September 2022
13Sep

U.S. This is how much Social Security benefits are likely to rise next year

By Brett Arends Social Security beneficiaries could be looking at a very welcome bump of 8.7% in their benefits starting in January next year, if current trends continue. That hike would be the biggest since 1981, and would be worth an extra $144 a month for a retiree on the average monthly benefit of $1,656. These numbers are the latest projection from the Senior Citizens League, a nonprofit, and are based on the government’s inflation data over recent months. These are only projections,...

September 13, 2022
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13Sep

How ESG investing got tangled up in America’s culture wars

A growing number of Republican politicians are moving to penalize Wall Street investors who consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when they decide where to put clients' money. In Florida, a state board chaired by Gov. Ron DeSantis recently barred investment fund managers and advisors from considering "social, political, or ideological interests" when making decisions for Florida's retirement system. In Texas and West Virginia, GOP leaders say they will block investors from state business who they claim "boycott" the...

September 13, 2022
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09Sep

The Impact of Health on Wealth: Empirical Evidence

By Umesh Ghimire This paper empirically evaluates the impact of health on wealth among adults between the ages of 50 and 100 in the United States. Using the frailty index to measure health status and carefully accounting for the dynamic relationship between frailty and wealth, I find that suffering one more health deficit leads, on average, to approximately 2.23 percent decline in the net worth of American households. The impact is concentrated among individuals over the age of 70, in...

September 9, 2022
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08Sep

US. Corporate pension funding remains stable in August despite fall in assets

U.S. corporate pension plan funding ratios rose slightly in August, according to two new reports, while a third report estimates ratios fell during the month. Legal & General Investment Management America in its report estimated the average funding ratio of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan rose to 95.6% as of Aug. 31 from 95% a month earlier. LGIMA in its latest Pension Solutions Monitor said the funding ratio improved due to an decrease in liabilities offsetting a month of weak...

September 8, 2022
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07Sep

US. Understanding the economic impacts of an aging population

Societal aging can affect economic growth, patterns of work and retirement, the ability for families to function, and how government and communities can provide adequate resources for older adults. This episode takes a look at the business of aging. The conversation begins with a macro discussion by diving into the numbers and how the U.S. population is getting progressively older (due to lower birth rates). In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau says the nation’s population has grown continuously older over the...

September 7, 2022
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05Sep

US. ESG, CIOs on crash course with politics

How 'woke' a public pension plan portfolio is depends on which state it's located in As executives and trustees of public pension plans navigate the balance between political demands and fiduciary duties, they are encountering legislators and governors to the right and the left telling them what they must do or cannot do, but without offering much guidance on how to do it while still setting deadlines for action. Often depending on the political color of the state, public pension executives...

September 5, 2022
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02Sep

Japan’s GPIF joins GRESB as infrastructure investor member

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund joined GRESB, the standardized benchmark and data provider for the ESG performance of real asset segments, including real estate and infrastructure, as the its first Japanese infrastructure investor member. The ¥193 trillion ($1.41 trillion), Tokyo-based retirement fund, in a news release Thursday, said it joined GRESB "in order to encourage the disclosure of ESG information and promote constructive dialogue with investment managers." GPIF said it advises managers to use GRESB assessment in their infrastructure investment and...

September 2, 2022
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02Sep

The National Landscape of State Retirement Benefits

By Jonathan Moody, Anthony Randazzo Retirement security is ultimately about retirement income. Families and individuals want to know that during their retirement years they will have enough weekly, monthly, or annual income to live comfortably and meet their basic needs. Of course, many people aspire to more than just the basics. Ask even a handful of individuals about how they want to live in retirement, and you’ll hear a wide range of preferences. Expenses can vary from family-to-family, too, depending on housing, health...

September 2, 2022
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August 2022
30Aug

US. Q2 Market Losses Hard on Self-Directed 401k Balances

Self-directed 401k investors’ balances declined with the market in the second quarter of 2022, according to the latest edition of the Charles Schwab SDBA Indicators Report, an industry-leading benchmark on retirement plan participant investment activity within self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs). The report, released today, found the average account balance across all participant accounts finished at $283,485 for the second quarter ending June 30, an 18.58% decrease year-over-year and a 14.62% decrease from the first quarter of 2022. The Q2 SDBA Indicators...

August 30, 2022
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26Aug

The Health and Retirement Study. Aging in the 21st Century. Challenges and Opportunities for Americans

By Survey Research Center. Institute for Social Research University of Michigan Published in 2006, the first HRS data book sought to introduce the world to the HRS by describing the study’s innovative design and content and providing some early findings within the main content areas of health, work and retirement, income and wealth, and family connections. In the decade since, the HRS has built on its foundation of innovation, pioneering in new directions and increasing the data’s value and relevance. The...

August 26, 2022
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