October 2022

US. Retirement Planning: There’s A Wide Gap Between Expectations And Reality

There’s a significant perception/reality gap among most pre-retirees and retirees today. That’s one of the key takeaways from a new study published by the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL), titled Disconnected: Reality vs. Perception in Retirement Planning. The study shows that most of today’s pre-retirees and retirees lack sufficient savings to fully retire at age 65 and that generally, they’re not financially prepared for retirement. Yet they hold unrealistic financial expectations for their retirement years, and they’re not taking steps...

September 2022

Ireland to increase state pension for those who work beyond 66

Ireland will offer anyone over 66 a higher state pension the longer they stay in work, sidestepping a recommendation by a government-appointed commission to gradually increase the retirement age to 68 to help fund the ageing population. Under the proposed flexible model agreed by ministers on Tuesday, people will have the option from 2024 to continue working up until the age of 70 in return for a higher pension for each additional year they work. The state pension currently stands at...

Rise of DC poses risks and challenges for future pensioners

Increasing reliance on defined contribution savings means the needs of future pensioners will be markedly different from those of previous generations, placing greater emphasis on the need for support, according to a new report. The report from the Pensions Policy Institute, published on September 8, explained that increasing reliance on DC pots as opposed to older defined benefit schemes results in “more complex” retirement finances that future pensioners will have to manage, and that these will require more active engagement...

UK. Younger savers express adequacy concerns; cost of living limiting saving ability

Nearly a third (32 per cent) of 18–34-year-olds know that they should be saving more for their retirement, with only 16 per cent believing that their savings are on track for a comfortable retirement, research from Wealth at Work has found. In addition to this, more than a fifth (21 per cent) of young savers have no idea how much their pension is worth and almost a quarter (24 per cent) have no idea how much they will need to...

June 2022

Kosovo war veterans clash with police, want higher pensions

Hundreds of Kosovo war veterans clashed with police Monday at a protest to demand higher pensions, leaving at least three people injured, police said. Police kept members of the War Veterans’ Organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) away from the parliament in Pristina, where lawmakers were discussing proposal to raise the minimum salary from 170 euros ($182) to 250 euros ($268) per month. More than 30,000 war veterans get 170 euros per month for their pensions but were not included...

Iranian pensioners protest against high living costs — reports

Pensioners protested in Iran on Monday against soaring living costs, according to Fars news agency and social media reports, in a further challenge to authorities grappling with weeks of unrest. Demonstrators shouted “our expenses are in dollars, our income in rials” in the northwestern city of Tabriz, the semi-official agency reported. “About 1,000 retirees gathered to protest peacefully and were escorted by the police” in the city, Fars added. Social media posts also purported to show crowds in Qazvin, Shiraz, Shushtar and...

May 2022

The DC Future Book 2021: In Association With Columbia Threadneedle Investments

By Pension Police Institute & Investments Columbia Threadneedle Columbia Threadneedle Investments has supported The DC Future Book since its inaugural publication six years ago. We are pleased to see that it has become the foremost longitudinal study of the UK Defined Contribution (DC) market we envisaged it to be. This is a special edition indeed – it is the first time that the Pensions Policy Institute has been able to track DC market activity against the backdrop of a major crisis....

April 2022

US. Inflation is taking a big bite from retirees’ pension income

Most pensions, unlike Social Security payments, don’t offer a cost-of-living adjustment that keeps pace with the current inflation rate. State and local government pensions typically offer up to a 2% or 3% adjustment a year. Private-sector employers that still provide pensions, however, typically don’t offer a COLA at all. There may be a tension between enhancing a pension’s adjustment and maintaining the plan’s longer-term financial health. Inflation is taking a substantial bite from the income retirees get from pensions. Many...

Argentina has too many pensioners, according to an IMF report

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has underlined the fact that Argentina has a larger proportion of citizens earning pensions when compared to other countries in the world. The IMF document also stressed many of those allowances were disproportionately high when compared to wages of active workers in OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, which include the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain. The report is dated March 25 and is attached to the understanding...

Germany set for bumper pension hike amid inflation surge

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition Cabinet on Wednesday gave the green light to the largest hike in pensions in more than a generation. The decision was made against a backdrop of rampant inflation, with pensions in Germany adjusted each year based on the national average salary. It also comes after some pensioners received no increase last year as the coronavirus pandemic battered the economy. How big is the increase? Pensions in states that made up the former West Germany, where there was no...