January 2020
18Jan

Risk and Equity Release Mortgages in the UK

By: Tripti Sharma, Declan French, Donal G. McKillop Accessing elderly housing wealth through equity release mortgages (ERMs) continue to be the focus of policy debates about how to pay for social care and how to support retirement incomes in the UK. We demonstrate in this paper that the spatial concentration of this market in just a few regions is not due to demand but to the risks faced by suppliers. We show that by ignoring regional variations in No Negative...

January 18, 2020
Adequacy, Articles, Pension design, Slider-Left, ,
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17Jan

Germany’s other migration wave: the pensioner exodus

As retirement neared a decade ago, German butcher Waldemar Hackstaetter took stock of his finances and concluded he and wife Hildegard couldn't afford to remain in their home country. So they moved to rural Bulgaria, where they knew their combined income of 1,200 euros (£1,026) would buy a lot more. Read Also Greek Authorities to Raise Pensions after Years of Cutbacks "The month stretched further than our pension did (in Germany) and we didn't want to become a burden to...

January 17, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
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09Jan

The World’s Best Places to Retire in 2020

“Where should I retire?” This is the question we hear most often at International Living, and every January we give you our most definitive answer in the form of our Annual Global Retirement Index. When it was first conceived, our Retirement Index was our special way of coping with an embarrassment of riches. At that stage, IL had already spent over a decade exploring all manner of dream locales. The result was a huge and exciting variety of choice and opportunity. Fast-forward to...

January 9, 2020
Books, Pension design, , ,
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December 2019

17Dec

Estonia: use robust growth to improve income equality and well-being

Estonia’s economy is performing well, and public finances are in excellent shape, yet growth is softening and spending pressures from infrastructure needs and an ageing population are mounting. Efforts should now focus on improving income equality and well-being, greening growth and accelerating the country’s digital transformation, according to a new OECD report. The latest OECD Economic Survey of Estonia notes Estonia’s expertise in information technology and its global head start in digitalising government services. Estonia now needs to accelerate...

December 17, 2019
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09Dec

Greece. Mechanism for retirees with low pensions

The government is planning to abolish the so-called 13th pension, i.e. the handout to pensioners the SYRIZA administration distributed before the elections this year, though the 971 million euros handed out to 2.5 million retirees will stay in their pockets. The Labor Ministry is already working on the creation of a permanent mechanism for the support of recipients of low pensions, within the social security system. The amount of the support and the width of the pensioner catchment will...

December 9, 2019
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06Dec

The Comprehensive Wealth of Older Immigrants and Natives

By David A. Love, Lucie Schmidt This article compares the retirement preparations of immigrant and native-born Americans aged 51 or older. The authors estimate the present value of future income streams in calculating measures of comprehensive wealth and an annualized equivalent. In addition to some significant differences in median annualized wealth between immigrants and natives, the authors find that the most recent waves of immigrants are more financially vulnerable in retirement than earlier immigration cohorts were at similar ages....

December 6, 2019
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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06Dec

Exploring Wealth Inequality

By Cato Institute, Ryan Bourne, Chris Edwards Many political leaders and pundits consider wealth inequality to be a major economic and social problem. They complain about a shift of wealth to the top at everyone else’s expense and about plutocrats dominating policymaking in Washington. Is wealth inequality the crisis that some people believe? This study examines six aspects of wealth inequality and discusses the evidence for the claims being made. Section 1 describes how wealth inequality has risen in...

December 6, 2019
Adequacy, Articles, System Sustainability,
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04Dec

Saving Nigerian pensioners from untold hardships

In Nigeria of today, working in the civil service is quite interesting, but that only lasts for the 35 years of active working. Once that lapses, the next phase comes with huge sufferings for most people. Pensioners are the least on priorities, from state to the federal government. It’s a series of untold hardships, right from the point of retiring. Getting the gratuity and regular pensions have always been complex. And the unfortunate thing is that, this trend has...

December 4, 2019
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November 2019

29Nov

How Much Should the Poor Save for Retirement? Data and Simulations on Retirement Income Adequacy Among Low-Earning Households

By Andrew G. Biggs Both policymakers and members of the public are concerned regarding the adequacy of U.S. households’ retirement savings. In response, proposals have been made to expand Social Security benefits and to establish state government-run retirement plans for private sector employees. In both cases, the largest effects would be on low-earning households, who currently have low rates of retirement plan coverage and participation and who rely heavily upon Social Security benefits in retirement. However, there has been...

November 29, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Savings, , , ,
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22Nov

How Would 401(K) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality?

By Vanya Horneff, Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell The US has long incentivized retirement saving in 401(k) and similar retirement accounts by permitting workers to defer taxes on contributions, levying them instead when retirees withdraw funds in retirement. This paper develops a dynamic life cycle model to show how and whether ‘Rothification’ – that is, taxing 401(k) contributions rather than payouts – would alter household saving, investment, and Social Security claiming patterns. We show that these changes differ importantly...

November 22, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Savings, ,
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