November 2018

02Nov

Fintech for Financial Inclusion: A Framework for Digital Financial Transformation

By Douglas W. Arner (The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law), Ross P. Buckley (University of New South Wales (UNSW) - Faculty of Law), Dirk A. Zetzsche (Universite du Luxembourg - Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance; Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf - Center for Business & Corporate Law (CBC)) Access to finance, financial inclusion and financial sector development have long been major policy objectives. A series of initiatives have aimed to increase access to finance and financial inclusion,...

November 2, 2018
Articles, Labor Market, System Sustainability, ,
Read more...
02Nov

Retirement Savings of the Hip Generation: A Study of Retirement Preparation among Individuals in Their Fifties

By M. Kabir Hassan (University of New Orleans - College of Business Administration - Department of Economics and Finance), Shari Lawrence (University of New Orleans - College of Business Administration - Department of Economics and Finance) Longer retirement periods coupled with the inadequacy of the Social Security system, low personal savings rates, and a decreasing trend in the prevalence of defined benefit retirement plans threaten to put a financial strain on individuals approaching retirement. To that end, we investigate retirement...

November 2, 2018
Articles, Savings, ,
Read more...
02Nov

How Does Delayed Retirement Affect Mortality and Health?

By Alice Zulkarnain (Boston College - Center for Retirement Research), Matthew S. Rutledge (Boston College, Center for Retirement Research) Older Americans have been retiring later for a number of reasons, including jobs that are becoming less physically demanding, the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions, and changes in Social Security’s incentives. What are the implications of working longer for workers’ mortality and health? Answering this question is complicated, because work and health are jointly determined – healthy people...

November 2, 2018
Aging, Articles, ,
Read more...
02Nov

UK. Govt urged to introduce state pension top-up for mothers

The government has been urged to introduce an additional rate of pension, on top of the single-tier state pension, for unemployed people looking after a child under 12. Workers union Prospect called for this measure among five other solutions proposed in its 13-page report Tackling the gender pay gap, published today (1 November). The current state pension system allows people looking after a child under the age of 12 and not working to receive credits to ensure there is no gap...

November 2, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
02Nov

US. IRS Announces Higher 2019 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits For 401(k)s And More

Get ready to save more for retirement in 2019! The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2019, and there are a lot of changes that will help savers stuff these accounts. After six years stuck at $5,500, the amount you can contribute to an Individual Retirement Account is being bumped up to $6,000 for 2019. The amount you can contribute to your 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan goes up from $18,500 in 2018 to...

November 2, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
02Nov

ESG factors could improve pots

A question often asked by individuals new to sustainable and responsible investing is: "My priority is a secure pension pot for retirement, so why should I care about sustainability and climate change?" And while the answer is nuanced, fundamentally it is: because you will have a bigger retirement pot by doing so. Mounting evidence shows this to be the case and it is a key reason why the Department for Work and Pensions recently laid new regulations that will require pension...

November 2, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
02Nov

India low on global pension index; proactive regulation can bring meaningful change

A study says steps like introducing minimum level of support for the poor can lead to increase in India’s index value The pension and retirement income system in India has figured in the lowest category in the world, according to the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2018, published by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, along with Australian Centre for Financial Studies and Monash University. The other countries in this category along with India are Japan, South Korea, China, Mexico and...

November 2, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
01Nov

China. Aging population to boost individual pension market

The individual pension market in China will see great development potential in the future due to increasing pressure from an aging population and growing market demand, according to industrial experts. "With the increase in national income and people's growing awareness to save the pension reserve, China's personal pension market, which is the third pillar of the country's pension system, will see tremendous opportunities," according to Dong Keyong, secretary-general of the China Ageing Finance Forum, or CAFF50. The volume of the individual...

November 1, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
01Nov

UK. Public sector pension had double fracking investments

Local authority pension funds continue to invest in dirty oil and gas. The largest public sector pension fund in the UK has more than double the investment in the fracking industry than previously known with more than £1billion at risk, The Ecologist can reveal. Tameside/Greater Manchester (GMPF) had by 31 March 2018 put in an extra £609m worth of holdings in companies that back fracking - which include financial, chemical, security and waste concerns. This is over and above the £700m...

November 1, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...
01Nov

Hongkongers’ MPF funds should not be used to buy property, says OECD pensions chief

Singaporeans can use their pension pots to buy homes, but Pablo Antolin says Hong Kong’s MPF cannot afford such withdrawals, given the current contribution rates Head of OECD’s private pensions unit is in Hong Kong along with hundreds of pension experts to give suggestions on how to improve city’s public pension provisions Hong Kong should follow Singapore and other markets in allowing people to pay more into their Mandatory Provident Funds (MPF). But it should not allow employees to take...

November 1, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...