December 2020

09Dec

Is There a Place for ETFs in Retirement Plans?

Millennials favor exchange-traded funds (ETFs) more than other generations, according to a report by Charles Schwab about trends in retirement plan self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs). Millennials are a considerable portion of the U.S. workforce, The low cost of ETFs is often cited as a positive feature of the funds. Yet, even as retirement plan fees are driven down and have been the subject of much litigation, ETFs have not been widely accepted by defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors. Tom Skrobe,...

December 9, 2020
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November 2020

18Nov

French Senate passes social security draft budget, revives pensions polemic

Before the modifications in the Senate, the bill passed the National Assembly with 190 votes in favour, 106 votes against and 50 abstentions. As France deals with the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, senators voted to increase health provisions overall. Retirement age, again The Senate is dominated by a right-wing opposition and has re-introduced a proposal to extend the retirement age in order to balance the pension system. It recommends both pushing back the legal retirement age to 63...

November 18, 2020
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October 2020

26Oct

Young people in the UK expect to retire before turning 64

On average, young people between the ages of 18 and 34, expect to retire at the age of 63 and eight months, while one in eight are looking to retire by 55, new data has shown. A survey by Opinium for investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown said that in contrast, those over 55 expect to retire on average at 67 and 11 months, with 20% aiming to stop work after 70. The current average age of retirement in the UK...

October 26, 2020
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16Oct

Retirement tontines: Using a classical finance mechanism as an alternative source of retirement income

Households face two related but distinct financial challenges as they prepare for retirement: first accumulating enough retirement savings during their working years, and then spending down their assets wisely after retiring. A substantial literature reaching a wide range of conclusions examines the extent to which households are saving adequately for retirement. But there is more consensus about the challenges households face when deciding how best to spend down their savings. People do not know how long they or their...

October 16, 2020
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09Oct

Pensions for State and Local Government Workers Not Covered by Social Security: Do Benefits Meet Federal Standards?

By Laura Quinby, Jean-Pierre Aubry, Alicia H. Munnell Federal law allows certain state and local governments to exclude employees from Social Security coverage if the employees are provided with a sufficiently generous pension. Approximately 6.5 million such workers were not covered by Social Security in 2018. Retirement systems for non-covered workers have become less generous in recent years, and a few plans could exhaust their trust funds within the next decade, putting beneficiaries at risk. This article examines data...

October 9, 2020
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09Oct

US. Can designing DC plans with deferred income annuity options help fill the pension gap?

Pensions, which provided financial security in retirement for previous generations, are all but a thing of the past today, leaving employees looking for the best strategies to ensure they have sufficient savings and income in retirement to last them for as long as they live. Saving in 401(k) and individual retirement accounts is the primary tool today’s savers are using to achieve financial stability in retirement, but guaranteed income is also appealing. Social Security provides one guaranteed income stream...

October 9, 2020
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08Oct

What Does Retirement Look Like in a Pandemic?

David Jarmul and his wife, Champa, long envisioned what their retirement would look like. After returning from a two-year Peace Corps stint in Moldova in 2018, the couple, both 67, planned extensive travel, including trips to the Baltics, West Africa and Sri Lanka. “Travel is our passion — it’s what we love to do,” said Mr. Jarmul, who retired in 2015 as head of news and communications for Duke University. For now, the two are living a Covid-19 retirement...

October 8, 2020
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07Oct

US. Half the population struggles with retirement

Way back in 1992, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article warned that “[w]ith savings rates down, the future of Social Security in question and traditional plans going the way of the eight-track tape, experts say there’s a retirement crisis looming in America.” Read also US. Can designing DC plans with deferred income annuity options help fill the pension gap? A non-stop drumbeat of articles featuring similar warnings have continued down to the present day, although “retirement crisis” remains opaque as a...

October 7, 2020
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September 2020

25Sep

Kenya. Workers can now access pensions to buy house

Workers can now access up to Sh7 million or a maximum of 40 percent of their retirement savings to buy their first residential house after Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani signed the amended regulations. Pension schemes have until September 14, 2021 to amend their rules to allow their members early to access their savings for house purchase. The law is meant to boost home ownership in a market where most people employed in the formal sector are unable to raise...

September 25, 2020
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21Sep

Japan proposal on contribution limits could hurt

Japan's regulators are moving to put "fairer" contribution limits for corporate defined contribution plans in place this year but analysts warn their proposed changes could just as easily shrink Japan's DC market as expand it. Along the way, some of Japan's biggest corporate plan sponsors could be forced to restructure the mix of DC and defined benefit retirement plans they offer to employees. At issue are current rules that mandate across-the-board reductions in DC contribution ceilings for companies that...

September 21, 2020
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