July 2021
16Jul

Room to Thrive: Why Principles-based Standards Make Sense for Regulating Contingent Pension Plans

By Barry Gros As membership in traditional defined-benefit pension plans declines, plans in which benefits are contingent on the financial status of the plan are becoming more common. Rather than placing all the risk on sponsors to deliver guaranteed benefits to members, these contingent pension plans require members to take on at least some of the risk that benefits may or may not meet expectations. This E-Brief focuses on two types of contingent plans, target-benefit plans and multi- employer pension plans....

July 16, 2021
Articles, Regulation,
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16Jul

Public Pension Design and Household Retirement Decisions: A Comparison of the United States and Germany

By David Knapp, Jinkook Lee, Maciej Lis and Drystan Phillips Social Security provides retirement benefits to age-eligible workers and their spouses. Benefits are permanently increased if initial receipt is delayed. For benefits paid to spouses, these incentives reflect a complex interaction of the worker’s and spouse’s earnings histories, benefit claiming decisions, and age difference. We demonstrate that the benefit increment from delaying initial receipt of spousal and survivor benefits is substantial for some households. Past studies find that workers respond...

July 16, 2021
Articles, Pension design, , ,
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16Jul

Private Retirement Systems and Sustainability: Insights from Australia, the UK, and the US

By Nathan Fabian, Mikael Homanen, Nikolaj Pedersen & Morgan Slebos Retirement system sustainability is defined as the ability of plan boards and managers to be responsible investors, active stewards, and allocators of capital to economic activities with desirable social and environmental outcomes. In this paper, we examine the policy frameworks and important structural variables pertinent to private retirement systems in Australia, the UK, and the US. By analyzing various reports, interviewing experts, and using data from the Principles of Responsible...

July 16, 2021
Articles, Investment, System Sustainability, , , ,
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16Jul

Chile. Gremio de asesores previsionales propone crear nuevo fondo F que garantice una rentabilidad fija

La presidenta de AGAP, Ann Katharine Clark, aseguró que “la creación de un fondo F que invierta en diferentes instrumentos pero que otorgue una rentabilidad fija asegurada por la AFP, podría ser la alternativa adecuada para entregarles estabilidad a los pensionados". Un nuevo fondo “F” que garantice una rentabilidad fija para los cotizantes. Esa es la propuesta presentada por la Asociación Gremial de Asesores Previsionales (AGAP) que busca evitar pérdidas, de manera de asegurar mejores pensiones para aquellas personas que...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

Is there really an ESG bubble?

Environmental, social and governance-focused investment is on the upswing like no other investment trend. In the first half of 2021, of 80 exchange-traded funds and mutual fund launches in the UK, 37 were ESG vehicles. Of these, 19 were equity funds, 16 mixed assets, and one each for bond and alternatives (chart 1). Bonds showed rather better last year with 12 launches, but whatever the year, equity launches dominate. This compares with 207 launches in 2020, of which 59 were ESG,...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

Further Proof that Auto-Enrollment is Key to Saving Earlier for Retirement

If you automatically enroll them, they will save… sooner. A new survey has found the vast majority (84%) of workers that were automatically enrolled in their workplace retirement plan say they started to save for retirement sooner than if they had to take action to make the enrollment decision on their own. Read also US. Biden’s Pension Rescue Seen as Bigger Help for Corporate Bonds However, only one-third of employers currently offer automatic enrollment, and among those that do, just 21% have...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

UK. Pension tax change proposals branded ‘tragic’ and ‘crazy’

On the go: Rumours that the Treasury is planning to raid pensions have been branded “tragic” and “crazy” by speakers at a Hymans Robertson webinar, who warned that any reforms harming incentives to save could undo the work put in to boost retirement standards. Pensions Expert reported in June on the rumours that Treasury officials have drawn up a list of three reforms to the way pension contributions are taxed, with the aim being to find the money to pay...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

How geopolitics impact global public investors

In the world of institutional investing, geopolitical risk has emerged as a pressing concern. While some asset owners contend that they are fully capable of analysing and managing such risk, they appear to be in the minority. Many public investors are still largely unprepared, lacking proper analytical frameworks and relevant expertise to tackle geopolitics in a structured and rigorous way. However, there is a relatively simple and straightforward solution to this: asset owners can apply some of the same...

July 16, 2021
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15Jul

México. Retirar 5 mil de la Afore significa perder 23 mil

Debido a la crisis económica ocasionada por la pandemia, las finanzas personales de muchos mexicanos se han visto afectadas. Para tratar de salir a flote, las personas han recurrido a préstamos bancarios, préstamos sobre nóminas y a retirar parcialmente de su cuenta de ahorro para el retiro (afore). Sin embargo, Álvaro Aldrete, conferencista y asesor profesional de seguros desde 2006, experto en ahorro y retiro, explica que lo ideal es no recurrir a los ahorros de la afore, y solo...

July 15, 2021
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15Jul

US. How Benchmarks Keep Pension Stakeholders in the Dark

There’s no shortage of studies arguing that pension funds and endowments would have been wise to put the kibosh on their complex portfolios and opt for a simple passive strategy over the last five, 10, or 20 years. But new research from Richard Ennis, one of the founders of investment consultant EnnisKnupp, details another fault line in the argument. Benchmarks in investing, just as in sports or healthcare, are designed to measure performance, costs, risk, and other data points against peers...

July 15, 2021
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