July 2024

Pensions for Migrants – Leveraging the Renda Success

By Arun Muralidhar, Leandro Sarai & Sid Muralidhar Since migrants typically come from developing countries, with weak currencies, and are considered informal workers in developed countries, with hard(er) currencies, they slip through the economic and social cracks. Even if they earn a reasonable income, they do not have access to the formal financial sector and hence have no retirement security (much like informal workers in developed or developing countries). Brazil’s digitally-enabled, through Tesouro Direto, RendA+ retirement income bond, designed along the...

Changing Retirement Incentives and Retirement in the US

By Courtney Coile Employment rates of older Americans have been rising since the 1990s. While the US is fairly unique among advanced economies in not experiencing any large-scale pension reforms in recent decades, there have been multiple changes to Social Security policy that have strengthened the incentive to work at older ages. This study builds on prior work documenting the changes in retirement incentives over time to explore the effect of these changes on retirement behavior, using over two decades...

June 2024

Discrimination and Barriers to Well-Being: The State of the LGBTQI+ Community in 2022

By Caroline Medina & Lindsay Mahowald LGBTQI+ people and other “sexual and gender diverse”1 people experience structural and interpersonal discrimination that adversely affects their well-being and drives disparate outcomes across crucial areas of life.2 The current patchwork of nondiscrimination laws in states across the country and existing gaps in federal civil rights laws leave millions of LGBTQI+ people without protection from discrimination.3 The Biden-Harris administration, since the beginning of its tenure, has taken numerous actions across executive agencies to bolster nondiscrimination protections in...

Retirement Guide For LGBTQ Americans

By John Schmidt & Benjamin Curry Heterosexual Americans have historically made more on average than their LGBTQ+ counterparts. But some studies suggest that the income gap has disappeared. In recent years, gay men have been earning 10% more than straight men with similar education, experience, and job profiles. Same-sex married couples have a higher median household income than opposite-sex married couples, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data. But the issue is more nuanced than these broad statistics suggest. Source Forbes 

LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination and economic inequality. These policies could help.

By Emma Ockerman LGBTQ+ people have long been subjected to economic inequality, including higher poverty rates, a greater likelihood of experiencing homelessness, and lower median earnings. Though economic policies that would broadly uplift low-income people and workers in the U.S. — including access to better-paying jobs, a higher minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, child-care support, and quality healthcare — would similarly benefit LGBTQ+ people who might lack such resources, experts and advocates say, LGBTQ+ people face the additional burden of...

LGBTQ Retirement Communities and Cities in the US

By Maureen Stanley In this article, we’ll discuss LGBTQ senior living options and essential questions to consider as you search for a place to spend your golden years. We’ll also detail LGBTQ-oriented retirement communities across the United States and top cities embracing LGBTQ elders. Source SeniorLiving

LGBT Workers in the Labor Market

By Caroline Medina, Lindsay Mahowald & Rose Khattar The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis resulted in significant hardship for people across the country: Tens of millions of people lost their jobs, unemployment rates increased, and economic activity declined. To mitigate these economic impacts, federal policymakers enacted multiple relief bills, including the American Rescue Plan Act. These investments shortened the recession in the wake of the pandemic and have helped propel a historic economic recovery resulting in the most jobs...

How planning for LGBT retirement differs

By UBS Wealth Management  The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision on same-sex marriage in 2015 made marriage equality the law of the land, giving same-sex partners spousal inheritance rights, survivor social security, tax credits, second-parent adoption rights and other benefits accrued to married couples. Yet as momentous as that decision was, “the right to get married doesn’t fix all the other problems out there,” says David Mietty, Wealth Management Consultant at UBS. He notes, individuals may still encounter workplace and housing...

The Aging Experiences of LGBTQ Ethnic Minority Older Adults: A Systematic Review

By Jinwen Chen, Helen McLaren, Michelle Jones & Lida Shams In gerontological research and practice, an increasing amount of attention is being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) older people and how their experiences differ from their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. However, LGBTQ older adults themselves are not a homogenous group. Moreover, as the immigrant populations in industrialized nations age, the number of LGBTQ older adults from ethnic minority backgrounds will only grow. This systematic review hence...

Pioneering Safe & Inclusive LGBT Specific Retirement Accommodation. Exploring Models in the USA, UK, & Spain

By Liam Concannon With significant advances in equal rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens, achieved across the western world during the past few decades, one group that continues to be overlooked is LGBT elders. This article examines the unique discrimination and homophobia faced by older LGBT people living in nursing and residential care homes. It investigates ways in which these environments construct and perpetuate heteronormativity by addressing the needs of heterosexual residents, while at the same...