November 2021
25Nov

UK. How will the new pension transfer restrictions work?

According to the Financial Conduct Authority, a total of £2,241,774 worth of of pension-scam losses has been reported to Action Fraud since the start of 2021 (between January and May). In a further effort to prevent pension scams, regulations coming into force on November 30 will require checks to assess whether a pension transfer request meets certain conditions to enable a statutory right to transfer. The regulations will empower trustees and scheme managers to prevent a transfer request when a ‘red...

November 25, 2021
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25Nov

Ghana. Parliament asked to address imbalance in SSNIT finances

The Africa Centre for Retirement Research (ACRR), a research institute with focus retirement and pension, has called on Parliament, policymakers and stakeholders to take steps to address the “imbalance” in the finances of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). It said that must be done through parametric and legislative reforms to safeguard SSNIT, claiming the Trust might not be able to pay full scheduled benefits on a timely basis by 2037 if nothing was done. ACRR said the examination...

November 25, 2021
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25Nov

China publishes guidelines to enhance the sense of happiness and security of the aging population

In order to effectively address China's aging population, the country issued a set of guidelines on Wednesday on strengthening work on the senior population to enhance the sense of happiness and security of the elderly. According to the Seventh National Population Census, as of November 1, 2020, the elderly population aged 60 and above in China was 264.02 million, accounting for 18.7% of the total. It is estimated that during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the elderly population in...

November 25, 2021
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24Nov

US Department of Labor recovered more than $2.4B to employee benefit plans, participants, beneficiaries in fiscal year 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has recovered more than $2.4 billion in direct payments to plans, participants and beneficiaries in fiscal year 2021. In FY 2021, EBSA closed 1,072 civil investigations with 741 of those investigations resulting in monetary results for plans or other corrective actions. The investigations led to 16,024 terminated vested participants in defined benefit plans collecting benefits of $1.548 billion owed to them. Terminated vested results represent a combination of the present values...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

Pension funds and institutional investors set to increase focus on ESG, says new study

Some 14 per cent said they expect their focus here to increase ‘dramatically’ between now and 2024, with just 7 per cent claiming it will decrease. Read also Longevity, the uncertainty and managing the risks When considering what impact ESG will have on their investment activities, 43 per cent of the institutional investors surveyed said the environmental factor is the most important one for them. Nearly one in three (31 per cent) said social factors are, and 26 per cent selected...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

US. IRI Expert Weighs in On Morningstar Update to 4% Rule

A recent paper from Morningstar Research that questions the decades-old “4% rule” for safely withdrawing funds from retirement accounts—and says 3.3% is the new 4%—has raised plenty of eyebrows in the retirement planning community. One of the latest to comment about it is Frank O’Connor, Vice President, Research and Outreach for the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), who notes the research also found that including protected income via annuities can help retirees meet their income needs. “Outliving retirement savings is a major...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

Why scaling investment is crucial for sustainable development

Global organizations are cooperating on scaling investment to help achieve sustainability goals. Investment promotion needs to change to target sustainable investments, particularly to help reach climate goals. Turkey is implementing this approach by making the SDGs central to its foreign direct investment strategy. Climate change has been on the international agenda for a long time, but recent developments have upped the urgency of taking immediate action for both humanitarian and developmental reasons. World leaders gathered in Glasgow to discuss...

November 24, 2021
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24Nov

No pension. No savings. No future. No wonder we’re betting the house on crypto

By Rohit Thawani I must begin this article by stating that the information I’m providing is not financial advice. I think I legally have to say that because I heard it on a podcast or whatever, I really don’t know. But, if you’re taking crypto advice from me, that might be your first problem. It all started with a missed shot. Let’s go back to 2004, when I invested my $5,000 life savings into Apple, a company I truly believed in. It...

November 24, 2021
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23Nov

US. Pension Cash Dwindles, Risking Liquidity Crunch

Bigger private-market bets, inflation fears and a surge of retirees are putting public retirement funds at risk of a cash crunch that would force them to sell assets at losses to pay pension checks. Read also US. How The Pandemic Has Impacted Retirement Confidence Cash allocations have dropped to a seven-year low at the funds that manage more than $4.5 trillion in retirement savings for America’s teachers, police and firefighters. Read also US Department of Labor recovered more than $2.4B to employee...

November 23, 2021
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23Nov

​Three foreign pension lessons for the UK – PPI report

The Pensions Policy Institute’s (PPI) latest report looks at what the UK can learn from other countries to improve value for money for pension savers. Such contries, among others, include Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands. When Sweden introduced its defined contribution (DC)-based premium pension system in the 1990s, it launched a campaign to encourage workers to make an active, considerate choice between the six available investment funds. With remarkable success, as two thirds of workers did indeed make an active choice...

November 23, 2021
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