Defined Contribution Schemes Research Articles

Pension funds with longevity risk: an optimal portfolio insurance approach

We present a unified framework designed to provide an optimal investment strategy for members of a defined contribution pension plan. Our model guarantees a minimum retirement savings level, expressed as a target annuity, by assuming uncertainty in interest rates, labor income, and mortality during the accumulation phase. To protect the accumulated retirement capital against both investment and longevity risks, the present value of the guaranteed lifetime annuity is regarded as the baseline wealth to hold upon reaching the retirement date, while a purpose-oriented proportion portfolio strategy is employed to invest the residual wealth. By applying standard dynamic programming techniques, we determine a closed-form solution to the stochastic control problem with the objective of maximizing the expected utility of the final surplus, defined as the difference between the accumulated wealth and the target annuity value. The theoretical findings are bolstered by a comprehensive numerical analysis, designed to assess the impact of longevity on investment policies, highlighting the suitability of our proposal in managing defined contribution schemes.

Target benefit versus defined contribution scheme: a multi-period framework

AbstractA target benefit plan (TBP) is a collective defined contribution (DC) plan that is growing in popularity in Canada. Similar to DC plans, TBPs have fixed contribution rates, but they also implement pooling of longevity and investment risk. In this paper, we formulate a multi-period model that incorporates two sources of risk – asset risk and labor income risk for active members. We present an optimal investment and retirement benefits schedule for TBP members with a fixed contribution rate. Using Australian data from 1965 to 2018, we evaluate the performance of the optimal TBP scheme and compare it to the optimal DC scheme. By adopting the benefit–investment strategy derived in this paper, we demonstrate the stability of benefit distribution over time for a TBP scheme in this stochastic formulation. To outperform the DC scheme’s benefit payment, careful consideration shall be given to the benefit target in the TBP scheme. A high target may not be achievable, while a low target can impede the accumulation momentum of the fund’s wealth in its early stages. Moreover, a TBP fund’s investment strategy is primarily influenced by the wealth target, with more aggressive investments in risky assets as the wealth target increases. This analysis may shed light on the possible improvements to retirement planning in Australia. Although the results are sensitive to the choice of model parameters, overall, the proposed TBP promotes system stability in various scenarios.

Institutional Design of Pension Systems Versus Labor Market Structure: What Matters Most?

Abstract Since the 1980s, policy makers have favored Defined Contribution (DC) pension systems as the alternative to address the unsustainability of Defined Benefit systems. While DC schemes offer benefits and economic advantages, they also present challenges and limitations. We evaluate the mandatory DC pension system for workers in the private formal sector in Mexico, introduced in 1997. We intend to determine for which workers the design of the system is effective and for which workers it is not. The Mexican labor market has high levels of informality and workers constantly flow in and out of the formal sector. Our findings support the view that workers’ personal characteristics place them in the structure of the labor market that in turn determines pension benefits. We analyze involvement with the formal sector and the pension system and identify 3 groups of pension participants that reflect the structure of the local labor market: occasional workers, frequent interruptions, and workers with high participation rates. We conclude that frictions in the labor market prevail over the good intentions of the pension design, like reducing informality and encouraging saving for retirement. Our results show that the system properly serves only 36% of affiliated workers. We explain why very few workers report behaviors consistent with high participation, and why most affiliates have insufficient participation to receive pension benefits. We shed light on the relationship between the structure of the labor market and the design of the pension system and their impact on workers’ future pension benefits.

Financial Performance Adequacy of Pension Fund Managers in Nigeria

Purpose: Traditionally, the Nigerian pension fund system was based on a defined benefit scheme for the public and private sectors and coincided with serious challenges in the payment of retirement benefits to retirees. These challenges led to the introduction of a defined contribution scheme in terms of the Pension Reforms Act. Since the management of pension fund assets is the sole responsibility of pension fund managers, there is a need to investigate the adequacy of pension fund managers’ financial performance since the change in pension fund regime. The pertinent research question in the study was: To what extent do pension cost incurred, revenue, the inflation rate and total contribution affect benefits paid and cash inflow? The extent to which federal government bonds, securities, total contribution and the inflation rate affect investment income were also examined. Methodology: Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) cointegration and multiple regression were used in the analysis of the data. Findings: The results of the study revealed that in both the short-term and long-term analysis, other costs incurred by pension fund management lead to lower benefits paid to retirees. Furthermore, higher administrative costs lead to higher benefits paid, given that increases in administrative costs promote higher inflow contributions, and investing in federal government bonds and, in particular, Treasury bills promotes higher investment income. Thus, securities increase investment income, and the higher the inflation rate, the higher the investment income. Originality/Value: The policy implication signifies a need to reduce pension costs incurred on pension fund management and to encourage more investment in real assets that can militate against inflation.

