July 2021

UK. We need more retirement products to help DC savers

In its first nine years, auto-enrolment’s incredible success has been built on how much people have been able to save into their pension pots. Now the time has come to give serious consideration to how this new generation of savers will turn these savings into a reliable pension income. This is because in the next decade people reliant on defined contribution workplace pensions to supplement the state pension will start to retire in large numbers. What this means is that policymakers and...

Average German pension has risen 34 percent in 10 years

Average pensions in Germany have increased significantly over the past 10 years, RND reports, citing figures from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Accordingly, 10 years ago, newly-retired people who had contributed to social security for at least 35 years received an average of 962 euros per month. Most recently in 2020, someone entering retirement who had contributed for the same length of time received an average of 1.290 euros per month - 34 percent more than in 2010. In the western federal...

Coronavirus exposes cracks in Hongkongers’ retirement planning as health care costs and weak savings dominate worries, EIU survey finds

The Covid-19 pandemic has left most working adults in Hongkong fearing for their financial position and readiness for retirement, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit commissioned by HSBC Life Insurance. Read also UK. Triple lock is far from the biggest pension issue on government’s plate Some 98 per cent of Hongkongers expressed worries about ageing in the city, with medical and health care costs, insufficient savings and income security dominating their top concerns. Less than a quarter of...

Canada. 27% of homeowners planning to access pension early despite adequacy fears

Nearly a third (31 per cent) of homeowners over 40 plan to work beyond state pension age due to concerns over affordability and financial insecurity, whilst over a quarter (27 per cent) plan to access their pensions early, according to research from Canada Life. The survey found that many older savers had fears around funding their retirement, with close to a third (31 per cent) of homeowners over 40 who are currently working stating that they cannot afford to retire...

Remaking Retirement: Debt in an Aging Economy

By  Olivia Mitchell & Annamaria Lusardi Around the world, people nearing and entering retirement are holding ever-greater levels of debt than in the past. This is not a benign situation, as many pre-retirees and retirees are stressed about their indebtedness. Moreover, this growth in debt among the older population may render retirees vulnerable to financial shocks, medical care bills, and changes in interest rates. Contributors to this volume explore key aspects of the rise in debt across older cohorts, drill down...

Delay the Pension Age or Adjust the Pension Benefit? Implications for Labor Supply and Individual Welfare in China

By Yuanyuan Deng, Hanming Fang, Katja Hanewald, Shang Wu We develop and calibrate a life-cycle model of labor supply and consumption to quantify the implications of alternative pension reforms on labor supply, individual welfare, and government budget for China’s basic old-age insurance program. We focus on urban males and distinguish low-skilled and high-skilled individuals, who differ in their preferences, health and labor income dynamics, and medical expense processes. We use the calibrated model to evaluate three potential pension reforms: (i)...

Towards equity and sustainability? China’s pension system reform moves center stage

By Li Yang In this paper I review the latest development of China’s public pension system. Last several decades saw China’s tremendous achievement in various public pension reforms. Especially since the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), reform has accelerated. By 2019, the public pension system in China has covered almost one billion adults, which makes it the biggest pension system in the world. Together with the expansion of Dibao (Basic living allowance) and the eradication of poverty, the development of pension...

UK. Nearly a third of Gen Xers have inadequate pension savings

Almost one in three Generation Xers — individuals aged between 41 and 56 — have inadequate pension savings and face a minimum-at-best standard of living in retirement, according to research by the International Longevity Centre and Standard Life. The ILC’s ‘Slipping between the cracks’ report found that 60 per cent of Gen Xers in a defined contribution scheme are not contributing enough for financial security or flexibility later in life, while 59 per cent of those with insufficient savings lack...

I am my father’s retirement plan. It’s an honor that terrifies me.

My father lives in a crumbling house. Tile is missing from the bathroom walls, and in the well-worn hallways, my dad has used blue painter's tape to keep patches of burgundy carpet in place. Before I had it replaced, the floor in the dining area was a mismatch of linoleum tile that did nothing to hide or fix the large hole forming between the kitchen and the laundry room. Despite its state of disrepair, the house means a great deal to...

sigma 2/2021 – Emerging markets

By Viola Wang,Jessie Guo, Mahesh H Puttaiah, Caroline De Souza Rodrigues Cabral and Xin Dai Emerging markets worldwide are ageing fast. By 2050, these nations will be home to almost 80% of the world's population aged 65 and above. Yet on average only about 30% of their workers are covered by any sort of formal retirement income scheme. As their old-age-dependency ratios (the population above 65 years old relative to the working-age population of 15 to 64 years old) rise...