November 2024
01Nov

UK. Former miners celebrate ‘hard-fought’ win in pension scandal

Former miners have said they are delighted their “hard-fought campaign has finally paid off” after the government said it would end the pension scandal that left many of them “dying in abject poverty”. In her first budget on Wednesday, Rachel Reeves announced the £1.5bn mineworkers’ pension fund would be handed over in its entirety to ex-miners and their families, after years of campaigning on an unjust agreement that allowed the government to take half of their pension surplus. The pensions...

November 1, 2024
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October 2024
21Oct

UK. DWP to give £812 to some benefit claimants

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is providing a new loan scheme that offers people on benefits an additional £812 boost. This measure, launched by the government department, is designed to further support benefit claimants throughout this year. According to the DWP, recipients of the loan are not required to pay back the sum immediately. The Department has stated, "A Budgeting Loan is interest-free so you only pay back what you borrow. The repayments will be taken automatically from...

October 21, 2024
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18Oct

The Impact of Lump-Sum Retirement Withdrawals on Labor Supply: Evidence from Peru

By Carla Moreno & Sita Slavov  We examine the labor supply impact of a 2016 policy that allows retirementeligible individuals covered by Peru’s private pension system to receive retirement benefits as a lump sum rather than as an annuity. We present a theoretical model predicting that, for liquidity constrained workers, the lump sum option makes formal employment (requiring pension participation) more attractive relative to informal employment (not requiring pension participation); it also encourages early retirement. Using household panel data, we...

October 18, 2024
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16Oct

Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2024

By Mercer, CFA Institute, Monash Business School The Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index benchmarks 48 retirement income systems around the world, highlighting challenges and opportunities within each. Vietnam was added to the mix this year. We used updated data from the OECD and other international agencies and added some new questions to the integrity sub-index. The index is made up of three sub-indices, namely adequacy, sustainability and integrity, to measure each retirement income system against more than 50 indicators. This...

October 16, 2024
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16Oct

Higher Contributions, Net Replacement Rates Make World’s Best Pensions

Which countries have the best retirement systems? The Netherlands, Iceland and Denmark are the top three, according to the 2024 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. The top three were unchanged from last year’s report. The 16th annual survey benchmarked and compared the retirement systems of 46 countries, with a secondary purpose of highlighting shortcomings in each system and suggesting areas of reform. Among the characteristics present in the top-rated plans, the researchers identified: A public pension for the aged poor of at...

October 16, 2024
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04Oct

UK. Frozen state pensions: thousands of expats receive just £3,000 a year

Thousands of retired Britons living abroad receive just £3,000 on average each year from a “frozen state pension” - £7,000 less than retirees living in the UK - according to new analysis. While British pensioners that move abroad still receive a UK state pension, only some of them benefit from the triple lock. This uprates the state pension each year in line with earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. The new full state pension is likely to increase by more than £400 next April,...

October 4, 2024
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September 2024
30Sep

Two million French seniors live in poverty: charity report

Two million seniors in France live below the poverty line, warns a charity that works to alleviate isolation amongst the elderly. It pointed to a rise in poverty, particularly among older women and people living alone. The poverty level of people aged 60 and older is on the rise, the Petits freres des pauvres (Little brothers of the poor) charity in its annual report published Monday. In 2024, some 11 percent of elderly people live under the poverty line, compared to eight...

September 30, 2024
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27Sep

Only 26% of Nigerian workers have pension plan and health insurance- NBS Report

The Nigeria Labour Force Survey published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that only 26.3% of Nigerian workers have a pension plan and health insurance in 2023. The report noted that Zamfara state in the Northwest recorded the highest number of employees with health insurance and pension at 65% while Abia had the lowest number of wage employees with health insurance and pension plan at just 3.9%. The report states, “The percentage of employees entitled to either pension or health...

September 27, 2024
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13Sep

2024 Global Retirement Index

By Natixis Investment Managers Despite positive progress for many countries in the Global Retirement Index (GRI), retirement security remains on shaky ground in 2024. More and more individuals across the globe are realizing that they’re on their own when it comes to funding their retirement. Results from the long-running Natixis Global Survey of Individual Investors reveal that the number of people who say it’s increasingly their responsibility to fund retirement on their own—rather than relying on public and private pensions—has grown...

September 13, 2024
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13Sep

The future of retirement security: An international comparison through the lens of adequacy, sustainability, equity and plan design

By Surya Kolluri, Catherine Reilly & David Richardson The average retiree can now expect to spend about two decades in retirement, roughly double the time from 50 years ago. Along with extended lifespans, the number of workers per retiree is declining around the world and ever fewer workers have access to defined benefit (DB) plans that promise a guaranteed income in retirement. Instead, most workers save for retirement through defined contribution (DC) plans, which do not automatically convert savings into...

September 13, 2024
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