March 2019

29Mar

Is Pension Reform on the Ballot in Argentina’s Election?

With the fastest-aging populations in the world, Latin American countries are under the gun to overhaul pension systems. Argentina is no different. President Mauricio Macri passed a reform in December 2017, which was met with protests, along with a number of legal hurdles that have kept the legislation from bearing fruit. The latest came on March 26, 2019, when Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to tax pensioners. The administration has been mute on the issue, avoiding an...

March 29, 2019
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29Mar

Why ageing China won’t overtake the US economy as the world’s biggest – now or in the future

In 2010, China replaced Japan as the world's second-largest economy. Many economists believe it is just a matter of time before China dethrones the United States as the world’s biggest economy – some have argued that it could happen before 2030. They have cited the history of other Asian economies as evidence to back the claim. The nominal per capita gross domestic product of China was just a sixth of America’s in 2018 – a level similar to...

March 29, 2019
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29Mar

Lessons From the UK’s Retirement Plan Auto Enrollment Requirement

The United Kingdom has recently completed a nationwide phased rollout of a requirement that employers automatically enroll employees into a retirement plan, with the ability to opt out, and researchers from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College say the results provide lessons for the United States. Following the UK’s initiative, participation rates have jumped to around 90% at medium and large employers (those with 58 or more workers), 74% at employers with 50 to 57 employees, 67%...

March 29, 2019
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28Mar

US. State Pensions Plans Are In Bad Shape But Reforms Can Help

It’s no secret that state public pension systems across the country are in bad shape. A failure to make required contributions coupled with unrealistic assumptions about investment returns has left many systems severely underfunded. A new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) examines state pension systems from a variety of angles and finds that the view is always the same—looking over a cliff. Any analysis of state pension systems needs to clearly establish a baseline. The ALEC...

March 28, 2019
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28Mar

How 75,000 people can get a 20pc pension boost by waiting just two weeks

Changes to income tax take effect in two weeks – and with some smart use of pension pots you can save thousands of pounds in tax. The trick is to delay usual payments – using the flexibilities afforded by the pension freedom reforms – until 6 April. Both the personal allowance (the amount you can earn before paying any tax) and the level that higher-rate (40pc) tax kicks in are increasing for the 2019-20 tax year. That means earnings...

March 28, 2019
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28Mar

Maltese workers might need to delay retirement to maintain living standards

Malta’s low pensions might lead today’s workers to have to remain in employment past their retirement age if they are to maintain the standard of living they became accustomed to, Jobsplus CEO Clyde Caruana has said. Caruana said that, given that pensions in Malta are only 1.2 times the poverty line, meaning that pensioners are not very far from the income level delineating poverty, workers might choose to continue working even when they reach an elderly age. Comparatively, Spain,...

March 28, 2019
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28Mar

ESG Investments a Good Option for Retirement Plans

Gone are the days when socially responsible investing is defined as an investment strategy that seeks to avoid companies that profit from “sin” (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms, etc.). The investment strategy has adopted a holistic focus on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG), according to a white paper by Karen Kaufman-White, investment research associate at Strategic Benefit Services. According to Kaufman-White, ESG issues can have a material impact on a company’s performance via reputational, operational, and financial risks or...

March 28, 2019
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28Mar

Chairman JK Bank Launches Pension For Employees Of Grameen Bank

Chairman & CEO, J&K Bank Parvez Ahmed today launched the pension scheme for the employees of J&K Grameen Bank during an event organized at Hotel Radisson Blu, Jammu in presence of Executive President J&K Bank R.K. Chhibber, President J&K Bank Sunil Gupta, Chairman Grameen Bank Janak Raj, General Managers Grameen Bank and a number of serving and retired employees of the J&K Grameen Bank. While congratulating the serving and retired employees of the JK Grameen Bank for being brought...

March 28, 2019
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27Mar

Brazil economy chief skips pensions hearing, parties demand changes

Brazil's pension reform process hit two speed bumps on Tuesday, as Economy Minister Paulo Guedes did not attend a first congressional hearing on the proposals and a bloc of 11 political parties demanded the removal of changes affecting retirement benefits for rural and disabled workers. Guedes's appearance at the 'CCJ' committee was seen as a highlight of pensions reform negotiations this week, amid growing concern the government is disengaged from the process. The government's chief congressional whip Joice...

March 27, 2019
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27Mar

Slower growth in ageing economies is not inevitable

FOR THE first time in history, the Earth has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of five. In another two decades the ratio will be two-to-one, according to a recent analysis by Torsten Sløk of Deutsche Bank. The trend has economists worried about everything from soaring pension costs to “secular stagnation”—the chronically weak growth that comes from having too few investment opportunities to absorb available savings. The world’s greying is inevitable. But its negative...

March 27, 2019
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