August 2018

06Aug

Self-Insurance Against Natural Disasters: The Use of Pension Funds in Pacific Island Countries

By Si Guo (International Monetary Fund (IMF)) & Futoshi Narita Pacific island countries are exposed to significant risks from natural disasters. As adisaster relief measure, Fiji allowed pre-retirement pension withdrawls in the wake ofCyclone Winston in 2016. Motivated by this policy action, we provide a normativeanalysis of the use of early pension withdrawals after disasters, by setting up a life-cyclesaving model with myopic households facing large natural disaster shocks. The modeldemonstrates the key trade-off between building up sufficient retirement savings...

August 6, 2018
Articles, Pension design, Savings,
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06Aug

Working Beyond 65 in Ireland

By Anne Nolan (Options Ltd) & Alan Barrett (Economic and Social Research Institute; IZA Institute of Labor Economics) Extending working lives is often proposed as one route through which the costs associated with population ageing can be managed. In that context, understanding who currently works for longer can help policymakers to design policies to facilitate longer working. In particular, it is important to know if longer working is a choice or a necessity, where necessity arises from a lack of...

August 6, 2018
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, ,
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06Aug

A Risk Too Far The Case Against Collective Defined Contribution Pensions

By Michael Johnson Royal Mail has committed to offering its workers a Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pension scheme, designed to split the difference between existing Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit schemes. The CDC idea is winning increasing support. But it is risky, untested and undermines the personal pensions freedoms introduced in 2015 The system risks creating irreversible intergenerational injustice by overpaying pensioners at the expense of current and future employees. It is also unclear whether what is promised to workers is actually deliverable. Where...

August 6, 2018
Articles, Pension design, System Sustainability, , , ,
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03Aug

US. Would Universal Savings Accounts cannibalize retirement plan contributions?

In the coming days, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is expected to circulate a discussion draft of a Tax Reform 2.0 bill with an eye to advancing a floor vote in the House this September. The bill is expected to include a provision creating Universal Savings Accounts, which would allow any American age 18 or older to invest after-tax dollars that could grow tax-free and be withdrawn for any purpose, at any time,...

August 3, 2018
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03Aug

Ireland. Using pension pots to buy homes makes sense – and will boost enrolment rate

Large numbers of Irish people are not saving for retirement, and the Government is taking the very sensible step of ensuring that, from 2022, workers are automatically enrolled into a pension plan. Anyone who wishes to opt out will be able to do so, but the hope is that most people will be gently nudged onto a path towards a decent standard of living in retirement. To minimise the numbers opting out, people must be convinced that pensions are genuinely attractive....

August 3, 2018
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03Aug

British expat retirees warned over leaving pensions in sterling

The average pension pot for UK expat overseas is around £210,000, but currency fluctuations may cause losses of 20 per cent. A recent analysis of the plunging pound’s effect on British pensions paid in sterling on behalf of UK expats living overseas gives bad news for the estimated 247,000 Brit retirees living abroad. Put bluntly, pensions held in sterling but drawn in foreign currency via ATMs or bank to bank transfers are permanently open to currency exchange fluctuation risks. In...

August 3, 2018
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03Aug

US. Public Pensions Are a Disaster. Here’s a Fair Solution

Connecticut is at the cutting edge of a crisis unfolding across the U.S.: States and municipalities have promised their employees some $4 trillion in pension benefits that they can’t afford to pay. Now the state needs to help lead the way out, by setting aside partisan politics and moving to a better system. Thanks to decades of mismanagement by politicians from both parties, Connecticut has one of the largest pension funding deficits in the country, amounting to one fifth of...

August 3, 2018
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02Aug

Papua New Guinea. Top PNG pension fund officer arrested by fraud squad

David Brown is the Independent Non-Executive Director of an Australian wealth management product provider, ClearView Wealth Ltd. The company has confirmed in a statement that he was arrested and charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud by PNG's National Fraud & Anti-Corruption Directorate.   Read more Radionz  

August 2, 2018
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02Aug

MetLife Profit Beats Estimates, Aided by U.S. Tax-Law Revamp

MetLife Inc. has tax-code changes and a deal with FedEx Corp. to thank for second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations. Earnings at the U.S. business surged 36 percent from a year earlier, fueled by a reduced corporate-tax rate and a pension-risk transfer contract won from FedEx, the New York-based life insurer said Wednesday in a statement. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.30, beating the $1.17 estimate from 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Steven Kandarian has been...

August 2, 2018
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01Aug

UK Financial services exports to the EU reach a record high

UK exports of financial services to the EU reached an all-time high of £25.9bn in 2017, according to data released today by the Office for National Statistics. A £3.5bn increase in the surplus on financial services was the largest driver of the UK’s services surplus last year. By destination, Europe was the largest contributor to the improvement in the financial services trade balance, with a £26.5bn surplus accounting for £2.9bn of the headline gain. The record high on financial services exports...

August 1, 2018
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