March 2022

US. Already claimed Social Security? There are still ways you may be able to increase your retirement benefits
05Mar

US. Already claimed Social Security? There are still ways you may be able to increase your retirement benefits

Social Security benefits make up about 30% of elderly Americans’ incomes, according to the Social Security Administration. For some beneficiaries, it can be 90% or more. Yet many people do not think of those earned benefits, and the monthly checks that come with them, as a personal financial asset, according to Social Security expert Larry Kotlikoff, author of a new book titled “Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk and a Better Life.” The money you pay into the...

March 5, 2022
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State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own
04Mar

US. State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own

By Edward Siedle Across the nation politicians are naïvely calling for state pensions to dump their Russian investments to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine. Since state pensions have in recent years agreed to let Wall Street fund managers keep secret their investment holdings, states don’t even know the Russian assets they hold. Yesterday, state Attorney General Dave Yost publicly called upon Ohio’s five public employee retirement funds to divest themselves of Russian financial holdings to further punish the...

March 4, 2022
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03Mar

A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States

By Robert L. Clark, Lee A. Craig & Jack W. Wilson Understanding the historical development of pensions is critical to the future of retirement systems around the world. A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States offers a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century. The authors emphasize how retirement plans can help achieve human resource objectives, how...

March 3, 2022
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February 2022
25Feb

Retirees Depleting Retirement Plan Lump Sums Faster than Five Years Ago

When approaching retirement, employees are faced with a decision that can have lifelong implications: take a lump sum payment or a guaranteed monthly annuity from their employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan. According to MetLife’s 2022 Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study℠, a growing proportion of retirees are depleting their lump sums at faster rates than previously seen. The full report is available at metlife.com/paycheckgoldstudy. Today, one in three retirees (34%) who took a lump sum from their DC plan, depleted...

February 25, 2022
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How the Pandemic Altered Americans’ Debt Burden and Retirement Readiness
24Feb

How the Pandemic Altered Americans’ Debt Burden and Retirement Readiness

By Andrea Hasler, Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell This paper analyzes Americans’ perceptions of being debt constrained. We focus on which population subgroups reported feeling most debt constrained, how this perception was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it relates to financial literacy and retirement readiness. To this end, we analyze two datasets, namely the 2020 and 2021 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index files (P-Fin Index). The evidence shows that, prior to and during the pandemic, one in...

February 24, 2022
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23Feb

UK. DWP confirms GMP revaluation rate reduction

The government has confirmed it will reduce the GMP fixed rate revaluation rate for early leavers from 3.5% to 3.25% per year. In response to its consultation - published last year - the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the new rate will apply to members where applicable from 6 April 2022. Where a member of a formerly contracted-out pension scheme leaves the scheme before pensionable age - an ‘early leaver' - the scheme must revalue its GMP to when...

February 23, 2022
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22Feb

United States: Shareholder Activism Or Divestment? The Massachusetts Pension Fund Chooses Activism

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board approved investment guidelines that would have the Board vote against directors of companies in which the Board invests where the company does not have a plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. As the Globe notes, there is something of a debate among climate activists whether it is better to support divestment or the kind of activism represented by the Board's action yesterday. In that...

February 22, 2022
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17Feb

Retirement in America: Time to rethink and retool

By PWC A range of factors have put intensifying pressures on the US retirement system in recent years, leaving the industry facing a decelerating revenue growth outlook. A number of these challenges — fee pressure, underfunded retirement plans, an aging population — are structural and unlikely to ease. Many retirement players have been unable to outrun even one of these factors: fee pressure. Rising industry-wide fee pressure is placing constraints on the profitability of US retirement firms with average 401(k)...

February 17, 2022
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16Feb

US. Pension Funds Chase Returns in Private-Market Debt

Retirement funds are clamoring to invest in private-market loans, hungry for an asset that can beat public markets while at the same time throwing off cash to help pay benefits. Read also US. Why Large Pension Funds Are Investing In Private Real Estate Two of the nation’s three biggest pension funds—those serving public workers in New York and California—have added private-credit allocation targets in the past two years. Across the U.S., state and local retirement funds with private-credit portfolios are expanding...

February 16, 2022
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15Feb

UK. Women face gap of £7,500 per year and state pension delay

The gender gap in terms of pensions, savings and earnings is a palpable one which can impact women for their entire lives. But it could rear its ugly head even more so in later life, as women face the reality of scrimping and saving just to make ends meet. Founder and CEO of Unbiased, Karen Barrett, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk to highlight the issues facing women. She said: “A generation of women near retirement is facing the reality that they won’t...

February 15, 2022
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