March 2019

Trade Against Pension Fund Constraints For Better Returns

Individual investors and actively managed mutual funds manage roughly 10 times the money that "sophisticated" investors like hedge funds do. In turn, pension funds and insurance companies have about twice as much as mutual funds. They are typically highly constrained and invest in the same assets. My investment philosophy is to study the constraints and biases of large investors and trade against their irrationality. This is fairly easy to execute if you have at least a six-figure portfolio. My...

February 2019

UK. Pension trustee admits stealing £280,000 from pension scheme

An accountant and pension trustee being prosecuted for fraud by The Pensions Regulator has admitted stealing over £280,000 from a pension scheme. TPR says the accountant used the scheme like a “personal piggy bank.” In TPR’s inaugural fraud prosecution it heard Roger William Bessent plead guilty to five counts of fraud and two counts of making employer-related investments at Preston Crown Court today. The regulator will ask for three other counts of employer-related investments to be left to lie...

Preparing For An Aging World

Senior citizens will have growing influence over their country’s overall economic might, as they will be working later in life and represent an increasing share of consumer discretionary power. Longevity will put new pressures on the economy, including rising costs of healthcare, insurance and a greater burden of age-related diseases. But longevity will also spark new models of wealth management, life insurance, and consumer goods focused on the elderly. Aging societies are a worldwide phenomenon driven by several long-term...

Portugal. State paid out millions to deceased pensioners

News reports this morning have revealed social security services have paid out millions of euros to deceased pensioners. According to an internal audit conducted by the Accounts Tribunal, 3.7 million euros were paid out in 2016 to 2017, and in some cases, payments were made for ten years after a recipient’s death. Recovering the cash from family members who pocketed the payments has not proven easy, with only around 600,000 euros recouped by the state to date. Read more...

London Stock Exchange Leads $20 Million Fundraise for Blockchain Startup Nivaura

Capital markets blockchain startup Nivaura has raised a total of $20 million with the closing of its second seed extension round led by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Announced today, other investors in the latest round include Santander InnoVentures, the Spanish bank’s VC arm; law firms Linklaters and Orrick; Transamerica Ventures, part of pensions and asset management giant Aegon; MiddleGame Ventures; Digital Currency Group; and Spencer Lake, formerly head of global markets at HSBC. Nivaura closed the original...

Germany struggles to stop Nazi war payment suspicions

A Belgian bid to stop Berlin from paying pensions to alleged Nazi collaborators has exposed a cloud of confusion and suspicion - including in Germany - over payments still made to 2,000 people worldwide. The controversial law in question is known innocuously as the Federal German War Victims' Assistance Act, or the "Bundesversorgungsgesetz", but tabloid-style Bild daily calls it "Hitler's pensions". The debate surrounding the law exploded again on February 20th when the Belgian parliament voted on a resolution...

Brazil. Pension Reform Will Make Young People Take Jobs With Less Benefits

Bill encourages hiring retirees and extends the retirement age, making older people stay in the workforce Bolsonaro's proposed Social Security reform bill will keep middle-aged professionals who could otherwise retire in the workforce. It is also bringing a new idea: incentives for companies to hire retirees. However, specialists say that the proposal will have an unexpected side effect: it will force young people - especially the ones without skills - to take jobs without law-mandated benefits. ...

Ireland. Pension hike for 1,000 people following major government review

ALMOST 1,000 people have got a pension hike following a major government review of their retirement benefits. The pensioners’ payments were reassessed to see if an increase was justified following cuts imposed seven years ago. A full state contributory pension is worth €243.30 a week but many get less than this depending on the contributions they made during their careers. Under the review, officials from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection applied a new assessment method. It...

US Man’s “Holiday Inn” Retirement Plan Is Viral

Competition is at least partly to blame, with some 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day, according to the business news channel. American seniors seeking to retire on the cheap have a new source of inspiration: a Texas man who plans to spend his golden years in Holiday Inn hotels to avoid costly nursing home fees. "For a combined long term stay discount and senior discount, it's $59.23 per night," Houston-area resident Terry Robison said on Facebook three weeks ago...

Pooling Pensions Could Give Better Outcomes For Savers

Financial experts are advocating more pension tinkering after an international study of workplace schemes concluded retirement savers could benefit from pooling resources. The study looked at defined contribution pensions offered by employers and found that pooling could lead to benefit from economies of scale. This was most significant when schemes looked at: Negotiating fees for managing illiquid assets, where larger funds could gain cheaper rates Developing in-house expertise when pooled pensions made the move more cost-effective The report ‘The...