August 2024

Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) Schemes: Assessing Capacity for Alternative Investments

By Aili Chen, CFA As pension systems adapt to changing economics and demographics, there is growing interest in collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes as they offer a different approach to retirement savings compared to defined benefit (DB) schemes. Instead of providing a guaranteed pension payment, CDC schemes provide workers with a pot of money to use in retirement, alleviating corporate sponsors of the responsibility and cost associated with providing lifetime guaranteed benefit payments. The size of the pension pot can...

A Wealth of Well-Being: A Holistic Approach to Behavioral Finance

By Meir Statman In A Wealth of Well-Being: A Holistic Approach to Behavioral Finance, Professor Meir Statman, established thought leader in behavioral finance, explores how life well-being, the overarching aim of individuals in the third generation of behavioral finance, is underpinned by financial well-being, and how life well-being extends beyond financial well-being to family, friendship, religion, health, work, and education. Combining recent scientific findings by scholars in finance, economics, law, medicine, psychology, and sociology with real-life stories at the intersection of finances and...

July 2024

US. A Philly Small Business Network May Have an Answer to America’s Retirement Crisis

Americans are woefully underprepared for retirement. So it's no surprise that employer-sponsored retirement programs are a high priority for all workers. Fifty-five-year olds in the U.S. currently have median retirement savings of less than $50,000, and two-thirds fear they will outlive their savings, a Prudential report recently revealed. However, only around one-third of small employers offer retirement savings plans, according to Fidelity Investment's 2023 Small Business Retirement Index, which cited time and cost as the biggest barriers small-business owners face in offering retirement benefits. First, employers must pay...

Global Pension Assets Study. 2024

By Thinking Ahead Institute The study covers 22 pension markets in the world (P22). They have pension assets of USD 55,688 bn. The P22 markets are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, US. 91% of P22 assets are in the seven P7 largest markets. A deeper analysis is performed for the P7, with assets of USD 50,842 bn. P7 markets are: Australia, Canada, Japan,...

June 2024

The list of money managers axing oil stocks just got longer

There’s a growing list of institutional investors in Europe who are stripping oil and gas stocks out of their portfolios, in a move they say reduces the risk of ending up with stranded assets and financial losses. The latest to do so is PFA, Denmark’s largest commercial pension fund with roughly USD 110bn of assets under management. The investor has just offloaded its USD 170m stake in Shell Plc based on an assessment that the company’s capital expenditure on renewables...

UK trustee boards show robust governance frameworks – survey

A recent survey conducted by WTW has shown that most UK pension schemes are not overwhelmed by the new requirements of the General Code, with only 1% of respondents expecting significant changes to comply with it. The WTW 2024 Trustee Governance Survey — of 132 trustees, pension managers, and other stakeholders in March and April 2024 – has shed light on the evolving landscape of pension scheme governance in response to the newly implemented General Code, which came into effect in March 2024. It...

LGBTQ+ workers are paid 16% less than their peers, study finds

While “a record number of non-LGBTQ Americans support equal rights for the LGBTQ community,” according to a 2023 study from GLAAD, workers who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community still face workplace discrimination and a wage gap, a new study has found. The majority (63%) of the 2,000 LGBTQ+ workers surveyed by writing platform EduBirdie said they have been discriminated against in the workplace and 45% said they have been passed over for a promotion due to their identity. These...

El 52% de los adultos en México tiene algún tipo de ahorro: ENSAFI

En México, poco más de la mitad de los adultos declara tener algún tipo de ahorro y el 36% de ellos cuenta con algún tipo de deuda. Pese a que casi la mitad de los mexicanos ahorra, el 60% de ellos cuenta con ahorros equivalentes al valor de apenas una quincena de su salario actual o previo. En México poco más de la mitad (52.0%) de los adultos tiene algún tipo de ahorro, ya sea en instituciones bancarias y financieras...

México. Los pendientes de salud e inclusión LGBT+ que AMLO le deja a Sheinbaum

Organizaciones sociales de México ponen encima de la mesa presidencial, que ocupará Claudia Sheinbaum a partir de octubre, la necesidad de blindar una sanidad “sin discriminación” y una educación “incluyente” a favor de la comunidad LGBT+, los pendientes del mandato de Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “Garantizar el acceso y la atención a la salud, en cuestiones particulares de las personas LGBT+, fue un gran pendiente”, advierte la cosecretaria de la Asociación Internacional de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales, Trans e Intersex para...

Providing inclusive services and care for LGBT people

By National LGBT health education center A visit to a health care facility can make people nervous for any number of reasons. Some people may be uncomfortable revealing sensitive information to health care professionals who need it to provide certain services. Others find it difficult to talk about private health concerns. Creating an environment in which these conversations are more comfortable for the patient is an important goal for all health care staff. Because health care is for everyone, we...