An attribution analysis of investment risk sharing in collective defined contribution schemes

Abstract A quantification of the financial implications of the design of a funded, collective defined contribution (CDC) pension scheme is presented and illustrated. It is done through an attribution analysis, which allows the importance of various elements of CDC scheme design to be determined. The model of a CDC scheme analysed is based lightly on the first CDC scheme set to be approved in the UK. In the CDC scheme analysed, contributions are fixed and the initial benefit accrued by each contribution is fixed. Once accrued, benefits are subsequently adjusted annually in response to changes in assumptions and returns. An attribution of the benefit payments shows that this design gives higher benefits to the first generations and lower benefits to the last generations, for a scheme which starts with no members. The contributions paid also affect the balance of benefits paid between generations. Too high a contribution is to the advantage of the first generations. Too low a contribution is in the interests of the later generations. The conclusion, within the simple model considered, is that a constant benefit accrual is an important design choice. Its financial consequences across all generations should be carefully analysed, if it is intended to be implemented. Additionally, contributions should be reviewed regularly in such a CDC scheme, to ensure that cross-subsidies are not borne excessively by particular generations.

Factors Affecting Financial Performance of Pension Schemes in Kenya

The major function of pension funds is to provide ways for individuals to build up financial savings during their effective or working life in preparation for the funding of the consumption requires when they retire from active employment. Pension funds are the major sources of retirement income for many individuals worldwide. Despite the pension sub-sector growing, the faster growth in pension liabilities relative to assets as well as increasing life expectancy has elevated funding risks. In the defined contribution schemes, unremitted contributions have increased due to poor economic performance and the insufficient funding of quasi government schemes. This study sought to analyze the factors affecting financial performance of pension schemes in Kenya. The study specific objectives were to determine the influence of risk management, membership age, member contribution and firm size to determine their effect on the financial performance of the pension schemes. The study used 34 individual retirement benefits schemes registered with the Retirement Benefit Authority. The study used data for the period 2012-2021. The results revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between risk management and financial performance of pension schemes. There was a negative and insignificant relationship between age of scheme members and financial performance of pension schemes. Member contribution had a positive and significant relationship with financial performance of pension schemes. Firm size revealed a positive and significant relationship with financial performance of pension schemes in Kenya. The null hypothesis on risk management, member contribution and firm size were rejected while that of age of the scheme members was not rejected. The study concluded that there is a strong correlation between risk management, age of scheme members, member contributions and firm size on financial performance of pension funds. The study recommended that pension funds should use the increasing value of their funds to generate returns for the pensioners. In addition, there is need to utilize assets to generate income for the pension funds and include the needs of the different age brackets in the management of the pension schemes. Keywords: Risk Management, Membership Age, Member Contribution and Firm Size Financial Performance & Pension Schemes

The Dynamics of the Gender Gap at Retirement in Italy: Evidence from SHARE

We investigate the dynamics of the gender gap at retirement in Italy—by cohort and by year of retirement—for individuals retiring from 1980 to 2027 using data from SHARELIFE (wave 3 and wave 7). Most importantly, we disentangle the opposite effects on the gender gap originating respectively from (i) improving labor market conditions for women, and (ii) increasing actuarial fairness of the pension plan due to the progressive transition from a defined-benefit to a notional defined-contribution scheme. To capture the impact of these two driving forces, we implement a counterfactual analysis by which the gender gap at retirement is measured both in the actual and in the virtual distribution of pension benefits, with the latter being obtained under the hypothesis of an actuarially fair pension scheme. We observe a U-shaped pattern since the actual gender gap at retirement is found to be decreasing up to 2016 but increasing after this date. Specifically, the increasing pattern for the gender gap at retirement after 2016 is shown to be driven by (i) decreasing redistributive impact of the pension scheme, and (ii) women’s penalization in the pro-rata mechanism due to lower contributions paid in the early working life.

Collective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension PlansCollective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension Plans

Traditional pension plans, such as defined contribution and defined benefit, face several risks: being the most known, the increase of the life expectancy. To reduce this risk, many hybrid pensions plans have been proposed, to mitigate this risk. The objective of this study is to explore the financial and actuarial sustainability of a hybrid pension plan known as collective defined contribution (CDC) by accumulating a pension fund with the methodology found in Aon (2020). The results of the simulations in this study show that the replacement rate defined in the design of a CDC pension plan is reached by all the members in the plan. Moreover, that through the same pension fund, deficits and gains are financed by it.

