February 2023

Social Security Benefits: The Good and Bad News for Retired Workers in 2023

Social Security is a major source of financial well-being in retirement. Nearly 49 million retired workers received benefits in January, and about half of people aged 65 and older get at least 50% of their family income from Social Security. Given its importance, retired workers should try to stay informed on the program, and there have been several big changes already this year. Inflation scorched the U.S. economy last year, driving up the cost of gasoline, groceries, and other necessities...

Gig economy report 2022

By Pascale Moreau The balance between flexibility, autonomous working and social protection has been a long time discussion within the gig economy and its complexities have kept legislators busy in recent years. As a result, the draft European Directive on Platform work is one of the most discussed topics of the year. It introduces various criteria which - if applicable - could result in a legal presumption of employment for the worker. In this year’s PwC Legal’s 2022 Gig Economy...

The Progress of Social Security Measures for Labourers in India

By Dr. S.R. Keshava Social security has gained paramount importance in the changed economic scenario. Social security programmes are actively undertaken even in developed nations. The USA social security administration points out that it is much more than retirement program. One in Six Americans (57 million) receives social security benefits in USA. India also has enacted many social security measures for its needy citizens. In order to protect the welfare of unorganized workers the legislative measures namely minimunm wages Act, 1948,...

January 2023

Financial regret at older ages and longevity awareness

By Abigail Hurwitz & Olivia S. Mitchell Older people often express regret about financial decisions made earlier in life that left them susceptible to old-age insecurity. Prior work has explored one outcome, saving regret, or peoples’ expressed wish that they had saved more earlier in life. The present paper extends attention to five additional areas regarding financial decisions, examining whether older Americans also regret not having insured better, claimed benefits and quit working too early, and becoming financially dependent on...

Azerbaijan To Increase Social Benefits, Pensions

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on additional measures to improve the social welfare of the population, trend reports. According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to submit proposals to the President of Azerbaijan on increasing the amount of social benefits and pensions. Starting January 1, 2023, the minimum monthly wage and pension was increased in Azerbaijan. The increase of minimum wage is 15%, and the minimum pension 16%. According to experts, wage growth is...

December 2022

Turn the Ship: The Moral Imperative and Legal Authority to Protect Retirees with Defaulted Student Loans from Social Security Offset

Turn the Ship: The Moral Imperative and Legal Authority to Protect Retirees with Defaulted Student Loans from Social Security Offset

By: Johnson Tyler The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is not powerless when it comes to debt collection or defaulted borrowers. It both has the moral imperative and legal authority to stop seizing Social Security benefits from elderly (62+) borrowers in default. An underutilized law allows an agency to exempt an entire class of debtors from Treasury Offset, the debt collection process that leads to the reduction of Social Security payments. This paper explains the history of offset; why recent...

Fintech Is Coming For Benefits: Best Practices For Employers

Fintech is increasingly touching every aspect of our lives, from retail to banking to blockchain, and now it’s coming for employee benefits. But how could fintech innovation change employer benefits? Employee benefits are essentially a payment or subsidy to employees—with some strings attached. They can apply this payment to specific areas, such as health, student loan debt, 401(k) plans, transportation and more. Benefits are among the biggest drivers of why employees choose companies—and stay. Yet benefits plans remain, in many instances,...

Gabon: Employers to take charge of National Social Security Fund

Henri Claude Oyima, head of Gabon’s private bosses has indicated that the President of the republic Ali Bongo has nodded to the demand of the Federation of private companies of the central African country to take control of the struggling National Social Security Fund, CNSS. “We were pleased with the Head of State’s announcements on the issue of social security. That is, from now on, the National Social Security Fund and the National Health Insurance Fund will be managed, as...

2022 Natixis Global Retirement Index. Danger Zone. Global retirement security challenges come home to roost in 2022

By Natixis When we introduced the Natixis Global Retirement Index in 2012, the world had just emerged from the global financial crisis: Memories of market turmoil were still fresh. Inflation was low, but so was growth. Central banks had slashed interest rates to all-time lows. Balance sheets had ballooned from asset repurchase programs. And public debt had swelled to record highs around the globe. On top of it all, the first wave of the Baby Boom generation had just reached retirement...

November 2022

Preparing for Retirement Reforms

By Karen E. Smith, Eugene Steurele, Damir Cosic Each of the three pillars of the US retirement system—Social Security, employer pensions, and private savings—suffers from serious problems that could threaten the financial security of future retirees. Social Security is at risk of becoming insolvent. If policymakers fail to act, Social Security benefits will be cut by about 25 percent starting in 2035, and even with reform, some combination of a slowdown in benefit growth for retirees and higher taxes on...