Most countries face the future with an ageing population, yet most governments are cutting back on pensions and the care services needed by the elderly. Robin Blackburn exposes the perverse reasoning and special interests which have combined to produce this nonsensical state of affairs. This updated paperback edition of Age Shock includes a new preface explaining why the credit crunch and eurozone crisis have had such a devastating impact and outlining a way to guarantee decent pensions and care provision.

Public pensions in the United States face an impending funding crisis in the wake of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 recession. Many cities and states will struggle to meet these growing obligations without major cuts in government services, reneging on pension promises, or raising taxes. This Element examines the development of the pension crisis through the lens of political economy. We analyze the knowledge and incentive problems inherent in the institutional structure, governance, and accounting of public pensions. We conclude by offering several institutional, governance, and reporting reforms to address the pension funding crisis.

This book presents a consistent and complete framework for studying the risk management of a pension fund. It gives the reader the opportunity to understand, replicate and widen the analysis. To this aim, the book provides all the tools for computing the optimal asset allocation in a dynamic framework where the financial horizon is stochastic (longevity risk) and the investor's wealth is not self-financed. This tutorial enables the reader to replicate all the results presented. The R codes are provided alongside the presentation of the theoretical framework. The book explains and discusses the problem of hedging longevity risk even in an incomplete market, though strong theoretical results about an incomplete framework are still lacking and the problem is still being discussed in most recent literature.

Stop living from paycheck to paycheck. Achieve Financial Independence. Retire Early. Join the FIRE movement that’s igniting the world.

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You have a very slim chance of winning the lottery. You have a better chance of building wealth slowly. If you have the right attitude.

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WINNER of Business Book Awards 2019 "Exceptional Book by a Woman" Women - your financial future is in your hands - you can create it. Power Property Investing for Women is for any woman who wants to control their financial future. There is a property investing strategy for everyone regardless of financial or personal circumstances. Award-winning Property Developer and Mentor Bindar Dosanjh, with over 20 years' experience, shows you how to: * Get on the property ladder * Create your desired income from property investing * Write your own pay cheques * Profit from distressed properties * Fund your deals using other people's money * Systemise your property business * Create your own financial independence plan and much more... This book provides the necessary guidance, tools, strategies and support. Bindar teaches a safe and secure way to start property investing, turning the fearful novice into a fiercely confident property investor.

Caroline Garnham, a former leading private client lawyer was head of Simmons &Simmons private client practice for fifteen years. She was nominated as one of the top five leading private client lawyers in 2011 and was a contributor for the Financial Times for twelve years on tax and trusts. Caroline pioneered the area of law now known as Family Governance. This book draws on her extensive knowledge and intimate experience in working for some of the world's wealthiest families. Pulling together scores of examples, she looks at the relationship between the UHNW community and their advisors from both perspectives. She believes that by understanding each other they can work together more productively. "Working as a private client lawyer for more than twenty years I developed a sympathy for you, the Super-Rich community. It is a community people find hard to feel sorry for - you do not have to worry about the mortgage being paid or where the next meal is coming from but your concerns nevertheless can keep you awake at night. You contribute significantly in taxes which benefits us all. In Great Britain, the top 1% pay 30% of our income tax; you spend in our shops and oil the wheels of our economy - and yet in general you are poorly served and often despised. As wealthy individuals I understand you are being fingered for money ALL THE TIME. It is hardly surprising therefore that you fly off the handle when you are being fleeced for yet more. Being pestered for money is a way of life for you which most of you hate which is why you want to preserve your privacy." This book is designed for you, the super-rich and those aspiring to be super rich. This book will tell you how to manage your advisors, your wealth and how to enjoy it all.