Collective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension PlansCollective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension Plans

Traditional pension plans, such as defined contribution and defined benefit, face several risks: being the most known, the increase of the life expectancy. To reduce this risk, many hybrid pensions plans have been proposed, to mitigate this risk. The objective of this study is to explore the financial and actuarial sustainability of a hybrid pension plan known as collective defined contribution (CDC) by accumulating a pension fund with the methodology found in Aon (2020). The results of the simulations in this study show that the replacement rate defined in the design of a CDC pension plan is reached by all the members in the plan. Moreover, that through the same pension fund, deficits and gains are financed by it.

Collective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension PlansCollective Defined Contribution Schemes as an Alternative to Pension Plans

Traditional pension plans, such as defined contribution and defined benefit, face several risks: being the most known, the increase of the life expectancy. To reduce this risk, many hybrid pensions plans have been proposed, to mitigate this risk. The objective of this study is to explore the financial and actuarial sustainability of a hybrid pension plan known as collective defined contribution (CDC) by accumulating a pension fund with the methodology found in Aon (2020). The results of the simulations in this study show that the replacement rate defined in the design of a CDC pension plan is reached by all the members in the plan. Moreover, that through the same pension fund, deficits and gains are financed by it.

The Political (In)Stability of Funded Social Security

We analyze the political stability of funded social security. Using a stylized theoretical framework we study the mechanisms behind governments capturing social security assets in order to lower current taxes. The results and the driving mechanisms carry over to a fully-fledged and carefully calibrated overlapping generations model with an aging population. Funding is efficient in a Kaldor-Hicks sense. We demonstrate that, even though we can rationalize the actual introduction of a two-pillar defined-contribution scheme with funding through a majority vote, a new vote to curtail the funded pillar through asset capture or permanent diversion of contributions to the pay-as-you-go pillar always receives majority support. For those alive and thus allowed to vote, the temporary reduction in taxes outweighs the reduction in retirement benefits. This result is robust to substantial intra-cohort heterogeneity and other extensions, and only overturned with a sufficient degree of altruism. Our analysis rationalizes the experience of Central and Eastern European countries, who rolled back their funded pension pillars soon after setting them up.

The political (in)stability of funded social security

We analyze the political stability of funded social security. Using a stylized theoretical framework we study the mechanisms behind governments capturing social security assets in order to lower current taxes. The results and the driving mechanisms carry over to a fully-fledged and carefully calibrated overlapping generations model with an aging population. Funding is efficient in a Kaldor-Hicks sense. We demonstrate that, even though we can rationalize the actual introduction of a two-pillar defined-contribution scheme with funding through a majority vote, a new vote to curtail the funded pillar through asset capture or permanent diversion of contributions to the pay-as-you-go pillar always receives majority support. For those alive and thus allowed to vote, the temporary reduction in taxes outweighs the reduction in retirement benefits. This result is robust to substantial intra-cohort heterogeneity and other extensions, and only overturned with a sufficient degree of altruism. Our analysis rationalizes the experience of Central and Eastern European countries, who rolled back their funded pension pillars soon after setting them up.

Financial Behaviour and Retirement Planning in Kenya, Assessing the Role of Self-Control Bias

The shift towards defined contribution schemes is forcing employees to take personal responsibility for securing their future through intentional retirement savings. Financial behavior may have a significant bearing on whether employees meet their contributory retirement obligations while avoiding financial distress. Utilising a cross-sectional research design and data from pension scheme members in Kenya, the study evaluates the interaction of self-control bias. The binary logistic regression results showed that financially disciplined individuals are 1.634 times more likely to plan comprehensively for their retirement, while the interaction results suggest that individuals with self-control bias are 0.502 times less likely to be comprehensive retirement planners even if they are already financially disciplined. The findings imply that financial discipline coupled with selfcontrol is necessary for retirement planning. The use of behavioral change interventions is recommended in financial education initiatives in order to inculcate both desirable financial behavior and self-control attributes in planning for retirement.

An analysis of the Dutch-style pension plans proposed by UK policy-makers

AbstractCollective Defined Contribution (CDC) pension schemes are a variant of collective pension plans that are present in many countries and especially common in the Netherlands. CDC schemes are based on the pooled management of the retirement savings of all members, thereby incorporating inter-generational risk-sharing features. Employers are not subject to investment and longevity risks as these are transferred to plan members collectively. In this paper, we discuss policy related to the proposed introduction of CDC schemes to the UK. By means of a simulation-based study, we compare the performance of CDC schemes vis-à-vis typical Defined Contribution schemes under different investment strategies. We find that CDC schemes may provide retirees with a higher income replacement rate on average, together with less uncertainty.

Retirement Ages by Socio-Economic Class

We are interested in defining the optimal retirement age by socio-economic class, given a Defined Benefit and a Notional Defined Contribution scheme. We firstly implement a utilitarian framework. Depending on the risk aversion coefficients and individual time preference factors, the results differ significantly. Since this approach is individualistic, with no consensus in the existing literature on what values these parameters should take, it is not suitable to be used by policy makers. Therefore, we provide an alternative based on two accounts. We look for the retirement age allowing the accumulated value, at the last age with survivors, of the pensions received under each system, held in one account, to be close in value to the accumulated amount should the actuarially fair pension be paid, representing the second account. Our approach results in setting a lower retirement age for lower socio-economic classes and a higher retirement age for wealthier individuals.

