September 2022

Do the Retired Elderly in Europe Decumulate Their Wealth? The Importance of Bequest Motives, Precautionary Saving, Public Pensions, and Homeownership

By Charles Yuji Horioka & Luigi Ventura In this paper, we use micro data on a large number of European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to examine the wealth accumulation (saving) behavior of the retired elderly in Europe. To summarize our main findings, we find that less than half of the retired elderly in Europe are decumulating their wealth and that the average wealth accumulation rate of the retired elderly in Europe is...

Informality and the Challenge of Pension Adequacy: Outlook and Reform Options for Peru

By Christoph Freudenberg, Frederik G Toscani Past reforms have put the Peruvian pension system on a largely fiscally sustainable path, but the system faces important challenges in providing adequate pension levels for a large share of the population. Using administrative microdata at the affiliate level, we project replacement rates in the defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pillars over the next 30 years and simulate the impact of various reform scenarios on the average level and distribution of pensions....

June 2022

LGBT: Retirement Preparations Amid Social Progress

By AEGON LGBT: Retirement Preparations Amid Social Progress is a collaboration between Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement, and nonprofits Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (US), and Instituto de Longevidade Mongeral Aegon (Brazil). The report focuses on the retirement aspirations and plans among the LGBT community, and highlights findings from LGBT survey respondents from nine of the 15 surveyed countries comprising the 6th Annual Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey. Many of the traditional patterns of family and working life, including the way...

May 2022

The National Landscape of State Retirement Benefits. How Good Are Public Retirement Systems at Putting Employees on a Path to Retirement Income Security?

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,...

April 2022

Heterogeneity in Household Spending and Well-being around Retirement

Heterogeneity in Household Spending and Well-being around Retirement

By Patrick Moran, Martin O'Connell, Cormac O'Dea, Francesca Parodi & Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Submitter. We study heterogeneity in spending patterns around the time of retirement. Using rich consumption data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and exploiting within-household spending variation, we systematically classify households into groups characterized by differences in consumption transitions at retirement. We decompose the overall spending changes into the contribution made by different subcomponents of consumption. We find that the households that increase their...

October 2021

Benchmarking Retirement Income Systems Around the World: Which Countries Rank Highest and Why?

By David Knox The variety of retirement income systems around the world is great, with varying dependencies on public-sector pensions, funded private pensions, and savings outside these formal systems. But which are producing the best outcomes? And which are sustainable into the future, as many countries face the effects of a significantly aging population? The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index considers more than 40 indicators in calculating an index value for the systems in 16 countries covering more than half...

2021 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index

By Mercer & CFA Institute The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the well-being of millions of individuals around the world. Its effects, however, are not confined to the health systems or those who contract the virus. There are broader economic effects with higher government debt and restricted economic activity in many countries. While it would be easy for governments to concentrate on these short term challenges, it would be a mistake to do so. With ageing populations,...

September 2021

Progressive Pensions as an Incentive for Labor Force Participation

By Fabian Kindermann, Veronika Pueschel In this paper, we challenge the conventional idea that an increase in the progressivity of old-age pensions unanimously distorts the labor supply decision of households. So far, the literature has argued that higher pension progressivity leads to more redistribution and insurance provision on the one hand, but increases implicit taxes and therefore distorts labor supply choices on the other. In contrast, we show that a well-designed reform of the pension system has the potential to...

Driving Value for Money in defined contribution pensions

By The Pensions Regulator & Financial Conduct Authority This discussion paper was published jointly by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator. A focus on Value for Money (VFM) is a key part of ensuring defined contribution (DC) pensions maximise the income savers have at retirement. In this discussion paper, we invite views on developing a holistic framework and related metrics to assess VFM in all FCA and TPR regulated DC pension schemes (workplace and non-workplace). At this stage, we...

August 2021

The World’s Best Countries for Pensions in 2021

By Blacktower Hard-working retirees have put in decades of time and effort as part of their working life. As they prepare to relax in retirement, they’re counting on a pension to help maintain a comfortable life – but the quality of state pensions available varies drastically based on where you live. We ranked countries across the globe on key pension factors to find out the best country in the world.     Get the book here