Occupational pensions are major participants in global financial markets with assets of well over $30 trillion, representing more than 40% of the assets of institutional investors. Some occupational pension funds control assets of over $400 billion, and the largest 300 occupational pension funds each have average assets of over $50 billion. The assets of UK pension funds are equivalent to UK GDP, and US pension fund assets are 83% of US GDP. These statistics highlight the importance of pension funds as major players in financial markets, and the need to understand the behaviour of these large institutional investors. Occupational pensions also play an important, but neglected, role in corporate finance. For example, US company pension schemes account for over 60% of company market value, and yet they are often ignored when analysing companies. This book is based on the substantial body of evidence available from around the world on a topic that has become increasingly important and controversial in recent years. Written for practitioners, students and academics, this book brings together and systematizes a very large international literature from financial economists, actuaries, practitioners, professional organizations, official documents and reports. The underlying focus is the application of the principles of financial economics to occupational pensions, including the work of Nobel laureates such as Merton, Markowitz, Modigliani, Miller and Sharpe, as well as Black. This book will give readers an up-to-date understanding of occupational pensions, the economic issues they face, and some suggestions of how these issues can be tackled. The first section explains the operation of defined benefit and defined contribution pensions, along with some descriptive statistics. The second section covers selected aspects of occupational pensions. The focus of these first two sections is on the economic and financial aspects of pensions, accompanied by some basic information on how they operate. This is followed by three further sections that analyse the investment of pension funds, the corporate finance implications of firms providing pensions for their employees, and annuities.

This book argues that the implementation of compulsory, highly regulated, privately administered, defined contribution pensions facilitates rent-seeking behaviour on the part of the pension fund administrators and undermines the retirees' income and well-being. While the book focuses primarily on Chile, its analysis and conclusions are applicable to several Latin American and Eastern European countries where privately administered pension systems have been implemented. Chapters evaluate the scholarly literature and empirical evidence around three aspects of the pension fund industry: structure, pricing and performance. The authors conclude that state regulation has facilitated the accumulation of capital in the hands of the pension fund administrators. They also demonstrate that these systems owe more to the values and principles of conservative philosophy than to neoliberalism in providing alternative solutions to the rent-seeking approach to retirement.

This first major book on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Nigeria explores the legal, policy and strategic issues involved in the structuring and execution of PPP projects in Nigeria. The book goes beyond the toolkit approach of other available resources to blend the theoretical analysis of concepts with practical step-by-step guides for consummating projects. The book adopts a multidisciplinary approach by integrating law, economics, finance and project management literature, relying on the author's extensive experience in the field to give clear insights on the PPP concept. The case study methodology employed in the book produces rich and compelling empirical results. This book is suitable for beginners wishing to develop an understanding of the concept, as well as practitioners advising on PPPs. Students and academics wishing to carry out further research on PPPs will also benefit from the book.

In the US, retirement savings are low while risk exposure is high, thus dooming many retirees to a low standard of living. This book offers straightforward solutions to build real retirement security for American families.

Surveys show that financial literacy levels are typically low around the world, despite the widening access to financial services and the increasing financial risks borne by households in many countries. This suggests that there will be mounting challenges for households and SMEs to invest wisely and effectively as societies age and governments shift away from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes. Individuals will increasingly have to make complex financial decisions to plan for their retirement and for a range of foreseen and unforeseen expenditures. All of these developments suggest that financial education should be part of a lifetime process that starts at an early age and is pursued throughout adulthood.The contributions in this book came from a symposium titled, Promoting Better Lifetime Planning through Financial Education, organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Bank of Japan, the Japan Financial Services Agency, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, held on 22-23 January 2015 in Tokyo.Amongst the topics discussed were: effective pension management, financial education curricula in schools, training for teachers of financial education, internationally comparable data on financial literacy and the evaluation of the effectiveness of financial education programs. There are also case studies on financial inclusion, regulation, and education in Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Japan.

While much is known about the situation in the labour market in the form of gender pay and earnings gaps, rather little is understood about their sequel in old age the gender pension gap. Entering the world of pensions may well signal a step backwards as far as women's independence is concerned, particularly in countries where women have earned economic independence in employment and are now being confronted by institutional frameworks presuming, encouraging or even imposing dependence. Unequal Ageing in Europe explores the gender pension gap across the member states of the European Union, plus Iceland and Norway. Employing microdata from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), along with data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the authors derive key facts regarding pension inequality between women and men. An intuitive indicator for a pension gender gap is derived and contrasted with equivalent indicators for pay and earnings gaps. The authors explore European diversity in a number of dimensions and benchmark their findings against equivalent findings in the US.

