September 2021
14Sep

US. House Democrats propose new retirement plan rules for the rich, including contribution limits and a repeal of Roth conversions

House Democrats proposed a slew of changes to retirement accounts for the rich on Monday, part of a restructuring of the tax code tied to a $3.5 trillion budget plan. Taken together, Democrats’ reforms aim to erode the use of retirement accounts as a perceived tax shelter for the wealthy and instead promote them as a way for low- and middle-income Americans to build a nest egg. Most of the changes would start in 2022. Wealthy individuals with retirement accounts exceeding $10...

September 14, 2021
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14Sep

US. Retiring Boomers Could Drive An Inflation Shift

Inflation tends to top the list of economic risks that investors obsess most about. After all, runaway inflation has devastated some economies over the centuries. Corralling inflation and keeping expectations well-anchored have been key mandates for most central banks for decades. However, inflation expectations are not uniform across age groups. Surveys from the New York Federal Reserve highlight the disparity. The over 60 crowd expects inflation to hit a staggering 5% three years from now, while those under 40 think...

September 14, 2021
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August 2021
27Aug

UK. 10m pensioners risk running out of money — poll

Nearly 10m British pension savers risk running out of money in retirement because they do not know how to make their savings last, according to new analysis which sheds fresh light on the complex choices facing retirees. In 2015, big changes to tax rules handed millions aged 55 and over full control over how they access their retirement cash, including spending the fund in one go. But a new study has found that faced with this increased choice, large numbers of...

August 27, 2021
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26Aug

The New Income Projection Rules for Defined Contribution Plans

By Richard L. Kaplan & Barry Federici The SECURE Act enacted at the end of 2019 requires that defined contribution retirement plans provide plan participants will projections of how much monthly income their accumulated balances will generate upon their retirement. This article analyzes the new Labor Department regulations that go into effect on September 18, 2021 and suggests various revisions, including an explanation of likely tax consequences. Source: SSRN 607 views

August 26, 2021
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26Aug

A New Look at Racial Disparities Using a More Comprehensive Wealth Measure

By Alice Henriques Volz & Jeffrey P. Thompson Most research measuring disparities in wealth by race relies on data that exclude resources that are disproportionately important to low-wealth and non-white families, namely defined benefit (DB) pensions and Social Security. This paper finds that once these resources are included, disparities in wealth between white families and Black and Hispanic families are substantially smaller and that they are not rising over time. The powerful equalizing roles of DB pensions and Social Security...

August 26, 2021
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23Aug

What is work and how affects retirement?

By Manuel Carvallo In order to properly plan for retirement, we need to have a vision of it. Dreams of our future retirement are never a one size fits all. The retirement vision varies from person to person, and it depends on several factors: personal goals, family situation, and type of work. This last factor will largely determine how one should prepare for retirement. In my previous post I mentioned that retirement plans were originally designed to provide benefits to the long-term employees...

August 23, 2021
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19Aug

Pensions, Income Taxes and Homeownership: A Cross-Country Analysis

By Hans Fehr, Maurice Hofmann & George Kudrna This paper studies the role of pensions and income taxes in determining homeownership and household wealth. It provides a cross-country analysis, using tax and pension policy designs in Germany, the US and Australia. These developed nations have similar incomes per capita but very different homeownership rates, with the US and Australia having much higher homeownership compared to Germany. The question is to what extent the observed differences in homeownership are induced by...

August 19, 2021
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17Aug

The World’s Best Countries for Pensions in 2021

By Blacktower Hard-working retirees have put in decades of time and effort as part of their working life. As they prepare to relax in retirement, they’re counting on a pension to help maintain a comfortable life – but the quality of state pensions available varies drastically based on where you live. We ranked countries across the globe on key pension factors to find out the best country in the world.     Get the book here

August 17, 2021
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16Aug

Financial Resilience in America August 2021

By Martha Deevy, Jialu Liu Streetern, Andrea Hasler & Annamaria Lusardi Data collected right before COVID-19 hit the United States in 2020 indicated deeply rooted financial insecurity: one in three American families wasn’t ready to cope with a mid-sized financial shock; about 27% couldn’t come up with $2,000 within a month if an unexpected need were to arise; and 33% found it difficult to make ends meet in a typical month (2020 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index [P-Fin Index], Yakoboski...

August 16, 2021
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16Aug

3 Ugly Truths About Retirement in Canada

Saving for retirement has never been easy. In the days when private and public sector employers offered generous defined benefit (DB) pensions, that didn’t matter as much. But today, with private sector DB pensions all but extinct, you really have to save if you want to retire comfortably. If you’re a government worker with a very generous pension plan, then perhaps that doesn’t apply to you. But if you’re like most Canadians, you’re really going to need some savings to...

August 16, 2021
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