August 2022
17Aug

UK. Transfer volumes could hit £600bn as insurers post strong results

A host of insurers have revealed their first-half 2022 results that show a booming trade in risk transfers, which, by some projections, could hit £600bn over the next decade — though there are fears about a capacity crunch in the sector. Read more Older people face losing €1,532 in spending power by end of year Of those that have released their results so far, Aviva saw bulk annuity sales increase by 15 per cent, rising to £1.9bn, which compares with £1.6bn...

August 17, 2022
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16Aug

UK. Govt to change civil servants’ early pensions access

The government has proposed to change the rules around early access to pensions in the civil service, tracking 10 years behind state pension age, according to a new consultation over reforms to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. The Cabinet Office had launched a consultation to this effect in 2017, but on August 15 it published a new document with updated proposals to be discussed with trade unions as it considered that a long time has elapsed since the initial consultation,...

August 16, 2022
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15Aug

UK. New DB funding rules risk forcing schemes into ‘straitjacket’

New funding rules for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes risk forcing all schemes into a ‘one-size-fits-all straitjacket’, leading to potential employer insolvencies in some cases, LCP has warned. In July, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published its consultation on new regulations for DB scheme funding, whereby schemes would be required to have long-term plans set out in a funding and investment strategy. Schemes will be required to reach a funding level where no additional funding is expected to be...

August 15, 2022
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12Aug

U.K. pension regulator calling on plan sponsors to support pension scam prevention strategy

The Pension Regulator, the U.K. government body that oversees defined benefit pension plans, is calling on plan sponsors to help advance a three-pronged strategy to fight pension fraud. “Over many years, we have worked to prevent savers’ losses and put fraudsters in prison: running large-scale public awareness campaigns, leading a multi-agency response to the threat through [the pension scams action group]. . . . But the truth is, we must all do more to combat pension scams,” said Nicola Parish,...

August 12, 2022
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11Aug

More than 13,000 sign petition calling for guaranteed £200-a-week UK pension

More than 13,000 people have signed a petition demanding a guaranteed pension of £200-a-week in the UK. A group of pensioners is calling for the weekly rate to go up in light of the cost of living crisis The Silver Voices group, which successfully fought for free TV licences for the over-75s, wants the Government to set a new floor for the amount OAPs receive. It comes as households are engulfed by soaring energy costs, runaway inflation and food price...

August 11, 2022
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11Aug

UK. TPR advises employers to shield schemes from refinancing costs

Companies and pension scheme trustees should take steps to protect their schemes and their employer covenant from the fallout of any refinancing that they have undertaken, according to David Fairs, the Pensions Regulator’s executive director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice. In a blog published on August 10, Fairs acknowledged the trend of employers seeking to boost their liquidity in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. This, he noted, would include the agreement of new borrowing facilities, or extension of...

August 11, 2022
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10Aug

UK. Pensions: More than 1 million workers not participating in workplace scheme

Around a fifth of workers at small medium sized (SMEs) enterprises that are eligible for a workplace pension are not participating in schemes, a new research shows. Analysis of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data from Broadstone found nearly 1.2 million SME employees could be falling through the "pension accumulation gap". Read also U.K. pension regulator calling on plan sponsors to support pension scam prevention strategy  It also found pension participation is "stalling" at SMEs, warning employers at these companies to...

August 10, 2022
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09Aug

UK. Property a ‘risky’ investment for retirement pots

High interest rates and low capital growth could reduce retirement property pot savings by as much as 38 per cent, research by wealth manager Netwealth has found. While property investment has been a favoured option for boosting cash in retirement, the research found investment in additional properties or buy-to-let was usually outperformed by pensions. Analysis of different values of property growth, compared with the average pension projected growth over 20 years, showed property investment could significant reducing retirement pot savings by...

August 9, 2022
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08Aug

UK. How to help the self-employed boost their pension savings

Just prior to the pandemic the self-employed made up about one in seven of the workforce, and while that is likely to have dipped somewhat through the pandemic, this remains much larger than a generation ago, driven by growth in self-employment in the decade after the financial crisis. Despite the growth in the number of people who are self-employed over the years, pension savings for this group have continued to fall. A recent report from the Office for National Statistics paints...

August 8, 2022
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05Aug

The Misery of Spending Down the Nest Egg: The Effect of Annuitization on Consumption and Wellbeing

By Yu Gao, George Loewenstein & Xianghong Wang We study the effects of annuitization compared to spending down a lump-sum on consumption and subjective wellbeing. Analyzing longitudinal data on UK retirees before and after the pension reform that provided greater freedom to draw down savings, we find that annuitization increased retirees’ consumption and life satisfaction. To further examine the behavioral channel of these effects, we conducted a field experiment with college students, giving them a flow or lump-sum payment. As...

August 5, 2022
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