June 2022

Pension Withdrawals Drain Savings in Chile and Peru

Peru, Chile and Bolivia have allowed early withdrawals from their funds as a source of relief for households and to support recoveries during the pandemic and the global price shock. But these have had negative financial and confidence ramifications, contributing to downgrades of Peru in 2021 and Chile in 2020. Longstanding private pension funds have been important supports for sovereign creditworthiness where they exist in Latin America. Read also China: National pension insurer’s first annuity product approved Pension fund assets have...

Today’s Pensions Just Don’t Favor Millennials and Gen Z

Even in 2022, pensions still command an aura of reverence. A benefit where you work for one company for 30 years and then retire with a livable wage? And you don’t have to fret about picking investments? What’s not to like? Although pensions are increasingly rare in the U.S., they’re not obsolete. About 38% of the private workforce had access to a defined benefit plan in 1980. By 2008, that had fallen to 20%. In spring of 2020, it was...

May 2022

UK. DWP shares how people can boost State Pension payments if they reached retirement age on certain dates

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released new guidance to help certain people increase their State Pension income. If you reached State Pension age between April 6, 2010 and April 5, 2015, but are not receiving or expecting to receive a full basic State Pension, then you may be able to increase the amount you get by paying up to six additional years of voluntary Class 3 National Insurance voluntary contributions for years going back to 1975. This is...

A Comfortable Retirement Appears Out of Reach for Most in the U.S.

American workers say it will take $1.1 million on average to retire comfortably — but less than one in four figure they’ll be able to save that much. Just 22% of people approaching retirement age said they’ll have enough money to maintain a comfortable standard of living, according to the 2022 Schroders US Retirement Survey, down from 26% a year ago. The survey of 1,000 workers was conducted in mid-February, when the S&P 500 Index was higher than it is...

The Economic Well-Being of LGBT Adults in the U.S. in 2019

By CLEAR The Federal Reserve Board has conducted the Survey of Household Economic Decisionmaking (SHED) since 2013. In 2019, the survey included LGBTQ people by asking U.S. adults about their sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), enabling for the first time the creation of a picture of the economic well-being of LGBT households using the SHED data. Analysis of the data shows that in 2019: • LGBT adults were more often struggling to get by. Fewer than two-thirds of LGBT adults reported...

The 2022 Pension Answer Book

By Stephen J. Krass A standard in its field, The 2022 Pension Answer Book discusses in detail the full spectrum of pension topics—from qualification requirements to taxation of distributions, from minimum distribution requirements to 401(k) plans. It covers the most up-to-date and significant legislative, regulatory, and case law developments affecting these plans. As a decision-making tool, combining theory and practice-based guidance, The 2022 Pension Answer Book offers insight and clarification on the critical issues affecting pension administration and compliance. In...

Why are millennials better at saving than their parents?

Millennials started saving for retirement in their mid-20s, about 10 years earlier than baby boomers, a new Charles Schwab report says. But experts still predict that millennials will be less secure in retirement than their parents or grandparents. The most common retirement plans today tend to be riskier, with smaller potential payouts. Student loans, soaring housing costs, COVID-19, recessions and gig working are some of the other challenges millennials have faced. Millennials are now the world’s largest adult generation...

Kenya. Cash-strapped KBC fails to remit Sh984m in pension

Cash-strapped Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has failed to remit employee retirement benefits amounting to Sh984.3 million, underlining the deepening cash flow crisis facing the State broadcaster and signaling economic pain for its employees. The institution is struggling to honour the dues, according to a report for the year ended June 2020 submitted to lawmakers by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu. “Management attributed the delay to remit the deduction to its inability to settle its obligations as and when they fall due,” reads...

April 2022

Ghana. Steady rise recorded in life expectancy of SSNIT contributors

Regardless of the widely held notion on decreasing life expectancy among Ghanaians, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) says its statistics indicated a reverse of the widely held misconception. It said longevity on the pension’s payroll indicates a steady rise in life expectancy of contributors aged 72 from eight per cent in 2002 to 18 per cent in 2010 and 25 per cent in 2020. Likewise, the percentage of contributors aged 80, rose from one per cent in 2002...

Bad Retirement Savers Expect to Die Young

By Allison Bell What workers think about their retirement savings is closely related to how long they think they will live, according to a new Club Vita life expectancy survey. Workers who said that their savings would be enough to pay for a comfortable retirement agreed with Club Vita about how long they might live. Workers who said their savings would be too small to pay for a comfortable retirement predicted that they would die about 7.1 years earlier than Club Vita would have...