February 2020

06Feb

Ageing and the Elderly in Rwanda – The Missing Voice

By Francis Davis In June the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) will meet in Kigali the capital of Rwanda . They have chosen ‘youth’ as their theme. Despite its ferocity the Rwandan genocide remains a closed book to many outside central and East Africa. While the UN dithered and major global newspapers failed to despatch reporters to cover the carnage, 800,000 people were murdered - often by hand - in a few short months. Many in London,...

February 6, 2020
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January 2020

20Jan

Costa Rica: Increase In The Social Security Contribution Towards Disability, Old Age And Death

By Anna Karina Jiménez, Gloria Leandro the amendment to Transitory XI of the social security contribution towards Disability, Old Age and Death (IVM by its Spanish acronym) Regulation was published, accepting the recommendation of the Dialogue Board of 2017, which proposed accelerating the implementation period of the established steps for the contribution amounts of the IVM, by the Board of Directors of the Social Security Administration (CCSS) in 2005, so that, as of January 2020, instead of applying...

January 20, 2020
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16Jan

Why we need to scrap jargon to make pensions easier to understand – Ros Altmann

By Ross Altman THE Government has just finished its consultation on the introduction of simpler, standardised annual pension statements. I applaud its aims of helping people understand and engage with their pensions. My response to the consultation supports the simple two-page statement, showing each customer’s pension value, how much they have paid into it, how much has come from their employer and the Government, what charges they pay and how much their pension may be worth in future (using standard...

January 16, 2020
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10Jan

The end of Retirement

By John D. Stoll. It took about six years of annual asset reviews with my financial planner, Joe Mackey, to confront a big question. After I spent my entire adult life trying to save enough to quit working by 65, Mr. Mackey wanted to know what my rush was. “Do you even think you’ll want to retire?” I’m a 42-year-old writer with a job offering travel, intellectual grist and social connection. With few hobbies and an allergy for sitting still, it’s...

January 10, 2020
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09Jan

Solving Chile’s Crisis Starts With Fixing Its Pension System

BY JORGE HEINE Protesters cite the Pinochet-era retirement scheme as their top grievance. Fixing it will mean a return to basic principles of social security. As Chile’s protests continue into the new year, it is important to understand the reasons behind the public’s frustration – and for policymakers to come up with ways to address it. In that, no issue is more important than Chile’s private pension scheme, singled out in opinion polls as the most important issue for...

January 9, 2020
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07Jan

Beyond green ambitions

By Liam Kennedy Europe has lofty ambitions as it positions the European Green Deal as Europe’s growth plan for the coming decade and beyond. There is much to do to promote sustainability in Europe and the EU can undoubtedly blaze a trail. But the incoming Commission will also need to maintain its focus on the Capital Markets Union (CMU), the flagship economic policy of the previous Commission. One element of the CMU as announced in 2014 was indeed to foster...

January 7, 2020
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December 2019

26Dec

US. Why states must address pension reform now, before it’s too late

By Keith Greinet and Seth Grove  It’s been quite a while since the American economy has performed as well as it is now doing. Joblessness has sunk to record lows, causing some analysts to suggest we may be as close to full employment as we’re ever going to get. Core inflation remains under control, wages are rising and the U.S. Treasury just announced record total tax revenues of $470 billion for the first two months of the new...

December 26, 2019
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12Dec

Armenia. Parliament adopts voluntary early retirement plan for most incumbent Justices

By Stepan Kocharyan Parliament passed the early retirement plan for Constitutional Court judges with 75 votes in favor and 34 against. The opposition had earlier said it will vote down the government-backed bill envisaging voluntary early retirement mechanisms for most of the incumbent Constitutional Court Justices. Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan told lawmakers in parliament that certain technical amendments were made in the bill after the first reading. According to Badasyan, the bill has been approved by the Venice...

December 12, 2019
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12Dec

US. New e-delivery rules for ERISA pension plans on the Horizon

By McBrayer McGinnis Leslie & Kirkland PLLC In October, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule that encourages electronic delivery of ERISA-required plan disclosures. It allows plan administrators to post disclosures online to cut costs of paper delivery and is a voluntary safe harbor that plans can use to make documents accessible on a website instead of mailing paper documents. Adopting a so-called “notice and access” e-delivery structure, the DOL allows plans to save paper by emailing disclosures....

December 12, 2019
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11Dec

UK. The new pensions levy is deeply unfair

By Gregg Mcclymont Most of us spent our childhoods being conditioned to the reality that life is not fair. However, that does not make it any easier to digest when confronted with a situation that requires us to make our disquiet known. Plenty within the industry are allowing their voices to be heard in regards to the current situation surrounding the General Levy – the mechanism through which the Department for Work and Pensions extracts funding for The Pensions Regulator (TPR), the...

December 11, 2019
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