A pension is a voluntary benefit offered by employers to assist employees in providing for their financial security in retirement. Public and private sector defined benefit pension plans are subject to different rules and guidance regarding discount rates -- interest rates used to determine the current value of estimated future benefit payments. This book addresses the significance of differences in approaches used to determine discount rates among public and private plans; purposes for measuring the value of a plan's future benefits and key considerations for determining discount rate policy; and approaches selected countries have taken to choose discount rates.

In recent years many smart investors have exited the stock market because they have essentially lost control of their investments. They have relied on the advice and skill of their brokers, bankers, and financial advisors. Many retirement accounts have dwindled or not increased. Fortunately, there is a great but little-understood alternative: the self-directed IRA. This book will teach you how to turn your IRA into a wealth-building tool that you control 100%! Take control of your investment future, and make sure your investments are performing for YOU, not someone else. Why haven't your banker and broker ever told you about this new IRA? Because they will no longer make any money on your retirement account! New IRS regulations and the new self-directed IRA make it effortless to build up and keep hold of IRA money. Inside this new book you will find out how to benefit from the new IRS rules and how to stay away from problems. With a self-directed IRA you can purchase real estate, buy a business or franchise, invest in high-yield mortgages and notes, invest in tax liens and foreclosed homes, manage property purchased by your retirement, rental property, ocean-front property, lake-front property, probate property, commercial property, REO property, tax-lien property, repossessed property, foreclosed property, apartment communities, and storage facilities. You can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or virtually any investment allowed by IRS regulations. The self-directed IRA lets you act as your own investment manager. We will show you how to set up your account with a custodian or IRA administrator to deal with the day-to-day activities, such as depositing contributions and executing and settling investment transactions. It's easy, fun, and puts you back in control of your retirement account. This book combines essentials, insight, and insider secrets to secure a financial victory after retirement.

Pension systems in Europe and Central Asia are facing unprecedented challenges. While many of the countries in the region have undertaken reforms when their economies encounter diffi cult times, these reforms are frequently reversed as soon as the situation improves. However, the demographic trends in the region require new, sustained efforts toward changing the pension system to provide adequate yet sustainable benefi ts. The Inverting Pyramid documents the progressive generosity of pension systems in Europe since inception, with current popular expectations based on recent generous promises, which are neither based on historically customary practice nor affordable over time. The increased generosity in the past was driven by the assumption of a demographic pyramid with an ever expanding base of young people, but the last decades have revealed that the pyramid is beginning to invert in some countries, with fewer young people at the bottom and many more elderly people on top, making that generosity no longer affordable. Returning to the generosity of the pension system of the 1970s will go a long way toward providing adequate and sustainable benefi ts in the future. However, a more sustainable system will also require labor market reforms, improvements in savings mechanisms, and in many cases additional public resources. The extent to which a country can undertake reforms in labor markets, savings, and public fi nances can infl uence the extent to which its pension system will need to change, with different solutions possible for different countries. But in all cases, the changes that need to be made have to be widely discussed and publicly accepted to prevent painful reversals. The book hopes to stimulate widespread public discussion of the issue so that countries can make sustainable choices with gradual plementation, before they face such daunting challenges that they have to undertake sudden harsh measures.

This book moves beyond technical studies of pension systems by addressing the political economy of pension reform in different contexts. It provides insights into key issues related to pension policy and its developmental implications, drawing on selected country studies in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America.

By comparing Germany, France, the UK and the USA this study explores how governments have tackled the increased pressure of financing state pensions. Specifically, it looks at the approach of each of these countries to raising the age of entitlement in order to understand the ways in which this policy was introduced in different countries.

In 2014, the federal government will forgo an estimated $17.45 billion in tax revenue from IRAs, which Congress created to ensure equitable tax treatment for those not covered by employer-sponsored retirement plans. Congress limited annual contributions to IRAs to prevent the tax-favored accumulation of unduly large balances. But concerns have been raised about whether the tax incentives encourage new or additional saving. Congress is reexamining retirement tax incentives as part of tax reform. This book describes IRA balances in terms of reported FMV aggregated by taxpayers; examines how IRA balances can become large; and assesses how IRS ensures that taxpayers comply with IRA tax laws.

