October 2022
21Oct

Kenya. Pension-backed housing starts dimly amid calls for its overhaul

Access to affordable housing is a challenge to many public and private sector employees who retire without a home, despite having worked and saved towards a pension. One of the initiatives by the government to increase access to housing was by amending the Retirement Benefits Act (RBA) to allow pension funds to be used as collateral for the purchase of a home. The move was billed as a silver bullet in enabling civil servants and workers to own homes. And two years...

October 21, 2022
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19Oct

A leisurely retirement is further out of reach for most South Africans

Retirement. What does the word mean to you? For the enviable few who have built up a decent nest egg, retirement represents a life of leisure as compensation for years worked. But that is not the reality for most South Africans. When 10X Investments published its first South African Retirement Reality Report in 2018, it highlighted how poorly prepared working South Africans were for retirement. Subsequent reports, including the latest, released recently, have shown that the outlook is worsening by...

October 19, 2022
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17Oct

South African savings grew by 15.4% in 2021, report shows

Allianz unveiled the 13th edition of its Global Wealth Report, which puts the asset and debt situation of households in almost 60 countries under the microscope. In retrospect, 2021 might have been the last year of the old “new normal”, with bullish stock markets powered by monetary policy. Households benefitted handsomely: For the third year in a row, global financial assets grew by double-digits in 2021, reaching €233tn (+10.4%). In these last three years, private wealth increased by a staggering €60tn. This...

October 17, 2022
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11Oct

US. Congress is still considering changes to the retirement system, including catch-up contributions

There’s still a decent chance that changes to the U.S. retirement system will be enacted before the end of the year. Despite there being just a few months left before the next Congress convenes Jan. 3 — the midterm elections will be Nov. 8 — the push to improve Americans’ ability to save for retirement is supported by both Republicans and Democrats. The proposals are collectively called “Secure 2.0” — which is a nod to the 2019 Secure Act, whose provisions...

October 11, 2022
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07Oct

US. Study Finds Millennials Are Less Likely to be Secure in Their Retirement

New research from the Pension Research Council shows job rates, marriage and home ownership down for early millennials. Millennials may have a harder time maintaining their standard of living due to a variety of factors, according to research from the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. At a glance, there is reason for both pessimism and optimism. Among early millennials, male labor force participation is down from past generations, with 89% of men...

October 7, 2022
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September 2022
20Sep

Pensions, with inflation soaring, 2022 will be the worst year to retire

What impact will inflation have on pensions? An answer comes from the tenth edition of Natixis IM’s Global Retirement (GRI) Index 2022. Analysis suggests that 2022 may be the hardest year to retire in recent history. This is due to a market environment that affects retirement savings. In practice, the high inflation rate will erode part of the capital set aside but the volatility on the markets as well as the low interest rates also weigh. These are the...

September 20, 2022
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20Sep

UK. Early pensions access could encourage people to save, says ACA

Younger generations could be encouraged to save more for the long-term if the state allowed them to dip into their retirement savings early in order to cover urgent essential expenditure. This is according to evidence submitted by the Association of Consulting Actuaries for a Treasury Select Committee inquiry examining whether the current suite of tax reliefs represent good value for money. The ACA said too many people currently do not have a cushion of adequate immediate-access savings that would cover unexpected...

September 20, 2022
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14Sep

Hispanic Americans deserve retirement security

By Maria French Originating in 1968 and enacted into law in 1988, National Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate Hispanic Americans’ history and contributions and the influence they have had on American culture and society and to consider the future of the Latino community. Throughout modern history, Hispanic labor leaders like Cesar Chavez and Santiago Iglesias Pantin have contributed vastly to the labor movement by organizing workers and advocating for better pay and working conditions. Today, Americans with ancestry...

September 14, 2022
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13Sep

UK. Opperman: 12mn people are under-saving for retirement

Pensions minister Guy Opperman has told MPs that around 12mn people are under-saving for their retirement, accounting for 38 per cent of the nation’s working age population. The revelation surfaced in a letter to Work and Pensions Committee chair Stephen Timms, whose committee is carrying out an inquiry into “saving for later life”, which is examining pensions adequacy, including specific focus on the gender pensions gap and gig economy workers. Timms had asked the pensions minister, in a letter dated July...

September 13, 2022
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09Sep

Rise of DC poses risks and challenges for future pensioners

Increasing reliance on defined contribution savings means the needs of future pensioners will be markedly different from those of previous generations, placing greater emphasis on the need for support, according to a new report. The report from the Pensions Policy Institute, published on September 8, explained that increasing reliance on DC pots as opposed to older defined benefit schemes results in “more complex” retirement finances that future pensioners will have to manage, and that these will require more active engagement...

September 9, 2022
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