July 2019

17Jul

Japan’s Answer to Its Pension Problems: Invest Like the U.S.

An official report advising Japanese couples to have at least $185,000 of their own savings for retirement has shaken up an election race and triggered a wave of interest in investing in a country where retirees have long counted chiefly on state pensions. On a recent weekend, a seminar on money management was packed with investment beginners. Mitsugu Kanda, a 28-year-old printing-company salesman, said he was thinking of putting money into stocks to help him accumulate the suggested amount....

July 17, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...

June 2019

27Jun

Japan’s workers scramble to make up $187,000 retirement shortfall

A panel report from Japan's financial regulator estimates that an average elderly couple will need an extra 20 million yen ($186,768) to fund a 30-year retirement. That has prompted retail investors, many still in their 20s, to start building up assets on their own. Nikkei surveyed major online brokerages about the changes they have seen since the report was released on June 3. From June 10 to 14, Rakuten Securities saw applications for the Nippon Individual Savings Account program...

June 27, 2019
News, Slider
Read more...
26Jun

Japan. Abe survives no-trust vote over pension report scandal

The opposition bloc tabled the motion in Japan's National Diet just before the current parliamentary term was due to come to a close. Given the ample majority enjoyed by Abe's government in both of Japan's parliamentary chambers, the no-confidence vote was never expected to pass. Opposition parties moved against the head of government following a controversial government report earlier this month that underscored the unsustainability of the public pensions system and seemed to encourage private savings as a...

June 26, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
24Jun

Japan. Abe survives censure motion by opposition over pension report

A censure motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe submitted by opposition parties over his finance minister's refusal to accept a report suggesting pensions are inadequate for most retirees was voted down in the House of Councillors on Monday. The motion was submitted last Friday as opposition parties launched a last-minute offensive before the end of the current Diet session Wednesday and an upper house election in July to take issue with the Abe government's reluctance to address public concerns...

June 24, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
13Jun

Uproar over $185,000 shortfall puts Japan pension reform on hold

A public uproar has forced the government to retract a controversial report claiming that retired couples reliant on public pensions also need sizable savings, but this backpedaling could further delay Japan's much needed reckoning with the overburdened program. The report compiled by a Financial Services Agency council earlier this month showed that a household with a 65-year-old husband and a 60-year-old wife would need an additional 20 million yen ($184,000) in assets if they live another 30 years. The...

June 13, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
11Jun

Japan. Release of data needed for debate on effectiveness of pension system

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and all his ministers attended a June 10 session of the Upper House Audit Committee. As the ruling coalition has refused to convene a Budget Committee meeting in either house, it marked the first time in two months that Abe responded to questions concerning national policy issues at the Diet. Opposition questions focused on a recently published controversial Financial Services Agency report that says a typical elderly Japanese couple needs an additional 20 million yen ($184,175) to...

June 11, 2019
News, Slider
Read more...
10Jun

Japan. In historic first, G20 weighs aging as global risk

Ballooning healthcare costs, labor shortages and financial services for the elderly: for the first time Sunday, the world's top policymakers are tackling economic issues relating to aging and shrinking birthrates. G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs meeting in Japan -- where a rapidly aging population is a major domestic problem -- have been warned to address the issue before it is too late. "What we are saying is, 'If the issue of aging starts to show its impact...

June 10, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
04Jun

Japan’s pensions inadequate for aging society: gov’t council report

Japan's current public pension system is not adequate to support people's livelihoods anymore facing the rapid aging problem, a Japanese government report revealed Monday. According to the estimation by a council at Japan's Financial Services Agency, a couple who will live until 95 years old will need at least 20 million yen (184,700 U.S. dollars) after retirement, which exceeds the amount their pension benefits can cover. The report also said that in an example of a couple with the...

June 4, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...

May 2019

23May

Japan’s Financial Services Agency calls for financial products that focus on longevity risk

The Financial Services Agency has released a draft report calling for financial products that focus on longevity risk, or when people’s funds for living expenses run short due to a rise in longevity. The draft includes plans for the agency to urge financial institutions to expand their ranges of financial products and services that respond to an aging society. It also noted the need for services that preserve assets for when people’s cognitive functions deteriorate. The document was presented...

May 23, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...

April 2019

22Apr

An Economic Analysis of Intra-governmental Account Transfers: Social Security and Public Infrastructure in Japan

By Yoshimi Adachi (Konan University - Department of Economics) & Tomoki Kitamura (Tohoku Gakuin University; NLI Research Institute, Finance Research Group) In the context of limited local government resources, it is often targeted to secure financial resources for social security expenditures for the aging society and upkeep expenditures against the aging of public infrastructure facilities. This paper examines whether transfers from general accounts to special accounts and public enterprise accounts have a significant impact on the financial burden of local...

April 22, 2019
Aging, Articles, Pension design, ,
Read more...