May 2023

What the debt ceiling standoff could mean for your retirement plans

President Biden is expected to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday about the debt ceiling, with just about two weeks until the country could run out of money to pay its bills. Economists and administration officials have warned that a potential default on the national debt — for the first in U.S. history — would amount to financial disaster, wreaking havoc on the domestic economy and rattling global markets, too. "Our economy would fall into a significant recession," Biden told reporters...

UK Pensions Regulator refreshes its guidance for trustees on being prepared for sponsor distress

The UK Pensions Regulator has updated and re-issued its guidance for trustees of defined benefit pension schemes, urging them to be prepared for signs of sponsor distress. If trustees are ready to take protective action at an early stage, more options will potentially be available to them, which should maximise their ability to protect members’ interests. The guidance was first issued during the Covid-19 pandemic in November 2020, and we previously reported on it here. The revised version appropriately moves...

Macron promises €2 billion in tax cuts for French middle class

As part of his continued attempt to move past his government’s contentious pensions reform, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced two billion euros of tax cuts for the middle class before the end of his term. In a televised interview Monday evening, Macron said he wants to “concentrate” two billion euros of tax cuts on people “who work hard, who want to raise their children well and who today, because the cost of living has increased… have trouble making ends...

Loneliness can impact longevity & quality of life, claims study

Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, recently warned that "being socially disconnected" has a similar effect on mortality as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. This statement was widely reported in the media, including in the Washington Post, the Times and the Daily Mail. But where does this "15 cigarettes a day" figure come from? Dr Murthy is referring to a study published in 2010 that explored social relationships and mortality rates. The researchers combined the data from 148...