March 2024
15Mar

Japan. World’s largest pension fund to resume foreign stock lending

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has confirmed it will resume foreign stock lending after it first suspended the practice in December 2019. In the future, the fund intends to “promptly proceed” with specific practical measures such as the selection of foreign stock lending agents by asset management organisations. However, GPIF does not intend to carry out lending of domestic stocks. The fund will resume its activities in foreign stock lending (securities loan management) with a number of foreign stock lending initiatives. GPIF...

March 15, 2024
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14Mar

US. Around 20% of people have no retirement savings, survey finds

The AARP and the Ad Council launched a campaign called “This is Pretirement” to help encourage people to seriously think about their retirement plans. “The idea of creating a new campaign to give people small, actionable steps, to really get their retirement savings on track but remove that shame and fear, which is all over us when it really comes to retirement savings,” Mary Liz Burns with the AARP said. “You know, we did a financial trends survey, we’ve been doing it since the pandemic,”...

March 14, 2024
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06Mar

Expert panel: How DC plan members can hedge longevity risk for more effective decumulation

Retiring baby boomers are in an era of decumulation anxiety, as they convert their pension assets into income that they fear won’t hold up over the entirety of their retirement. The decumulation problem is complex for defined contribution pension plan sponsors because it involves transferring lump sum pension assets to retirees who may lack investment expertise and who may not know how to distribute their savings to cover their entire retirement horizon. It’s not obvious how to calibrate between having the desired...

March 6, 2024
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05Mar

US. More households are prepared for retirement – but this good news might not last

Even with the improvement, two out of five households are still at risk, according to the National Retirement Risk Index. The release of the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) offers an opportunity to reassess Americans' retirement preparedness as measured by the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI). The NRRI estimates the share of American households that are at risk of being unable to maintain their preretirement standard of living in retirement. Constructing the NRRI involves three steps: 1) projecting a replacement...

March 5, 2024
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04Mar

US. Retirement Account Balances Hit Their Highest Levels in Nearly Two Years

Key Takeaways 37% of workers increased their retirement savings contribution in 2023, boosting average account balances to their highest levels in nearly two years. Fidelity recommends that individuals save at least ten times their income by age 67, or 15% of their annual pre-tax income each year, to retire comfortably. As of year-end 2023, the average 401(k) balance of Gen X workers had reached more than half a million dollars ($501,000). Improved market conditions and consistent contributions boosted average retirement...

March 4, 2024
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01Mar

Lessons from the Pan-European Personal Pension product (PEPP)

By Hans van Meerten Europe has come up with legislation for a new individual pension product: the PEPP. This introduces an individual retirement account that can be rolled out in the entire European Union (EU). And can be offered to citizens worldwide. Europe – like most continents - is ageing at a rapid pace. In 2060, there will be two people at a working age for every pensioner, in comparison with four people at a working age at the present time....

March 1, 2024
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February 2024
22Feb

Ghana. Teachers unions angry over unsettled tier-2 pensions, others

Teachers' unions across the nation are growing increasingly frustrated about the government's failure to fulfil their tier-2 pension contributions dating back to April 2023. The outstanding amounts owed to these unions reportedly reach into millions of Ghana cedis. Despite deductions being made by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), sources within the education sector say that these funds have not been transferred to the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pensions Scheme (GISOPS). The government's decision to seek a bailout from the International...

February 22, 2024
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16Feb

Does Pension Automatic Enrollment Increase Debt? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Experiment

By John Beshears, Matthew Blakstad, James J. Choi, Christopher Firth, John Gathergood, David Laibson, Richard Notley, Jesal D. Sheth, Will Sandbrook & Neil Stewart Does automatic enrollment into retirement saving increase household debt? We study the randomized roll-out of automatic enrollment pensions to ~160,000 employers in the United Kingdom with 2-29 employees. We find that the additional savings generated through automatic enrollment are partially offset by increases in unsecured debt. Over the first 41 months after enrollment, each additional month...

February 16, 2024
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12Feb

The Role of AI to Enhance Retirement Savings: The Gender Gap Challenge

By Anabel Martínez Colín AI is the biggest disruptor in the financial sector, where there are many AI solutions at work, and the role of AI over it is well documented. However, the deployment of AI in the pension segment is still at an exploratory stage, and its influence on the gender gap in pensions is still unclear. This research explores the relationship between AI readiness and the gender gap in pensions (GGP), which may also be statistically significant. In addition,...

February 12, 2024
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12Feb

UK. More than 11 million Britons have less than £1,000 in savings

More than 11 million working-age people in Britain don’t have basic “rainy day” savings of at least £1,000, according to a report that warns that the poorest households are struggling to build up financial resilience amid the cost of living crisis. The Resolution Foundation said people across Britain faced a “triple savings challenge” of insufficient savings, an inability to cope financially with major life events such as family breakdown, and inadequate retirement incomes. It said 11.2 million people lived in households...

February 12, 2024
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