April 2023
13Apr

South Africa: Grandparents Spend Their Pensions to Feed Entire Families as Food Crisis Hits Hard in Eastern Cape

As Eastern Cape communities are hit by spiralling food inflation and unemployment rates of 42.4%, the province's elderly residents are using their state pensions to look after families in crisis and often have to rely on loans in the last weeks of the month. In Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, pensioners are selling scrap metal for food as whole families rely on their grants to survive and the cost of food often leaves their cupboards bare before the end of...

April 13, 2023
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March 2023
31Mar

The cost of living

We first took evidence on the cost of living crisis in February 2022, when inflation was forecast to peak at 7.25% in April 2022. Since then, we have seen the invasion of Ukraine compound the difficult economic picture and inflationary pressure seen internationally and domestically after the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation now looks set to top 11% in October—the highest in 40 years. However, the context for the cost of living crisis and its impact on the poorest in...

March 31, 2023
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28Mar

Key demographic trends that will impact the global economy

The global population is currently experiencing irreversible demographic shifts, from rapid urbanisation to low birth rates. A combination of economic, social, environmental, and political factors has accelerated this transition, as outlined below. The following demographic trends will significantly impact the global economy for decades to come. Urbanisation The United Nations (UN) estimates that over two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Generally, urbanisation can be a positive phenomenon in improving national and individual economic performance, reducing poverty, and improving...

March 28, 2023
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17Mar

Longevity, Health and Housing Risks Management in Retirement

By Pierre-Carl Michaud & Pascal St-Amour Annuities, long-term care insurance and reverse mortgages remain unpopular to manage longevity, medical and housing price risks after retirement. We analyze low demand using a life-cycle model structurally estimated with a unique stated-preference survey experiment of Canadian households. Low risk aversion, substitution between housing and consumption and low marginal utility when in poor health explain most of the reduced demand. Bequests motives are found to be a luxury good and play a limited role....

March 17, 2023
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15Mar

Ghana. ‘We don’t have time to go to court, we’ll picket MoF some more’ – Pension bondholders threaten

Pensioners who bought government bonds and have not been paid their coupons have threatened to picket the Ministry of Finance some more if they are not paid in 48 hours. "We have our options, plenty of them, including the picketing, so, when it comes that we have to repeat, we'll repeat", the group's convener, Dr. Adu Anane Antwi, told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Class91.3FM's mid-day news programme 12 Live. Asked if the options included going to court, Dr. Anane Antwi said: "No,...

March 15, 2023
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03Mar

Zimbabwe: NRZ Pensioners Earning U.S.$3 Monthly Pay Outs

Retired National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) workers are receiving a meagre monthly pension pay out equivalent to around US$3 per month despite decades of investing their labour into the growth of the company. Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Wednesday on condition of anonymity, one pensioner said the National Railways of Zimbabwe Contributory Pension Fund (NRZCPF) is paying out very mean amounts which are wiped out by bank charges. "Early this year the pension pay outs were increased from around ZW$2 000 to ZW$3...

March 3, 2023
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February 2023
17Feb

Switzerland. Phone scammers targeting pensioners in Zurich stole 6,7 million francs in 2022

Phone scammers targeting residents of Zurich succeeded in stealing 6,7 million Swiss francs in 2022, SRF has reported. The trick involves the scammers posing as police officers and calling victims to ask them to pay “bail” in order to release a relative from jail. Many of the victims were retired. Phone scammers try to trick hundreds each day in Zurich According to Swiss broadcaster SRF, phone scammers try to swindle the residents of Zurich out of their hard-earned money hundreds of...

February 17, 2023
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15Feb

Around the World, New Solutions to Fight Poverty in Aging

In Mexico, they’re teaching Indigenous artisans how to sell their textiles and crafts online. In Ethiopia and Colombia, they’re experimenting with new ways to provide health care services to residents in rural communities. In Bangladesh and Ecuador, they’re using targeted cash transfers to help older widows and others avoid poverty when they are unable to earn income. Around the globe, governments and other policymakers are exploring solutions to prevent older adults from living in poverty or otherwise being shut out...

February 15, 2023
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15Feb

75-year-old Iraqi woman donates her pension for Turkey quake victims

In a noble gesture, an elderly Iraqi woman has donated her pension to the earthquake victims in Turkey. The 75-year-old Khorshid Hussein Mohammed lives in Barda Qaraman on the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah, set aside her differences and illness, and made the decision. Khorshid told the media that she was born in 1948 in the village of Bargurdi, Mawat. She said she had to leave her village in 1989 due to oppression by the Baath regime and recalled her time she lived in...

February 15, 2023
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08Feb

New Evidence on the Demand for Advice within Retirement Plans

By Jonathan Reuter & David P. Richardson We study demand for advice by retirement plan participants using administrative records from defined contribution retirement plans offered by 23 institutions where TIAA is the sole recordkeeper. We distinguish advice on asset allocation from advice on retirement income levels, and between participants who are and are not eligible for TIAA’s wealth management services. We find that advice seeking increases with age, account balance and annual contribution level, and is highest among those eligible for wealth management services. However, we...

February 8, 2023
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