Western Europe, as elsewhere in the industrialised world, is facing a demographic problem – falling birth rates and longer life expectancies. But the silver generation need not be a further burden to already stretched healthcare systems, EU researchers will set out to prove. Advances in medicine mean that Europe’s citizens live longer than any generation prior. Heart disease and cancer –[Read More…]
Over the next two decades, demographic trends will create significant downward pressure on U.S. household savings and net financial wealth accumulation, with potentially significant implications for economic growth in the U.S. and globally. MGI analysis suggests that – absent changes in population trends, savings behavior, or returns on financial assets – the net financial wealth of U.S. households will increase[Read More…]
New long-term care insurance from Mutual of Omaha includes a feature that allows for two pools of long-term care benefits, giving customers the flexibility to make important choices about their coverage. Mutual’s LTC I plan lets customers choose the simplicity of one maximum benefit for all care services combined. With Mutual’s LTC II, customers can opt for two separate maximum[Read More…]
That figure assumes recent tax cuts are extended and figures into the mix other measures that are likely to be enacted, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said. The Congressional Budget Office’s most recent forecast sees cumulative deficits of $1.8 billion through 2013, but doesn’t take into account the most recent tax cut or the $400 billion Medicare prescription[Read More…]
Sweden’s government shelved a proposal to take 96 billion kronor ($13 billion) from the country’s four state retirement funds to repay debt after political pressure. ; The Scandinavian country’s Social Insurance Board in April proposed that Finance Minister Bosse Ringholm shift the money to pare the state’s 1.3 trillion kronor national debt. Ringholm, 61, decided against the plan after meeting[Read More…]
As Baby Boomers and other older workers pass through their peak earning years, few are accumulating personal savings, which raises serious questions about their financial security when they retire, according to three new studies sponsored by the AARP Andrus Foundation. The studies show that several groups have an especially tough time saving for retirement, including women, part-time workers, minority group[Read More…]
According to research conducted by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence, 34% of older households carried debt in 1992 and retirees owed an average of $8,000. By 2000 older household’s debt loads had jumped 59% and the average owed had risen to $23,000. In 2001 the average credit card balance for seniors 65 and better was $4,000, and almost half of all[Read More…]
HIGH on the list of economic factors wheeled out to depress us is the savings ratio. According to experts, we are not saving enough. Some bright spark in government – there’s a contradiction – has worked out we are short to the tune of £27 billion. Interestingly, that’s roughly the total tax taken from our pension funds by the government[Read More…]
Many Hong Kong residents aren’t financially prepared for retirement but they should be, given the aging population and low birth rates, say executives at HSBC Holdings PLC. “People generally know there is a need to save more but there is a lack of understanding about actual financial needs,” said C.F. Choy, chief executive of HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings Ltd. He estimates around[Read More…]
Aging populations will lead to intense pressure on the public finances of OECD countries if no structural reforms are enacted or if fiscal consolidation is not stepped up, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said in a report. « Sovereign ratings could come under strong pressure as early as the end of this decade unless governments start tackling this threat effectively, » said[Read More…]
