February 2023
23Feb

Australia plans to limit early access to retirement funds, cut tax breaks

Australia's centre-left government said on Thursday it would push ahead with plans to change superannuation rules, including restricting early access to funds until retirement and limiting tax breaks for high-earners. The Labor government earlier this week launched a consultation on reforming superannuation - or retirement fund - saying it wanted the A$3.3 trillion ($2.3 trillion) pension system to become sustainable and equitable in the face of mounting pressure on the federal budget. "We are not trying to revolutionise the system, but...

February 23, 2023
News, ,
Read more...
21Feb

Test case could land Indigenous Australians early age pension

A legal test case could result in Indigenous Australians accessing age pension payments three years early, as a Wakka Wakka elder argues he should qualify sooner because his life expectancy is lower. Dennis James Fisher’s legal team, led by Ron Merkel, KC, argue Indigenous men such as their client, who was born in 1957, do not have the same opportunity to retire and receive the same age-pension support as other Australians. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that in 2015–17, the...

February 21, 2023
News, ,
Read more...
14Feb

US. Pension funds are sticking with bonds for the most part

Last year was rough for U.S. pension fund bond portfolios. With the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond index down 14.6% after a year of high volatility, investors had to look to other parts of their portfolios to bolster returns. For the defined benefit plans among the 200 largest plan sponsors in Pensions & Investments' survey, the evidence of that volatility is obvious in the data. A significant portion of the plans in the survey reported smaller bond portfolios as of Sept....

February 14, 2023
News, ,
Read more...

January 2023
09Jan

How world’s biggest funds are preparing for a cash crunch

In a year of disease, war and inflation, one event struck fear into the heads of Australia’s super funds more than any other. That was October’s UK pension crisis which, had it not been for the intervention of the Bank of England, would have rendered many pension funds insolvent. While most Australian super funds would say they think deeply about ensuring they are never caught without enough emergency cash, that episode brought home just how quickly a liquidity crisis can evolve. The...

January 9, 2023
News, , ,
Read more...

December 2022
05Dec

Private Debt Funds Tap Australia’s $2.3 Trillion Pension Savings

After winning over some of the biggest retirement plans in the US, private credit managers have found new fertile ground for their investment pitch: Australia’s $2.3 trillion pension industry. Four of the top-10 pensions Down Under -- Australian Retirement Trust, HostPlus, UniSuper and Colonial First State -- are making significant increases to their private credit allocations, according to recent statements and interviews with Bloomberg News. AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest, is midway into a three-year push to triple its allocation. That’s music...

December 5, 2022
News, ,
Read more...

October 2022
21Oct

Individual Investors’ Housing Income and Interest Rates Fluctuations

By Antonio Gargano & Marco Giacoletti Little is known about the participation of small individual landlords in the rental market, and about rental income earned by households. Using unique tax filings data from Australia, we show that 20% of middle and retirement age median-income individuals are landlords. This fraction has risen over the last 20 years, increasing by 80% for the retirement age group. We provide evidence linking this change to cuts in interest rates, which have led older individuals...

October 21, 2022
Adequacy, Articles, ,
Read more...
13Oct

Australia must urgently fix pensions gender gap

Australia must urgently address the pensions gender gap in the upcoming federal budget, warns a body representing the nation’s A$3.3 trillion (US$2.1 trillion or RM9.84 trillion) of retirement savings. The government needs to make swift reforms to an industry that currently leaves retired Australian women with typically 23.1% less in their pension accounts than men, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA). Pension payments should be made to workers on paid parental leave following the birth or adoption...

October 13, 2022
News, ,
Read more...

September 2022
19Sep

Australia. Millions to get cash boost

Millions of Australians are in for a welcome boost on Tuesday, with Centrelink payments set to rise in response to growing inflation. Centrelink payments will increase on Tuesday for millions of Australians as an indexation increase to match cost of living pressure kicks in. The payment increase is set to be the biggest in 30 years and will benefit aged pensioners, disability support pensioners, carers and those on JobSeeker and Rent Assistance among others. Single parents will receive an extra $35.20 per...

September 19, 2022
News,
Read more...
01Sep

Australia. Pensioners re-entering workforce would make a ‘tangible difference’

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has discussed various solutions to Australia’s labour shortage as the Jobs and Skills summit kicks off in Canberra today. “We put a very practical suggestion, a tangible outcome that we get pensioners and veterans – give them an incentive to do more work without losing their pensions,” Mr Taylor told Sky News Australia. “There is enough pensioners and veterans out there who want to do extra work that it would make a tangible difference. “We have heard crickets...

September 1, 2022
News, ,
Read more...

August 2022
23Aug

Australia’s Pensions Suffer Worst Year Since Financial Crisis

Australia’s pensions posted their worst annual performance since the global financial crisis as markets were roiled by central banks’ aggressive rate hikes and the war in Ukraine. Read also Should Pension Funds ‘Invest’ in Crypto? Guardians of the world’s fifth largest pension pot shed A$92.8 billion ($64 billion) on investments in the fiscal year through June 30, the biggest loss for the period since 2009, according to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority data released Tuesday. That saw the pool of savings fall...

August 23, 2022
News, , ,
Read more...