November 2022

Portuguese seniors’ life expectancy decreased again, provisional results show. It determines pension age for 2024

Statistic Portugal published on November 29 the provisional value of life expectancy at age 65 for the three-year period 2020-2022. Every year this estimates has an influence on pensions in Portugal. Life expectancy at age 65 in Portugal is estimated at 19.30 years for the triennium 2020-2022. Different from life expectancy at birth, this means Portuguese at age 65 between 2020 and 2022 could expect to live until 84 years and 110 days on average. It decreased 0.05 year compared...

Canada. Are longevity fund solutions going to change the retirement income game?

Over the past few years, Canada’s investment fund industry has sought to revolutionize Canada’s retirement-planning landscape with the introduction of innovative products. In 2021, Purpose Investments launched the Longevity Pension Fund, while Guardian Capital introduced its own GuardPath Longevity Solutions earlier this year. While they don’t offer estate-planning guarantees, both go beyond the scope of traditional mutual funds by tapping into mortality credits, an idea that was first explored through the use of tontines in the 16th century. As the fund...

Global population hits 8 billion, doubling in 48 years

The world’s population has reached 8 billion, up by one billion in just 11 years since the population hit 7 billion in 2011. On Tuesday, the UNDP announced that the world’s population had hit 8 billion. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that it is a “milestone in human development,” and that this is an “occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet.” Since 1974, when the global population first exceeded 4 billion,...

October 2022

The Effect of Removing Early Retirement on Mortality

By Cristina Bellés-Obrero, Sergi Jimenez-Martin & Han Ye This paper sheds new light on the mortality effect of delaying retirement by investigating the impacts of the 1967 Spanish pension reform. This reform exogenously changed the early retirement age, depending on the date individuals started contributing to the Social Security system. Those contributing before 1 January 1967 maintained the right to voluntarily retire early (at age 60), while individuals who started contributing after that date could not voluntarily claim a pension...

July 2022

The Role of Longevity Annuities in Different Socioeconomic Classes: A Canadian Case Study

By Rui Zhou, Johnny Siu‐Hang Li & Kenneth Zhou A longevity annuity is a deeply deferred annuity which begins payments very late in life. By transferring some of the risk of outliving retirement savings at advanced ages to annuity providers, longevity annuities provide retirees with enhanced later-life financial security. This paper aims to investigate the impact of longevity annuity provision on retirement income planning for Canadians, on the basis of the tax rules and retirement system in Canada. The research...

June 2022

South Korea saw biggest natural population decline for the month of April

The number of deaths in South Korea recorded in April rose to an all-time high for that month. According to Statistics Korea, in April, there were almost 37-thousand deaths, which was a whopping 46.3 percent increase from a year earlier. As for the number of births, it was the 77th month in a row almost six-and-a-half years straight that the number of babies born has declined. Births came in at a little over 21-thousand, which was down 7 percent from a year...

April 2022

The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity

The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity

By Tatyana Deryugina & David Molitor Life expectancy varies substantially across local regions within a country, raising conjectures that place of residence affects health. However, population sorting and other confounders make it difficult to disentangle the effects of place on health from other geographic differences in life expectancy. Recent studies have overcome such challenges to demonstrate that place of residence substantially influences health and mortality. Whether policies that encourage people to move to places that are better for their health...

Australia. Two pathways for super funds to address longevity risk

Australia. Two pathways for super funds to address longevity risk

Addressing longevity risk in the Retirement Income Covenant (RIC) is a tougher nut to crack for superannuation funds than its mandate for funds to mitigate investment and inflation risk to retirement savings. Speaking to Money Management, Challenger’s general manager, institutional partnerships, Simon Brinsmead, said this was because it was the only risk that funds needed to balance that existed outside of the accumulation phase. “Why this is significant is because you've got around about 700 people retiring every day now, so...

Why Society Needs To Change How We Think About Aging

Why Society Needs To Change How We Think About Aging

With the Age Discrimination in Employment Act coming into force back in 1967, the notion of age discrimination has a long history. Unfortunately, it’s an issue that we still grapple with today, and whereas it’s easy to assume it’s only a problem for those in and around retirement age, a survey from Senior Living suggests it can kick in as early as our 40s. The research, which saw over 1,100 Americans over 40 years of age quizzed about their workplace...

March 2022

Looking into Longevity: Q&A with Professor David Blake

Looking into Longevity: Q&A with Professor David Blake

By David P. Blake & Howard Kearns Defined benefit pension schemes are increasingly focusing on the impact of longevity risk on their liabilities. Howard Kearns, longevity director at Insight, speaks to Professor David Blake, professor in the Faculty of Finance at Bayes Business School and Director of the Pensions Institute, on the impact of the pandemic on longevity, the consequences for pension schemes, and the future of the longevity hedging market. Sourse: SSRN 456 views