September 2024
19Sep

US. Less Than Half of Pre-Retirees Actively Saving for Retirement

Only 40% of pre-retirees—those between five and 10 years away from their desired retirement age—say they are financially preparing for retirement. This according to New York Life’s latest Wealth Watch survey, released Sept. 17, which found that American adults overwhelmingly report they are not financially preparing for major life events like purchasing a home, starting a family, changing careers, or retirement. The survey also found half of pre-retirees think they will retire later than expected, and 22% think they may never...

September 19, 2024
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13Sep

2024 Global Retirement Index

By Natixis Investment Managers Despite positive progress for many countries in the Global Retirement Index (GRI), retirement security remains on shaky ground in 2024. More and more individuals across the globe are realizing that they’re on their own when it comes to funding their retirement. Results from the long-running Natixis Global Survey of Individual Investors reveal that the number of people who say it’s increasingly their responsibility to fund retirement on their own—rather than relying on public and private pensions—has grown...

September 13, 2024
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13Sep

Beyond the Status Quo: A Critical Assessment of Lifecycle Investment Advice

By Aizhan Anarkulova, Scott Cederburg & Michael S. O'Doherty We challenge two central tenets of lifecycle investing: (i) investors should diversify across stocks and bonds and (ii) the young should hold more stocks than the old. An even mix of 50% domestic stocks and 50% international stocks held throughout one’s lifetime vastly outperforms age-based, stock-bond strategies in building wealth, supporting retirement consumption, preserving capital, and generating bequests. These findings are based on a lifecycle model that features dynamic processes for...

September 13, 2024
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04Sep

As life expectancy increases, Olivia S. Mitchell says it takes financial planning to take the worry out of extra retirement years

Career paths are rarely straight lines, but as new technologies transform jobs at a dizzying pace the twists and turns can throw retirement plans off course. Born to globe-trotting economist parents, Olivia S. Mitchell was introduced to economic principles early on. At the age of five, while living in Pakistan, she observed construction workers pouring concrete by bucket brigade rather than using a cement truck and asked her father why. “Labor is cheaper than capital,” he responded. Mitchell went...

September 4, 2024
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03Sep

US. This Triple Tax-Advantaged Retirement Account Is Getting a Big Boost for 2025

The IRS doesn't always give away tax breaks for free. Often, there's some sort of catch involved. With a traditional IRA or 401(k) plan, for example, you get a tax break on the money you contribute. But in return, you're not allowed to access that money before age 59 1/2, and taking an early withdrawal generally results in an expensive 10% penalty. Health savings accounts, or HSAs, work similarly. While these accounts are loaded with tax breaks, there are strict rules you...

September 3, 2024
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August 2024
28Aug

US. Wealthier workers benefit most from retirement savings ‘nudges’

In the U.S. and U.K. alike, there is growing concern that people aren’t saving enough for retirement. In the U.S. specifically, around 20% of adults age 50 or over report having nothing saved for retirement, according to a recent AARP survey. Nudging behaviors — such as automatic enrollment or auto-escalation in a 401(k) plan — have historically been popular among policymakers to get people to save. However, there has been little investigation into how people adjust their spending patterns when more money is taken...

August 28, 2024
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27Aug

US. How Are Employees Responding to State-Run Retirement Plans?

Practice Management State-run auto-IRA plans affect private-sector employers but are most of all intended to benefit their employees. How are those employees responding to them? Overall Positive Effects There is research indicating that these plans, in which employers are required register if they do not already offer retirement coverage to their employees, have a variety of positive effects. A number of researchers report that state auto-IRA programs increase coverage by serving as a catalyst to private-sector employers to establish plans of their own. In the...

August 27, 2024
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July 2024
29Jul

US. The No. 1 enemy of your 401(k) plan may be you

Here's the truth about the portfolio strategy you might be following When the stock market did a face-plant earlier this week, I went and checked some numbers. And I thought: Yep. Like clockwork. Yep: Individual investors have been feeling bullish. Yep: Joe and Jane Q. Public have been pouring money into the stock market - after this year's big run-up. The Investment Company Institute reports a surge of buying of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that invest in U.S. stocks in the...

July 29, 2024
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23Jul

How Gen X Can Catch Up on Retirement Savings

Generation X—the cohort of people born between 1965 and 1980—is now squarely in middle age. This phase often brings worries about aging, mortality, and a general decline in overall life satisfaction. Retirement preparedness is another major worry. Based on BlackRock’s 2024 Read on Retirement report, only 60% of survey respondents in this generation believe they’re on track to retire with the lifestyle they want, compared with 77% for Generation Z, 72% for millennials, and 68% for baby boomers. Another survey from Transamerica puts some additional context...

July 23, 2024
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22Jul

South Africa. Key two-pot bill signed into law

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Pension Funds Amendment Bill that is key for the implementation of the two-pot retirement system, which takes effect on September 1. The signature into law of the bill gives legal certainty to the retirement industry, which has been implementing the necessary changes. The new system will provide members of retirement funds with the ability to access part of their retirement savings without having to resign or cash out their pension funds. The new...

July 22, 2024
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