Long-awaited retirement plans might include traveling to far away countries, picking up new hobbies, spending time with family — and often a hope that money and support with things like health insurance won’t be a constant worry.
But all too often people at retirement age don’t have enough money to sustain themselves, let alone fulfil their wishes for old age. Ongoing economic concerns like the cost-of-living crisis, higher inflation and interest rates are only adding to this.
The additional concerns make one thing even more important: retirement income systems.
Those look significantly different in countries around the world, ranging from barely any provisions for retirees to being highly effective and thorough — which is ideal for retirees.
The Netherlands scored the highest in a recent ranking, followed by Iceland, Denmark and Israel. They have some of the strongest retirement systems, according to the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index for 2023, which was published Tuesday.
All of them have “a first-class and robust retirement income system that delivers good benefits, is sustainable and has a high level of integrity,” the research found and scored an “A” in the grading system.
Coming in below a number of other major economies, the U.S. scored a “C+,” placing it 22nd on the list.
Countries including Kazakhstan, Colombia, France and Spain were awarded the same grade. There are “some good features” in their retirement systems, but also “major risks” and “shortcomings” that could impact their efficacy and long-term sustainability unless they are addressed, the research said.
Some improvement suggestions for the U.S. system made in the report include introducing further restrictions to prevent people from accessing their pension funds before retirement and increasing the minimum pension for low-income pensioners.
“Introducing a requirement that part of the retirement benefit be taken as an income stream,” is another one, as well as improvements to how…
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