Pension advances and pension investments are products that, while based on or related to pension benefits, are generally distinct from the pensions themselves. A pension advance is an up-front lump sum provided to a consumer in exchange for a certain number and dollar amount of the consumer's future pension payments plus various fees. Pension investments, the related product, provide investors a future income stream when they make an up-front lump-sum investment in one or more pensioners' incomes. There have been recent concerns about companies attempting to take advantage of retirees using pension advances. This book describes the number and characteristics of pension advance companies and marketing practices; evaluates how pension advance terms compare with those of other products; and evaluates the extent to which there is related federal oversight.

The use of matching contributions to enhance the participation and level of savings in pensions system has now been in use for nearly three decades in a number of high income countries. Increasingly, countries across the full range of economic development are looking to the design as a means of addressing the low rates of participation in formal pension and other retirement savings systems. A number of countries have recently introduced innovations in their pension systems that significantly rely on contributions matches and related types of direct subsidies to provide incentives for groups that mandates and other indirect methods such as preferential tax treatment have been unsuccessful in reaching. There is particular interest among developing countries in utilizing this design to extend coverage to informal sector and low income workers that typically do not pay income related taxes. This volume provides descriptions and analysis of the design, experience and outcomes achieved in the high income countries where there information about the dynamics and outcomes that this approach has achieved is not beginning to emerge. It also reviews new efforts to use the design in a number of other settings in which the matching contributions have been included as a significant element in reform of the pension system. The review of the experience with matching contribution across this full range of settings provides important observations and some initial lessons for policy makers and analysts who may be considering or evaluating the use of this approach to increase pension coverage.

The ongoing global financial crisis, coupled with the continued dramatic increases in life expectancy, have escalated the concerns countries have regarding the sustainability of their pension systems and how these retirement schemes will be financed. From 1998 to 2008, close to 30 countries embarked on privatising reforms to their pension programs. Some of these countries introduced new pension reforms directed at private individual accounts while reducing the size of the state social security system. The focus of other reforms during this period varied but was primarily aimed at strengthening basic protection for economically at-risk older individuals, increasing benefit coverage and/or improving the overall fiscal sustainability of these systems. However, the move towards greater coverage and sustainability was interrupted by the world-wide financial meltdown. This has led to a reassessment of pension systems and reform approaches. This volume was assembled to review the status of pension reforms globally and to gain a glimpse of the trends emerging as countries adjust to the new age of macroeconomic world-wide uncertainty. The chapters in this volume provide concise, clear and dispassionate discussions on these trends and reforms as well as frank appraisals of the consequences of alternative policies. Experts from Europe, the United States and the emerging economies of Brazil, China and India approach pension reform and reassessment from different perspectives; however, each provide forthright analyses and assessment of the consequences of the "new normal".

The central research objective of the dissertation is to assess the suitability of Social Responsible Investments (SRIs) as well as alternative investments for the strategic asset allocation of German Pension Insurance Funds (Pensionskassen). Using a Vector Error Correction model, we estimate the data generating process of the underlying input variables. A bootstrap simulation allows generating future return paths of the underlying portfolios. These return distributions will subsequently be used as input for different asset allocation strategies.The empirical results of our research study offer valuable conclusions: (1) SRI-structured portfolios consistently perform better than conventional portfolios, (2) including alternative investments has a beneficial effect on the risk-return distribution and (3) derivative overlay structures mitigate downside risk exposure without impacting average fund performance. In terms of alternative allocation models, (1) high-equity portfolios lead to an increase in return volatility without sufficiently compensating investors with higher returns, (2) hedging against price increases by engineering a portfolio with inflation-suitable assets yields mixed results, (3) a portfolio composition that combines derivative overlay strategies for both equities and corporate bonds and uses SRI-screened assets as underlying generates the best results.