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...
Public pension benefits will rise for the first time in three years in fiscal 2023, although at a slower pace than a major inflation rate, the Health, Labor and Welfare ministry said Friday. Benefit increases, set at 1.9% for pensioners aged 68 or over, will be limited because the ministry will activate what it calls the macroeconomic slide mechanism to curb benefit payments for the first time in three years. Japan revises the amounts of pension benefits every year to take...
Given today’s ongoing high inflation, many Americans worry they may not have put away enough money for retirement. They fear that sharp increases in food and energy prices and transportation and medical care costs could significantly affect their retirement savings. Yet there’s another important factor to consider: your life expectancy. A new report from the TIAA Institute and George Washington University reveals that more than half of American adults don’t know how long people generally tend to live in retirement, which...
By Russell J. Gerrard, Munir Hiabu, Jens Perch Nielsen & Peter Vodička When long-term savers plan for retirement they need to know their investment prospects in terms of real income (Merton, 2014). While inflation has traditionally been considered as a complication in financial analysis and financial practise, we obtain enhanced predictability and model fit if the real returns are targeted in conjunction with earnings-by-price minus inflation as predictor. For this latter case, we propose an investment strategy of updating the...
An inflationary environment that is anything but transitory, the volatility arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other geopolitical crises, and a bevy of controversies surrounding ESG investing dominated headlines this year, while the fall of Allianz Global Investors and an exceptionally busy regulatory year were also among Pensions & Investments' top 10 stories of 2022. The top story this year was inflation and the Federal Reserve's aggressive actions to curb it through multiple interest rate hikes. After more than...
By The Pensions Policy Institute This report, the third in the series, provides an updated version of the Index, alongside recent data illustrating changes, particularly in the labour market and pension saving, that have been experienced by underpensioned groups since the first Index. Recognising that the current economic landscape is challenging, some of these changes may reflect current circumstances rather than long-term trends, and some of the policies that may be suggested as potential remedies to the underpensioned challenge may not be appropriate to enact during the...
By OMFIF Most central bank reserves managers are resigned to a period of higher inflation and lower returns, according to a report published today by OMFIF. More than 75% of the central banks surveyed for the 2022 edition of Global Public Investor believe inflation will be sustainably higher or more volatile for a prolonged period. Just 20% of reserves managers think inflation will be transitory. At the same time, central banks believe the new macroeconomic environment will cause their portfolios to suffer....
Seniors have been feeling the repercussions of inflation. Those 55 and older have had to cut back on health visits and meals—some limiting the heat in their homes—in order to save money this year, according to a new report. The report released last month by Paying For Senior Care, which provides financial information for the aging population, examined how inflation affects seniors’ daily lives. The report, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults ages 55 and older, found one in four have...
Japan is expected to curb pension payment rises at rates below that of inflation, according to Nippon Life Insurance's research arm. NLI Research Institute has forecast an inflation rate of 2.5% for full-year 2022, but it expects the government to set the increase in pension payments for those aged 68 and above at only 1.8% for next year. It expects those aged 67 and younger to get a pension rise of 2.1% in 2023. Although there are worries that the financial...
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already promulgated the Government's decree establishing exceptional support measures for families to mitigate the effects of inflation. According to a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, the Head of State also promulgated the Government's decree allowing the return of gas for consumers with an annual consumption of less than or equal to 10,000 m3 to the regulated tariff regime. This note was released by the...
