2016

This note looks at the treatment of wealth in the income and assets tests that comprise the Age Pension means test. We demonstrate how the tests interact, the extent to which different assets are treated equally and whether the income and assets tests interact effectively across the asset distribution.

This paper looks at how individual preferences for the allocation of government spending change along the life cycle. Using the Life in Transition Survey II for 34 countries of Europe and Central Asia, we find that older individuals are less likely to support a rise in government outlays on education and more likely to support increases in spending on pensions.

Disability insurance (DI) beneficiaries lose part or all of their benefits if earnings exceed certain thresholds (“cash-cliffs”). This implicit taxation is considered the prime reason for the low number of beneficiaries who expand work and reduce benefit receipt.

Private wealth holdings are likely to become an increasingly important determinant in the job exit decision of elderly workers. Net wealth may correlate with worker’s characteristics that also determine the exit out of a job. It is therefore important to include a rich set of observed characteristics in an empirical model for retirement in order to measure the (marginal) effect of wealth on the job exit rate.

Two trends in retirement wealth components are being observed in the Netherlands, specifically in pension and housing wealth. Pension wealth will become more risky due to the gradual evolution of 2nd pillar pensions from defined benefit plans towards collective and individual defined contribution plans. These changes in plan type implies pension risks have to be borne increasingly by individual plans participants. Net home wealth at retirement on the other hand will become less risky as recently interest-only mortgages are forbidden.

The paper motivates and describes the tax treatment of German retirement benefits and pensions after the 2005 reform initiated by the German Federal Constitutional Court. The main question is whether this reform has produced a "level playing field" among the many instruments generating retirement income in Germany. The paper briefly outlines rational principles for the taxation of retirement benefits and pensions and compares these with current practice in Germany and abroad.

Student loan debt was $1.2 trillion in 2015, compared to just $0.2 trillion in 2003. It now accounts for more than 30 percent of total household non-mortgage debt, having surpassed credit card debt in 2011. The average student debt level for recent college students in 2013 was $31,000.1 The question is whether starting out $31,000 in the hole could have a big impact on households’ retirement preparedness.

How do the elderly spend their time? How does time use of the elderly differ from younger people? This paper uses a technique developed by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and his colleagues to address these questions for the situation in the Netherlands.

Arbeidsgiver har flere muligheter til å unnta ansatte fra bedriftens tjenestepensjonsordning. Det vil ha konsekvenser for pensjonsnivået, avdekker en rapport av Actecan.Alle ansatte i privat sektor skal være med i en tjenestepensjonsordning. Det er hovedregelen. Men velger arbeidsgiver å benytte seg av alle mulige unntak, vil det ha konsekvenser for pensjonsnivået til den enkelte.

Premieinngangen for innskuddspensjon har vært økende de senere årene, mens utviklingen for privat ytelsespensjon har gått i motsatt retning, viser ny statistikk fra Finans Norge.

Pensjon er forbundet med risiko som det er umulig å kvitte seg med. Spørsmålet er hvem som skal ta den største risikoen? Pensjon er risiko rett og slett fordi det dreier seg om langsiktig sparing; altså det vi tjener opp av pensjon i løpet av yrkeskarrieren.  Dagens pensjonslandskap plasserer i stor grad risikoen på enkeltindividet.

How can regulation in an era of personal responsibility aid people to make the optimal decisions about their future risks, savings, and retirement? This study aims to deepen our understanding of how different age groups process choices in relation to future risk planning in diverse decision-making environments.