August 2021

Why Tontines Should Be a Piece of the Retirement Solution

By Jasmin Sethi Retirees are often faced with the fear of outliving their assets. This fear, also known as longevity risk, has been eased by the availability of annuities, specifically annuities that I’ve termed in my paper as guaranteed income products, or GIPs, that offer fixed payments until death. One would think that a product offering fixed payments for life would be more popular among retirees, but the reality is that Americans choose not to purchase annuities. Why? A big factor...

On The Investment Strategies in Occupational Pension Plans

By Frank Bosserhoff, An Chen, Nils Sørensen, Mitja Stadje Demographic changes increase the necessity to base the pension system more and more on the second and the third pillar, namely the occupational and private pension plans; this paper deals with Target Date Funds (TDFs), which are a typical investment opportunity for occupational pension planners. TDFs are usually identified with a decreasing fraction of wealth invested in equity (a so-called glide path) as retirement comes closer, i.e., wealth is invested more...

South Africa proposes a mandatory pension system

Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has published a Green Paper on comprehensive social security and retirement reform for public comment. It includes a mandatory pension and insurance system among the proposals. Read also Warning over major retirement change for South Africa The department said that the absence of a statutory arrangement providing pensions and insurance is the most obvious gap in South Africa’s social security system. Read also European Union: Putting A “PEPP” In The Step Of European Pension Providers? “Such an arrangement...

UK. Pressure increases on Rishi Sunak to suspend triple lock on pensions

Rishi Sunak has come under further pressure to suspend the state pension triple lock after wage figures showed that the chancellor is on course to pay pensioners a rise of more than 8% next year. Sunak is understood to be considering telling Britain’s 12 million state pension claimants that the pandemic has artificially inflated the official wages figures and a new formula is needed to calculate the rise in the basic state pension for next year. Read also UK. I Don’t...

Greece. New pension scheme from 2022

Greece’s pension system will undergo a significant change on January 1, 2022, when funded supplementary pension body TEKA begins operation. The bill creating TEKA has cleared the parliamentary committee stage and is expected to be voted by the full Parliament as soon as it reconvenes on August 23. The change will not affect most current employees. But for those who enter the market in 2022 and beyond, the government claims it will mean that they are guaranteed to get full value...

European Union: Putting A “PEPP” In The Step Of European Pension Providers?

The pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) is a voluntary, individual, non-occupational personal pension product that offers savers a new pan-European means of saving for retirement. The first PEPPs can be established from 22 March 2022, but will this product prove popular for providers? Before the introduction of the PEPP, there was no legal framework governing personal pensions at an EU level. It was recognised that the lack of an internal market for pensions caused difficulties with pension portability for mobile...

US. Five Retirement Planning Pitfalls (And How To Avoid Them)

As a financial advisor, one of the most commonly asked questions I get is, “What can I do to improve my retirement picture?” One of the biggest benefits of investing in a 401(k) plan is the ability to grow your assets over time. A 35-year-old who contributes $19,000 annually over a 30-year period can have $1.34 million to retire on at age 65, assuming a 5% annual return. Now that might sound like a difficult amount to put aside each...

The Origins of ESG in Pensions: Strategies and Outcomes

By Stephanie Lachance, Judith C. Stroehle As intergenerational stewards of capital, pension funds can have many good reasons to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in their investment practices. Yet the particular structure of pension funds creates both advantages and disadvantages for the integration of ESG. This paper reviews the historical origins, regulatory mandates, and fund structures of pensions, to tease out exactly which of these characteristics enable and which of them impede the inclusion of ESG at pension...

Living in the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Health, Finances, and Retirement Prospects of Four Generations

By Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies Since 1998, Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (TCRS) has conducted a national survey of U.S. business employers and workers regarding their attitudes toward retirement. The overall goals for the study are to illuminate emerging trends, promote awareness, and help educate the public. It has grown to be one of the longest running and largest national surveys of its kind. • Limited Print and Electronic Rights. This document and trademark(s) contained herein are federally registered or...

Argentina’s new pensions programme pays women for caregiving

The Argentine government is seeking to redress that gender inequity by assigning a pension contribution value to the time people have spent raising children. Read also It’s time to give essential workers the protections they deserve The programme, launched this week, marks the first time the role of an unpaid caregiver has been recognised by the Argentine state as something akin to work. The policy is expected to enable 155,000 more women to collect a pension immediately. Read also Towards Improved Retirement...