September 2023
15Sep

Mobile Apps Emerge as a Critical Tool for Retirement Plan Providers

Amid ongoing market volatility, it’s little wonder that plan participants are keeping a close eye on their retirement account balances, and they increasingly are doing so via mobile apps. As a result, mobile apps have taken center stage as critical tool for retirement investors, according to J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Retirement Plan Digital Experience Study released Sept. 14. And while improved market performance has helped lift overall satisfaction with retirement plan digital tools, for firms that want to differentiate and increase customer...

September 15, 2023
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05Sep

US. What Public Pensions Could Do for Private-Sector Retirees

Once upon a time, before the era of 401(k) plans and takeover capitalists eviscerating many company pension funds, defined-benefit pension plans were America’s primary supplement to Social Security. Back then, the actuarial assumptions were generally reasonable, even for the public pension systems, before some of the latter strayed down the path of unsustainable benefits promises and fishy math. Needless to say, times have changed, and nowadays the vast majority of Americans have very few guarantees of lifetime income other...

September 5, 2023
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05Sep

UK. One in five cut back or axe pension saving – risking a poorer retirement

One in five people have cut pension contributions or stopped saving for retirement due to tighter household budgets, research reveals. Men, younger people and higher earners are the most likely to have pared back or axed pension contributions altogether, despite the serious damage this inflicts to their long term finances. Inflation also means people need to save up even bigger pensions than ever to fund a decent old age. Some 14 per cent of people have stopped saving into their pension and 8...

September 5, 2023
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04Sep

US. Biden’s pension relief flows to IG bonds

A large part of this infusion is making its way into the bond market this year, either in the form of investments in highly rated corporate paper or US Treasury debt. “A lot of money is coming from the pension relief provided by the government,” said a senior DCM banker. The Special Financial Assistance programme is intended for so-called Taft-Hartley pension plans, such as those run by labour unions like the Teamsters, which represents millions of truck drivers and delivery workers...

September 4, 2023
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01Sep

Minimum eligibility age for social pensions and house hold poverty: Evidence from Mexico

By David Escamilla Guerrero, Clemente Avila Parra & Oscar Gálvez Soriano This paper examines the impact of social pensions on old-age poverty. To achieve causal identification, we leverage the reduction in the minimum eligibility age of Mexico's flagship non-means-tested social pension program. We find that the program's expansion significantly reduced extreme poverty, mainly among indigenous seniors and in rural areas. However, it had negligible effects on labor force participation, suggesting that social pensions were not effective in ensuring minimum...

September 1, 2023
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August 2023
28Aug

US. IRS Postpones Rule That Hit Older, High Paid 401(K) Savers-And Their Employers

The IRS is again pushing off a start date for new legislation by introducing a transition period. Earlier, the IRS declared a one-year delay in the new reporting requirement for Forms 1099-K. The IRS has now announced an administrative transition period for the new catch-up contribution requirements under the SECURE 2.0 Act. The new rule requires older, higher paid 401(k) participants to make their catch-up contributions into after-tax Roth accounts, instead of pre-tax traditional accounts. Congress meant for it to take...

August 28, 2023
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28Aug

Zimbabwe: Pensioners Drown in Poverty As Companies Hold on to $47 Billion Deductions

HAVING grown up in the rural community of Chiriseri in Bindura South, Backdoor Mhunza says he witnessed the disgusting twist of circumstances which can ensue one in his old age due to reduced incomes. From experience, Mhunza could tell how chronic diseases may end up escalating among the aged who find themselves helpless and struggling to meet their basic needs, let alone paying for their medical treatment. Such childhood lessons left lasting impressions and since primary school Mhunza vowed that the...

August 28, 2023
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24Aug

Aging Is Trending On TikTok – Lean In To Inspire Gen Z’s Retirement Goals

Coastal grandmother and grandmillennial may be popular design trends on TikTok but getting younger generations to financially plan for those years is more of a challenge. Nearly a third of Gen Z workers are not are not saving for retirement, according to a recent Bankrate survey, and roughly the same amount report feeling behind on their planning. While the Gen Z cohort, which includes workers between the ages of 18-25, has the benefit of time to build the foundations of...

August 24, 2023
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24Aug

$1.2m benefits from NSSF remain unclaimed in Kenya

Retirees failed to claim Ksh166.83 million ($1.2 million) in benefits due from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) by the end of June 2022, the Auditor-General has revealed, with the fund coming under the spotlight over failure to remit the funds to the unclaimed assets authority. The unclaimed benefits were part of accrued payments of Ksh3.6 billion ($24.9 million) at the end of the period, which the state-owned pension fund continually pays out to retirees at the end of their working...

August 24, 2023
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18Aug

Uncovering the profile of low earners in the UK and the potential for pension saving through automatic enrolment

By Pensions and lifetime savings association  In the realm of pensions policy, there exists a significant knowledge gap when it comes to understanding and addressing the needs of low earners in the United Kingdom. While various segments of the population have been subject to extensive research, individuals with low incomes who are still engaged in employment have remained relatively understudied. This group represents a complex demographic, comprising diverse subgroups, who may be earning modest incomes for varying reasons and circumstances. The...

August 18, 2023
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