July 2026
15Jul

UK. TISA calls for auto-enrolment contributions to rise to 12%

The Investing and Saving Alliance (TISA) has urged the Pensions Commission to set out a timetable for increasing minimum auto-enrolment pension contributions to 12%. The trade body warned that current contribution levels are unlikely to deliver adequate retirement incomes for millions of savers. In its response to the Commission’s interim report, TISA proposed phasing in the increase over six years while allowing flexibility for different incomes and circumstances. TISA also called for an auto-enrolment-style pension saving framework for the self-employed, greater use...

July 15, 2026
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10Jul

Retirement in America: an Analysis of Retirement Preparedness Among Working-Age Americans

By Joelle Saad-Lessler & Tyler Bond This research examines the retirement preparedness of working-age Americans. The research answers key questions relating to retirement savings, access to retirement plans, and how saving for retirement interacts with other financial commitments, such as repaying student loan debt and owning a home. It also offers a broad examination of how different groups of workers are faring in their preparation for retirement and a consideration of where workers are falling short. The report key findings are...

July 10, 2026
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10Jul

The China Imbalance Residual: A Demographic Decomposition

By Brian Peters The Chinese current-account surplus has averaged approximately 2 percent of GDP since 2015, declining from a 2007 peak near 10 percent yet remaining far above what its income level and demographic structure would predict in a global panel. We estimate this gap as the residual against the income-conditional demographic baseline fitted on 140 countries with China held out. The residual averages +5 to +12 percentage points of GDP across four sub-periods of 2000-2024, peaks at +14.3 pp...

July 10, 2026
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10Jul

Optimizing Retirement Financial Strategies: Integrating Annuities, Defined Contribution Plans, and Long-Term Care Costs

By Vanya Horneff, Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell, Julius Odenbreit Nursing home costs in the United States now exceed $100,000 per year, and government assistance programs such as Medicaid help out only when retirees are largely destitute. Moreover, health shocks driving the need for such care can arise suddenly in old age, are frequently permanent in nature, and can be associated with declining mental and physical abilities. These facts raise the important question of how households can best prepare to...

July 10, 2026
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03Jul

How Americans Are Thinking About Aging: For older adults, income largely shapes the aging experience

By Luona Lin & Juliana Menasce Horowitz The U.S. population is aging rapidly. From 2004 to 2024, the share of Americans ages 65 and older increased from 12.4% to 18.0%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This is due in part to the country’s declining birth rate and increased life expectancy, but also because Baby Boomers – whose generation is defined by the increase of births in the U.S. following World War II – are now well into their 60s and 70s. This research is part of...

July 3, 2026
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June 2026
26Jun

Avoiding the ‘pink pound’ blind spot

By Scottish Widows  While Pride celebrations carried on around the UK, the reality is that ‘pink finances’ remain in dire straits. It was a common trope not that long ago that this cohort of society was more likely to be more affluent than average. But the reality is very different. In fact, the challenges facing LGBTQ+ people are vast, and this group is much more likely to have a range of different vulnerabilities. To ensure that they continue to deliver the...

June 26, 2026
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18Jun

Vanguard’s alarming state of retirement in 2026: The average American has $167,970 in their account—or they have $44,115

For 25 years, Vanguard has been keeping score on the great American retirement experiment. Every year, it publishes the most comprehensive snapshot in the industry of how workers save, how much they accumulate, and whether any of it will be enough. The 2026 edition is out. Spoiler: It depends on which number you’re looking at. The number Vanguard leads with is $167,970—the average 401(k) balance across nearly 5 million accounts the firm administered at year-end 2025. That’s a record high, up 13% from...

June 18, 2026
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18Jun

South Korea. Pension Savings Balances Near 200 Trillion Won

Last year, driven by a bullish stock market, pension savings balances neared 200 trillion Korean won, with annual returns exceeding 10%. Notably, annual returns for pension savings funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approached 30%. Pension savings are voluntary products individuals join in addition to the National Pension and retirement pensions. On the 18th, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced in the "2025 South Korean Pension Savings Investment White Paper" that last year’s accumulated pension savings balance...

June 18, 2026
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18Jun

Nigeria. Over 92% of personal pension savings accounts remain unfunded

Amidst efforts by the National Pension Commission, PenCom, to include informal sector workers in the pension scheme, the Personal Pension Plan, PPP, which caters to the informal sector, has remained stagnant. While the PPP has 215,412 registered Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, only 17,320 of these RSAs, which represents 8.0 per cent, have received contributions. The remaining 198,092 RSAs, which represent 92.0 per cent, are dormant. PenCom, in its fourth quarter 2025 report stated that registrations are not savings and registration without funding...

June 18, 2026
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17Jun

US. Retirement savings set record high — but so do hardship withdrawals: Vanguard

There's some good news and some not-so-good news on the retirement front from Vanguard. Americans set aside a record amount of money in their 401(k) accounts last year, according to Vanguard's "How America Saves 2026" report. But while savings rates are up, so are the number of Americans tapping their 401(k) for emergencies. Vanguard said 6% of participants made a hardship withdrawal in 2025, the largest share ever and up from 5% in 2024. "Pressures such as inflation and rising interest rates contribute...

June 17, 2026
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