November 2019

07Nov

Income of 100 richest Norwegians almost double in last 10 years: report

While the income of 100 richest people in Norway almost doubled in last ten years, most other people have seen much smaller growth of their earnings, newspaper Aftenposten reported Wednesday. The tax and income list for 2018 published on Tuesday showed that more Norwegians have a taxable income of more than 1 million kroner (109,529 U.S. dollars) per year. These figures do not include deductions before tax. Last year, a total of 152,537 people earned over 1 million, 13,246...

November 7, 2019
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06Nov

Rising tensions pose Asia dilemma for US pensions

US state pension schemes certainly don’t lack for problems. Many have nowhere near enough funds to cover growing payout liabilities (see first box below). And they struggle to shift their members from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes which would sap their assets less quickly. Read also China Life Pension Assets Doubled One solution would be to improve investment performance. Unfortunately, asset returns have been falling and market volatility rising, in part because of the geopolitical uncertainty and US-China trade...

November 6, 2019
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06Nov

Green Coalition: Pension Plans Miss Billions by Not Divesting from Fossil Fuels

A new study shows that the two largest pension funds in the US—the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)—as well as the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, combined missed out on $19 billion in investment returns over the last decade by investing in fossil fuel stocks. The study is the latest salvo by environmentalists in their battle to convince the large pension funds to divest their portfolios of the stocks of...

November 6, 2019
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06Nov

US. Public Pension Plans Continue to Shift Into U.S. Stocks

As the bull market enters its 11th year, state and local pension plans are piling on risk, as they try to make up shortfalls. Public plans had a median 47.3% of their assets in U.S. equities at the end of the third quarter, according to database Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service. That is more than they have had since 2007 and up from 44.1% a year earlier. Taking on more exposure to stocks is a riskier bet, especially as...

November 6, 2019
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06Nov

Palestine- The EU contributes €16.5 million to the PA payment of October salaries and pensions

The European Union has made today a contribution of €16.5 million to the payment of October salaries and pensions of more than 40,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the West Bank. This contribution is funded by the European Union as part of its Direct Financial Support to the Palestinian Authority channelled through PEGASE[1]. "The European Union continues to make significant contributions to the Palestinian Authority budget to help pay the salaries of civil servants and pensioners. We are...

November 6, 2019
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06Nov

Automating Emergency Savings for Retirement Plan Participants

At any given time, 20% of retirement plan participants have an outstanding loan from their workplace retirement plan, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Loan overutilization is one of the biggest problems plaguing retirement plans,” says Michael Webb, vice president of Cammack Retirement Group in New York City. “Many people are living paycheck to paycheck and have no emergency savings. Plan sponsors are concerned about this and don’t really know how to deal with the problem....

November 6, 2019
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05Nov

Australia. Call to cut tax breaks for rich retirees

The government should look to trim generous tax concessions for wealthy superannuation savers, worth more than $36bn a year, rather than aim to include the family home in the pension assets test, according to the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association. CPSA policy manager Paul Versteege said the family home should not be included in the asset test because “the vast majority of people live in a modest house”. The Australian on Monday revealed more than 250,000 retirees living in...

November 5, 2019
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05Nov

China Life Pension Assets Doubled

China Life Pension has doubled its assets under management in the past 12 months to more than 1 trillion yuan ($142bn) and could soon join the ranks of the world’s largest pension funds over the next two years. Until recently, many Chinese provinces have managed their own pension funds. However, the central government in the past year has opened up the management of pension assets to a handful of domestic groups including China Life. It hopes that such moves...

November 5, 2019
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05Nov

Ireland. ‘700,000 to miss out’ on auto-enrol pension plan

Thousands of people are set to lose out on the State's new auto-enrolment pension scheme, which is already being heavily criticised for being years behind schedule. Read also Ireland. Quarter of people ‘can’t afford’ to save for retirement Pension consultants Mercer said around 700,000 people who should be opted into the new system look set to be excluded. Read also Ireland. Plans to auto-enrol workers in pension schemes announced The scheme is not due to be launched for another two...

November 5, 2019
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05Nov

In Japan’s ageing society, elderly are determined to resist the push towards cashless payments

Tokyo wants to double the ratio of cashless settlements to 40 per cent by 2025 and to 80 per cent eventually to spur labour productivity However, Japanese households hold more than half of their assets in cash and deposits and that proportion rises with the elderly Cash is king in Japan, and more so for the country’s rapidly ageing population who are still deeply reluctant to give it up. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to make more Japanese –...

November 5, 2019
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