July 2022
29Jul

U.S. pension promises will go unmet without sweeping reform

This year, anybody receiving an annual statement from America’s mighty social security system might notice a tiny ticking time bomb — if they possess sharp eyes. Tucked into a footnote is a website link that explains that the two funds in this system — called “Disability Insurance” and “Old Age and Survivors Insurance” — have $2.9tn to plug the shortfall between expected payouts and what is gathered each year from payroll taxes. Those trillions sound soothingly big. But they are...

July 29, 2022
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21Jul

US. Here’s How Badly the Market Crash Has Hurt Pension Funds

Public pension plans in the U.S. saw significant losses in 2022 as interest rates rose and stock markets tanked. In its annual state of pensions report, Equable Institute, a non-profit that provides public pension research and information, found that in the fiscal year ending in June 2022, the aggregate funded ratio of statewide and municipal public pensions plans dropped by 6.9 percentage points — a loss of about half of 2021’s gains. In fact, the report said this drop is...

July 21, 2022
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20Jul

UK. Cross-industry Pension Attention campaign unveiled

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have unveiled the 'Pension Attention' campaign slogan and logo, ahead of the campaign launch in September. Plans for the campaign were initially announced in April 2022, with over 30 million pension savers to be targeted in an effort to boost people's understanding of and engagement with their pensions. It has received "unprecedented" cross industry support from 17 providers, including 13 sponsors and four official supporters, with those...

July 20, 2022
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11Jul

Finns consider immigration best way to consolidate pension system – Survey

Raising the pension contributions of employees and employers was the second most popular means to consolidate the funding of pensions, with 34 per cent of respondents regarding it as a good or fairly good idea and 35 per cent as a bad or fairly bad idea. A little over a quarter (26%) of respondents voiced their support for and 37 per cent their reservations about taking on greater risks when investing pension funds. “Finns are somewhat surprisingly not supportive of...

July 11, 2022
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08Jul

Prioritising sustainability and responsible investing in finance

Sustainability is not a separate strategy at KBC Asset Management, but an integral part of the overall workings of the KBC Group. As such, sustainability is embedded in KBC’s corporate strategy, central to our relationship with our clients as we strive to offer them a unique bank-insurance experience. We are convinced that our strategy – powered by our business culture and the contributions made by our people – is instrumental in earning, keeping and growing trust day by day. It’s...

July 8, 2022
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June 2022
29Jun

US. Social Security is valuable and needs attention sooner rather than later

This program has demonstrated its worth in tumultuous times The 2022 Social Security Trustees Report, which was prepared in February when the outlook for the economy looked less uncertain, shows a slight decrease in the program's 75-year deficit from 3.54% to 3.42% of taxable payroll (see Figure 1). The depletion date for the trust fund bounced back from 2034 to 2035. What does a deficit of 3.42% of taxable payrolls mean? That figure means that if payroll taxes were raised immediately...

June 29, 2022
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24Jun

That Social Security Income Replacement Cliff Could Hurt

Social Security will keep paying retirement benefits in 2035, even if its trust fund empties out, but the cut in the amount would be huge. That’s the assessment of Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Munnell, one of the top academic retirement researchers in the world, says Social Security should receive enough payroll tax revenue to pay 80% of the currently promised benefits from current income in 2035, and about 74% of the promised benefits...

June 24, 2022
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20Jun

Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez: A new era for Colombia

"What is coming here is real change, real change," Colombia's new President-elect, Gustavo Petro, promised his cheering supporters at his victory speech on Sunday night. As the country's first-ever left-wing leader - with a running mate, Francia Márquez, who will become the first black vice-president - Mr Petro's belief that Colombia has voted for change is hard to deny. Even before his victory, the country had voted for a departure from the status quo, with the outgoing president's nominated candidate failing...

June 20, 2022
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02Jun

Bank Of Spain Insists That Measures Are Lacking To Ensure The Sustainability Of Pensions

The governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, has reaffirmed his calculations on the pension system after the Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, described them as “unsophisticated”. He once again argued that the measures proposed are not enough to ensure sustainability once pensions have been linked to inflation and the sustainability factor has been eliminated: “If you add and subtract, there is a gap that has to be covered,” he said in an appearance...

June 2, 2022
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May 2022
12May

Pensions: people on lower incomes can be confused and disadvantaged by defined contribution pensions

New research released finds defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, which do not automatically offer a secure, guaranteed income for life, can lead to poor outcomes for those on lower incomes. Since the introduction of ‘pension freedoms’ in 2015, the vast majority of consumers are opting against a guaranteed income, resulting in them facing significant threats to their retirement security. Researchers from the University of Birmingham, supported by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, conducted in-depth interviews with DC pension consumers and gained...

May 12, 2022
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