November 2019

15Nov

Social Pensions and Market Values: A Conflict?

By Quentin Detienne, Elmar Schmidt Social occupational pension schemes, i.e. compulsory pension schemes that are the result of collective bargaining, fulfil an important social function. At the same time, they seem to conflict with some fundamental single market tenets, such as the European Union (EU) Single Market’s four fundamental freedoms and competition law principles. In this respect, occupational pension schemes in the Member States seem to embody the inherent tensions contained within the EU’s social market economy: a clash...

November 15, 2019
Articles, Pension design, ,
Read more...
13Nov

British expats face losing £50k with pension freeze

The 666,000 retired expats who live in Europe and a handful of countries further afield, such as the US, Jamaica and the Philippines see their payments regularly uprated. But 528,000 have their pensions frozen, the vast majority of them living in Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The state pension only increases annually if a person lives in the European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar, Switzerland, and countries that have a social security agreement with the...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
13Nov

UK. Ex-charity head admits defrauding disabled workers’ pension scheme

The former head of a charity faces a substantial prison sentence after admitting to defrauding a pension scheme for workers with disabilities and using the money to buy houses in England and France. Patrick McLarry, 71, took more than £250,000 from the pension scheme of Yateley Industries for the Disabled and used it to buy homes for himself and his wife and pay off a debt over a pub lease. The Pensions Regulator (TPR), which brought the prosecution, said...

November 13, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
11Nov

Bank of Estonia: Pension reform to bring pressure for tax increase with it

The Bank of Estonia recommends not making the second pillar of Estonia's pension system voluntary, as that may result in lower old-age pensions in the future and bring pressure to raise taxes in the future with it. The Ministry of Finance sent the pension reform bill that would make the second pillar optional for an interministerial round of approvals last Wednesday. Earlier this fall, the Bank of Estonia drew up an impact analysis of changes to the system of...

November 11, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
07Nov

US. IRS Announces Higher 2020 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits For 401(k)s And More

How much can you save for retirement in 2020? The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2020: 401(k) contribution limits are up; traditional IRA contribution limits stay the same; almost all the other numbers are up. The amount you can contribute to your 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan goes up from $19,000 in 2019 to $19,500 in 2020. The 401(k) catch-up contribution limit—if you’re 50 or older in 2020—will be $6,500 for workplace...

November 7, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...

October 2019

15Oct

UK. Queen’s Speech: Govt announces Pensions Bill

The Pensions Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech today (October 14) will see new rules for pension dashboards, collective defined contribution schemes and new powers for The Pensions Regulator. Queen Elizabeth said: “To help people plan for the future, measures will be brought forward to provide simpler oversight of pension savings. "To protect people savings for later life, new laws will provide greater powers to tackle irresponsible management of private pension schemes.” The government does not have a majority...

October 15, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
09Oct

US. White House Focuses on China Stock Limits in Retirement Fund

The Trump administration is moving ahead with discussions around possible restrictions on portfolio flows into China, with a particular focus on investments made by U.S. government retirement funds, people familiar with the internal deliberations said. Read also US. GE is freezing its pension plan for 20,000 US workers The efforts are advancing even after American officials pushed back strongly against a Bloomberg News report late last month that a range of such limits was under review. Trump officials last...

October 9, 2019
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
07Oct

US. Impeachment And Your Retirement

Here’s why they are related The financial advice industry is known for having strong opinions. Politics is like that too. Especially these days. To be clear, this is NOT a political commentary. I direct you to a zillion other locations on the internet for that. Likewise, it seems to me that people within 10 years either side of retirement (hoping to retire within 10 years or retired within the last 10 years) are bombarded with...

October 7, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
04Oct

UK. Defeat for women in state pension age challenge

Campaigners have lost a significant legal battle against the government's handling of the rise in women's state pension age. The retirement age for women rose from 60 to 65, in line with men, and will go up to 66 by 2020, and to 67 by 2028. Women born in the 1950s claim the rise is unfair because they were not given enough time to make adjustments to cope with years without a state pension. They argued the changes were...

October 4, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
04Oct

Why the Future of Brazil’s Economy Rides on Pensions

Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, is closer than ever to overhauling its costly pension system. That’s been the focus of the first sustained legislative drive by President Jair Bolsonaro, his economic team and allies. Efforts to muster support for a major reform failed under previous administrations. Now, Brazil’s Senate is set to approve changes that could boost the nation’s public finances and open the door to a virtuous cycle of expansion. 1. Why is pension reform so important? Brazil’s pension...

October 4, 2019
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...