Philippines see their payments regularly uprated. But 528,000 have their pensions frozen, the vast majority of them living in Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The state pension only increases annually if a person lives in the European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar, Switzerland, and countries that have a social security agreement with the...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
13Nov

Latin Americans Are Clamoring for Equality — and Democracy

Economic crisis and stagnation have sparked a wave of protest and a demand for more transparency and an efficient welfare state across the region. A sign carried by one of the more than a million Chileans demonstrating on Oct. 25 read: “Neoliberalism was born in Chile; it is dying in Chile.” You’d think the obituary rings true, if you judge not just by protests not just in Chile and Ecuador a few weeks back, but also by election results...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
13Nov

The Tech Behind DC Plan Administration Solutions

As a plan sponsor, you know what entity provides administration services and recordkeeping for your defined contribution (DC) retirement plan—whether it’s a recordkeeping provider or third-party administrator (TPA). But do you know what is behind all of the processing your recordkeeping provider or TPA does? There are a number of technology providers in the retirement plan market that offer certain processes for recordkeepers with their own proprietary or legacy systems, as well as end-to-end recordkeeping for TPAs. According to...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
13Nov

UK. Ex-charity head admits defrauding disabled workers’ pension scheme

The former head of a charity faces a substantial prison sentence after admitting to defrauding a pension scheme for workers with disabilities and using the money to buy houses in England and France. Patrick McLarry, 71, took more than £250,000 from the pension scheme of Yateley Industries for the Disabled and used it to buy homes for himself and his wife and pay off a debt over a pub lease. The Pensions Regulator (TPR), which brought the prosecution, said...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
12Nov

Nigeria. Micro pension: Gaining traction amid challenges

While the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has been fully established and to a large extent taken care of workers in the formal sector including public and private establishments, the micro-pension plan for the informal sector came on-board fully this year with a major launch by the Federal Government. Read also Poland Approves Plans to Overhaul Pension System The scheme, which went through the usual teething problem associated with every new programme, has, however, appeared to be taking shape...

November 12, 2019
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
12Nov

Germany. Government agrees on basic pension

Berlin (dpa) - German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil on Monday praised a compromise deal struck by the country's ruling coalition on a new basic pension, saying that it is a good solution. Read also German coalition parties avert government crisis with pension deal "We have a basic pension that is worthy of its name," he told the broadcaster ARD. Heil said that he had been particularly focused on not deterring needy people and on avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. Read also Switzerland....

November 12, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
12Nov

Switzerland. Aging in good health: The inequalities are widening

Life expectancy in Switzerland has been growing steadily for decades. But have these additional years been spent in good health or, on the contrary, do they only prolong the ills of an aging population? In an attempt to answer this question, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, collated data from the Swiss National Cohort (SNC) and the Swiss Health Surveys between 1990 and 2015, all within the framework of the "LIVES" National Centre of Competence in Research...

November 12, 2019
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
12Nov

The Monetary Benefit of Delaying Retirement

As clients get older, they often start to feel obligated to retire. They love working, but they are 65 or older and all their friends are doing it. The traditional concept of retirement is called a “cliff retirement” because it is so abrupt. One day you are working full time, and the next you are recreating full time. However, there are many social and health benefits to delaying retirement and continuing to work. We all need meaning and significance...

November 12, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...