Category: Retirement

Swiss man changes gender to retire and receive his pension a year earlier

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://rmx.news/switzerland/swiss-man-changes-gender-to-retire-and-receive-his-pension-a-year-earlier/

Excerpt:

A man in Switzerland has exploited an administrative loophole and formally changed his gender in order to retire a year earlier, it has emerged.

New rules introduced on Jan. 1 enable any Swiss resident with the “intimate conviction” that they do not belong to the sex they are registered as in the civil status register can apply to change their gender, in addition to their first name, for just 75 Swiss francs (€72).

And it took just four days for the system to be taken advantage of with Swiss daily Luzerner Zeitung reporting that a man from Lucerne applied to change his gender so that he could receive his state pension at the Swiss retirement age for women of 64, a year earlier than men.

While there are regulations supposedly in place to prevent individuals from making “manifestly abusive” applications, there is in reality “no obligation” on the part of civil servants to “verify the intimate conviction of the persons concerned” and the sincerity of the applicant is presumed in accordance with the principle of good faith.

Author(s): John Cody

Publication Date: 30 Jan 2022

Publication Site: Remix News

Funding Public Pension Plans–Theory and Practice

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.actuary.org/node/14815

Excerpt:

The Pension Practice Council’s Jan. 25 webinar, “Funding Public Pension Plans—Theory and Practice,” highlighted the Academy’s issue brief The 80% Pension Funding Myth; explored prudent funding practices; and examined considerations being made in the management of “surplus” for state and local public employee pension plans.

Presenters were Academy Pension Vice President Sherry Chan; Paul Angelo, a member of the Public Plans Committee; and Academy member David Lamoureux. Public Plans Committee Chairperson Todd Tauzer moderated.

Using the issue brief as a starting point, Tauzer laid the groundwork of the discussion in going over the basics of pension funding and a funded ratio. Funded ratios move in economic cycles and can be affected by assumption changes, and are also subject to varying asset valuations and liability measurements, he said.

Plan projections go beyond a point in time measurement and can illustrate plan trajectory, which is a more robust indicator of plan health over time. Nevertheless, funded ratios continue to be used ubiquitously. Tauzer highlighted additional considerations to bring context, like financial health and investment strategy of plan sponsor, history of benefit changes, and adherence to funding policy.

Publication Date: 25 Jan 2022

Publication Site: American Academy of Actuaries

Pension Plan Actuarial Assumption Litigation: The End is Not Yet in Sight

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/pension-plan-actuarial-assumption-5162449/

Excerpt:

One recent line of ERISA litigation involves the actuarial equivalence factors used by defined benefit pension plans.  The lawsuits apply both to active defined benefit pension plans and pension plans that have been “frozen” as to future benefit accruals.

….

Basically, the lawsuits allege that the plan, through the use of out-of-date and “unreasonable” actuarial assumptions and conversion factors, has “overcharged” participants when converting from the Life Annuity Benefit to payment in an alternate payment form. 

….

In many of the cases, the challenge focuses on allegedly outdated mortality tables that do not take improved life expectancy into account.  In some situations, the actuarial factors (including mortality table assumption) were established decades ago and have never been updated.  In essence, the lawsuits allege that the plan (by not using updated factors and tables) is not paying out the full value of the participant’s benefit when the participant has elected payment in an alternate payment form.

Author(s): Gregg Dooge

Publication Date: 20 Jan 2022

Publication Site: JD Supra

Retirees fled state to avoid taxing of pension

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://news.yahoo.com/retirees-fled-state-avoid-taxing-090009834.html

Excerpt:

The tax on pensions moved many retirees to flee the state for no-tax states like Florida. I attended one of Dale Zorn’s town halls shortly after his 2011 vote. I told him the huge cost to my pension that I didn’t expect after I retired. He told me they, the Republican Party, will revisit this at a later date. IT NEVER HAPPENED! Since 2011, the Republican Party controlled both houses and could easily have voted to repeal this tax they passed in 2011. It incredulous how they have spun this issue.

Now Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is pushing to repeal this tax this year in her State of the State speech. She knows with inflation pressures how seniors are being affected. She knows this will free up disposable income to be spent in local communities across the state. She knows its good for small business.

Author(s): Paul Wohlfarth

Publication Date: 30 Jan 2021

Publication Site: Yahoo News

Statutory retirement age still needed, says Manpower Minister as Bill passed for higher retirement and re-employment ages

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/retirement-reemployment-ages-older-workers-manpower-minister-tan-see-leng-2285771

Graphic:

Excerpt:

A statutory retirement age is still important as a safeguard against those employers who dismiss older employees due to their age, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Tuesday (Nov 2), as Parliament voted to pass an amendment to the Retirement and Re-employment Age Act.

The Bill passed on Tuesday amends the Retirement and Re-employment Act so that the Minister for Manpower can prescribe a retirement age and re-employment age of up to 65 and 70 respectively.

This is in line with recommendations by the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers in 2019 that both the retirement age and re-employment age be raised by three years to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030.

Author(s): Chew Hui Min

Publication Date: 2 Nov 2021

Publication Site: Channel News Asia

Here is the age when many Americans hope to retire

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/03/here-is-the-age-when-many-americans-hope-to-retire.html

Excerpt:

The youngest cohort, Generation Y — ages 25 to 40 — plans to retire at an average age of 59. For Generation X — now 41 to 56 — the average age is 60. Baby boomers — who range from 57 to 75 — indicated they plan to work longer, with an average expected retirement age of 68.

That’s as 83% of non-retired U.S. investors said they are confident they will be financially secure in retirement. That includes 88% of Gen Y, 82% of Gen X and 79% of baby boomers.

