Sharon McGeough-Adams faces losing £200 a month from her HSBC pension and will protest at the bank's annual general meeting on Friday to demand changes. Having worked for the UK's biggest bank for more than 37 years, she says it is money that could be put aside for other necessities, such as fuel. The loss is caused by the bank's move to reduce pension payments when the recipient receives state pension. HSBC has said it would cost £450m to...
The 200 biggest pension plans in the S&P 500 were underfunded by $240 billion at the end of 2018. Sounds like a big number but it’s actually an improvement from the $382 billion gap in 2016. Funding levels have jumped in recent years due to incentives from tax law changes and a record equity bull market. S&P 500 companies contributed about $63 billion to their defined-benefit plans in 2017, the highest level since 2003, according to a 2018 report...
Pension funds in China could run out before workers born in the 1980s retire, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Wednesday. According to the report, pension funds for urban employees are expected to begin declining from a peak of 6.99 trillion ($1.04 trillion) yuan in 2027. By 2035, there is a possibility of exhausting the accumulated balances, before people born in the 80s retire, the report said. The report also noted that...
From March this year all retirement funds must offer their members annuity (pension) options that conform to regulations that came into effect in September 2017. The aim of the regulations is to improve the likelihood that you, the fund member, will choose a pension that will last for the rest of your life. These so-called default regulations affect three important areas of retirement saving: how your contributions are invested while you are accumulating savings (Regulation 37 of the Pension...
Participating in an employer's 401(k) plan is a good way to set aside funds for the future, especially if your company offers a generous match that helps boost your savings. But new data from investment banking company Natixis reveals that a large chunk of younger workers are making a major mistake on the 401(k) front: removing funds from their plans. Specifically, 30% of millennials have taken out a 401(k) loan, while 26% have taken an early withdrawal. And the...
Open the pages of any business magazine and there is likely to be an article on the millennial workforce – what they need from their employer, the benefits of millennials in business. But what about the benefits of an ageing workforce? There are now more than 1.2 million workers aged over 65, and almost one in seven is part of this age group. With state pension age continuing to rise, the lifecycle of employees is changing. Employees in...
The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) is expected to unify Ghana’s fragmented pension scheme regime by the year 2021, a Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko Brobbey has disclosed. According to him, Cabinet has already given the approval for the development of a roadmap aimed at unifying all pension schemes which is expected to be completed by 2021. Currently, the consultation process which involves wider stakeholders is ongoing before it fully takes off with the unification....
Parliament’s pension fund trustees are to reconsider the rules of their investments to take account of the risk of climate change, in a first for MPs’ finances. While stopping short of a promise to fully divest from fossil fuels, the pledge by the trustees marks an important first step towards assessing and reducing the effect of the pension fund’s investments – which are ultimately paid for by the taxpayer – on climate change. The move is a victory for...
In a bid to strengthen the post-retirement financial capability of all working Nigerians (across all sectors of the economy), the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has finalised plans to launch the micro pension plan (MPP) on Thursday, 28 March 2019. The MPP will allow employees of organizations with less than three staff as well as self-employed individuals to participate in the contributory pension scheme. The move to expand the scope of coverage of the contributory pension scheme will potentially mean...
Millions the world over rely on pensions for their retirement. But, data gathered by Bloomberg and the American Federal Reserve has revealed that such funds, which act as economic lifelines for the soon-to-be-retired, aren’t doing too hot. In fact, Mark Yusko, a prominent American investor, recently claimed that the pension soon may get “truly ugly” when they skirt their commitments. But there’s an unorthodox but perfectly logical answer to this growing dilemma: Bitcoin and crypto assets. Read more @Blockonomi...
