May 2026
29May

The Duty to Explain: Fiduciary Intelligibility Under ERISA

By Ian Edwards This Essay examines whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) contains an emerging principle of fiduciary intelligibility within its participant disclosure framework. ERISA requires Summary Plan Descriptions (“SPDs”) to be written in a manner “calculated to be understood by the average plan participant.” While modern pension disclosure has become increasingly sophisticated and financially technical, this Essay argues that administrative and financial disclosure are not necessarily equivalent to fiduciary intelligibility. The Essay does not propose a...

May 29, 2026
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28May

Why de-risking your pension is riskier than you think

People spend a lot of time fretting about how much income to draw from their pension every year. There is another, equally important question, however: what do you invest your money in? On the one hand, you want your savings to grow so they can sustain you through your whole retirement. On the other hand, you don’t want to take on too much risk; volatility can be financially and emotionally draining. Over the long term, equities generally outperform other asset classes,...

May 28, 2026
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26May

CDC pensions approaching ‘pivotal moment’ in the UK

Collective defined contribution (CDC) pensions are approaching a “pivotal moment” in the UK, according to Aon, as the consultancy predicted they could “revolutionise pensions” for both employers and savers. In its new report, CDC Pensions: Everything You Need to Know in 2026, Aon noted that multi-employer CDC arrangements are expected to begin operating from 2027, following the finalisation of regulations for whole-life unconnected multi-employer CDC schemes. Last week, the Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) updated code of practice for CDC schemes was laid before parliament, bringing multi‑employer...

May 26, 2026
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21May

Why millions of Britons face a pension cliff edge

In today’s newsletter: A new report warns that many in the UK are under-saving for later life, leaving some with little choice but to work longer. Good morning. I am going to whisper this gently so you don’t get spooked back under the duvet – there is a good chance that you are one of at least 15 million Britons not saving adequately for retirement. That is according to a report published this week by the Pensions Commission. The pensions “cliff edge” is...

May 21, 2026
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20May

UK. Asking people to save 12% of salary into pensions could tackle looming retirement poverty crisis

Poverty in retirement could be drastically reduced if minimum work pension contributions were boosted, a new report finds. Some 12.2 million people or nearly a third of adults face hardship in later life on current forecasts. That is the number of people heading for an income of less than the Pensions UK benchmark for a basic standard of living - £13,400 if you are single or £21,600 for a couple. The figures do not account for income tax, housing or care costs. However,...

May 20, 2026
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April 2026
29Apr

Crypto-assets and decentralised finance. Report on stablecoins, crypto-investment products and multifunction groups : October 2025

By European Systemic Risk Board Financial stability risks are mounting in 2025 as crypto-assets, including stablecoins, go mainstream, buoyed by forceful US policy measures. By mid-2025, the crypto-asset market had reached record valuations, largely driven by US pro-crypto policies aimed at boosting demand for US Treasuries and reinforcing the dollar’s dominance. In this context, the ESRB’s General Board noted in June 2025 that the growing links between the crypto sector and the financial sector should be closely monitored. It also voiced...

April 29, 2026
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29Apr

Gambling for Retirement: The Economics of Savings Lotteries

By Jared Gars, Justin Holz, Rodemeier & Juan Miguel Villa Governments frequently use lottery-like incentives to encourage socially desirable behavior ("Pigouvian lotteries"). We study lotteries that encourage retirement savings in a nationwide field experiment with over 380,000 participants in Colombia's public pension system. Lotteries increase savings during the qualification period, but this effect is almost entirely offset by subsequent declines in savings, as workers strategically shift the timing of deposits. Lotteries also crowd out demand for valuable life and disability...

April 29, 2026
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17Apr

Opt-in or Opt-out? The Power of Defaults in Pension Enrollment Choices

By Tabea Bucher-Koenen, Luisa Wallossek & Joachim Winter Default settings strongly increase pension enrollment, especially when savings incentives are high and choices are complex. We show that the effect is weaker when incentives are low, options are simple, and opting out is easy. We study the nationwide introduction of auto-enrollment for lowincome employees in Germany's public pay-as-you-go pension system. We find that automatic enrollment raises participation by 23 percentage points, though most individuals actively opt out. Linking administrative and survey data...

April 17, 2026
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07Apr

Old-age pensions in the Pacific: Ensuring dignity in later life

In Fiji, the Social Pension Scheme pension is having a huge impact on reducing poverty, with analysis suggesting poverty among older persons would be around 40 per cent higher without the scheme. The pension supports more than 58,000 older persons and, for many households, this support is essential. A recent community-level survey of 1,365 pension recipients found that 72 per cent are the sole income earners within their households. At the household level, the impacts are tangible. “The pension enables recipients to transition...

April 7, 2026
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March 2026
06Mar

Closing the gender income gap: from paycheck to pension

By Allianz Research Women have made measurable progress over recent decades in narrowing gender pay gaps and increasing labor-force participation – but structural gaps persist. Across the OECD, the unadjusted gender pay gap – the percentage difference between the average earnings of all men and all women without accounting for differences in job type, hours worked, experience or seniority – has declined from 21% in the early 2000s to 13.7% in 2024, and female labor-force participation has risen steadily to 71%, compared with 81% of men. However, single metrics do not capture the full economic impact...

March 6, 2026
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