Author(s): Lorie Konish

Publication Date: 3 Jan 2022

Publication Site: CNBC

Tokyo’s ‘oldest man’ had been dead for 30 years

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10809128

Excerpt:

He was thought to be the oldest man in Tokyo – but when officials went to congratulate Sogen Kato on his 111th birthday, they uncovered mummified skeletal remains lying in his bed.

Mr Kato may have been dead for 30 years according to Japanese authorities.

They grew suspicious when they went to honour Mr Kato at his address in Adachi ward, but his granddaughter told them he “doesn’t want to see anybody”.

Police are now investigating the family on possible fraud charges.

…..

But the family had received 9.5 million yen ($109,000: £70,000) in widower’s pension payments via Mr Kato’s bank account since his wife died six years ago, and some of the money had recently been withdrawn.

Publication Date: 29 July 2010

Publication Site: BBC

Gardaí investigating after man’s body used in apparent attempt to claim pension

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/garda%C3%AD-investigating-after-man-s-body-used-in-apparent-attempt-to-claim-pension-1.4782598

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Gardaí are investigating the death of a man in Carlow town, whose body was brought into a post office by two others in what appeared to be an attempt to claim the deceased’s pension.

The bizarre series of events began when a man entered the post office at Hosey’s shop on Staplestown Road at about 11.30 am on Friday.

The man wanted to collect a pension payment on behalf of an older man but was informed by a staff member that the pensioner would have to be present if a payment was to be made.

The man left the post office and returned a short time later with two other men, one of whom was in his 60s. The two younger men are understood to have sought a pension payment for the third man, who it appeared was being propped up.

….

The deceased man, named locally as Peadar Doyle, is believed to have been in his late 60s and a resident of Pollerton Road, close to the post office.

Author(s): Jack Power, Ronan McGreevy

Publication Date: 21 Jan 2022

Publication Site: The Irish Times

Two men take corpse into Irish post office to claim dead man’s pension

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/two-men-take-corpse-into-irish-post-office-to-claim-dead-mans-pension

Excerpt:

Gardaí have launched an investigation after two men carried a dead body into an Irish post office in an apparent attempt to claim his pension.

The deceased pensioner was described in reports as being “propped up” by the men as they walked into the building in County Carlow on Friday morning.

The outlandish series of events began when one of the men entered the post office at about 11.30am on Friday, asking to collect a pension payment for an older man, the Irish Times reported. He was refused, with staff informing him that the pensioner would have to be present in order for the money to be handed over.

Author(s): Clea Skopeliti

Publication Date: 22 Jan 2022

Publication Site: The Guardian

Pandemic Spending Slowdown Eased Financial Stress: Survey

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/01/11/pandemic-spending-slowdown-eased-financial-stress-survey/

Excerpt:

Despite a two-year pandemic, workers overall are more confident in their financial situation than they’ve been since 2014, according to findings in the eighth annual Stress, Finances, and Well-Being report released today by John Hancock Retirement. That said, overall stress still affects 72% of retirement plan participants surveyed, especially women (79%) and those 36 to 50 years old (77%).

Further, 71% responded said they had experienced stress, depression or loneliness during the past year.

Author(s): Ginger Szala

Publication Date: 11 Jan 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

Vietnam adds private pension as silver tide rises

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Vietnam-adds-private-pension-as-silver-tide-rises

Graphic:

Excerpt:

When communist Vietnam recently introduced private retirement funds, it was taking a step not only closer to capitalism, but also toward changing a young pension system that some worry may buckle if citizens get old before getting rich.

Last year marked the first time workers could put part of their paychecks into private retirement accounts, on top of the share contributed to the state pension. But analysts say bigger, systemic change is needed to enable retirement for all, even as the International Labor Organization says the state fund is robust. 

….

Retirees would seem to be the envy of the neighborhood, receiving payouts worth 75% of their prior wages — the fifth-highest among 70 countries in the Allianz Global Pension Report 2020.

But Vietnam’s system covers just 40% of the elderly, which explains why women keep working longer there than in all but five other countries, the report shows.

Author(s): LIEN HOANG

Publication Date: 17 Jan 2022

Publication Site: Nikkei Asia

Washington State’s Celebrated Long Term Care Program Is Headed Towards Trouble

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2022/01/09/washington-states-celebrated-long-term-care-program-is-headed-towards-trouble/

Excerpt:

A requirement to have paid into the system is characteristic of a social insurance program, and the 10 year contribution requirement is essentially the same as the eligibility requirement for Old Age benefits in Social Security. However, true social insurance programs pay out benefits to those eligible regardless of residence — again, once you’ve paid into Social Security long enough to have earned your benefit, you can collect regardless of where you live, even if you have moved abroad. In fact, even noncitizens who worked in the United States long enough to have accumulated sufficient Social Security credits, can receive benefits after having moved back to their home countries. What’s more, many social insurance systems provide some sort of refund mechanism for workers who do not accumulate enough contribution years to be eligible.

And this hybrid system will likely prove to be unsustainable politically. Even if ordinary Washingtonians are not well-versed in social insurance concepts and theories, it will not sit right with them that those who retire with 10 years of payroll taxes have “earned” their benefits but those with 9 years have not, and, likewise, that those who have “earned” benefits would lose those “earned” benefits merely by moving out of state. How precisely this will play out over the long term remains to be seen, but the new bills are not likely to be the end of the story.

In any case, these problems will not be easy to remedy.

Author(s): Elizabeth Bauer

Publication Date: 9 Jan 2022

Publication Site: Forbes