Defined Contribution Pension Risk and Mergers and Acquisitions: Evidence from United Kingdom

The extant empirical evidence suggests that defined benefit (DB) pension obligations, deficits, and costs increase corporate leverage and cost of capital, reduce corporate investment and aggravate valuation uncertainties. In the M & A context, DB schemes of target firms may reduce the takeover likelihood and bidder DB schemes may influence payment currency choice and reduce shareholder value. However, the impact of defined contribution (DC) pension scheme risk on M & A has not been explicitly investigated so far inspite of the increasing and substantial shift from DB to DC schemes by firms. In a sample of 138 takeover bids for United Kingdom (UK) listed companies during 2002-12, we find that bidder and target DC costs decrease the likelihood of takeovers, influence percentage of cash and stock offered as consideration, and diminish shareholder value gains on merger announcements. Further, the negative economic impact of DC scheme risk on synergistic value from mergers is even larger than that of DB scheme risk. These results are robust to potential biases due to self-selection by merger partners and endogeneity of payment currency choice. Our analysis indicates that DC scheme risk significantly and pervasively affects the takeover decision, target selection, payment currency choice and shareholder wealth and should not be neglected in view of the growing trend away from DB to DC schemes.

Saving for the future: Evaluating the sustainability and design of Pension Reserve Funds

In several countries public finances are under pressure by pension obligations rising due to downward trends in fertility, increased longevity and financial markets with low interest rates. For these reasons, the establishment of Pension Reserve Funds (PRF) has flourished. Regardless of the specific objectives that these PRFs may have, a critical issue is to assess their sustainability over the long-run. Moreover, this sustainability analysis is particularly complex, due to the interaction between the macroeconomic environment, financial performance and the labor market.In this article, we use a projection model aimed to evaluate the sustainability of the PRF in a small open economy such as Chile. The case of Chile is interesting because it shares common features with economies open to international markets that have either defined benefits pension schemes and/or defined contribution schemes with minimum pension guarantees. Moreover, since the Chilean PRF features relatively well defined contribution and withdrawal rules, we have a framework against which our methodology can be used to explore the effects on PRF's sustainability of altering these rules.Our methodology takes into consideration the stochastic nature of macroeconomic, financial and labor market variables in order to evaluate the sustainability of the PRF. In contrast to deterministic measures such as funding ratios, our methodology is more appropriate to assess the role of the contribution and withdrawal rules for PRFs in evaluating the key underlying risks and their consequences for the sustainability of PRFs.

Taking control: Active investment choice in Singapore’s national defined contribution scheme

Abstract This paper examines what factors drive non-default investment choice among more than 7000 older plan participants in the Singaporean Central Provident Fund (CPF), and assesses the extent to which financial knowledge, experience, and attitudes help predict such choice. We find that only 16% of plan participants aged 50 and above in our sample in 2016 invest a portion of their pension savings outside of the default government-run CPF fund. Plan participants who are male, younger, not married, currently working for pay, have higher risk tolerance, and higher net worth are more likely to choose to actively manage their pension savings. Education is a strong independent determinant of active investment choice, but its effect diminishes with age. Longer-term financial planning horizon and experience in managing household finances, as well as in stocks investment, are also significantly associated with higher self-invested balances. Financial literacy is, however, not significantly associated with non-default decision-making in our sample. Our findings have important implications for policy makers seeking to encourage greater individual responsibility in pension savings and investments within defined-contribution retirement systems.

Risk shifting and the decline of defined benefit pension schemes in Australia

ABSTRACTRecent studies of private pension provision have stressed the shedding of risk by employers entailed in the international trend away from defined benefit to defined contribution arrangements. In this critical literature, the widespread development towards defined contribution schemes is seen as an exclusively poor outcome for employees as financial risk is pushed onto the members of pension plans. These criticisms have essentially been ahistorical – they are not founded in close analyses of the reforms of the relevant pension arrangements. The first country to undertake a major change from defined benefit (or benefit promise) to defined contribution (or accumulation) plans was Australia. A closer historical examination of the shift suggests that the considerable reforms in occupational pension schemes of the 1980s and 1990s cannot validly be seen, overall, as a regressive outcome for Australian workers. Three fundamental features of the reform of white-collar superannuation emerge from a close historical analysis. First, considerable simplification transpired in what previously had been a largely opaque system of retirement benefits provision. Second, there was a fixing of employer costs in light of the adoption of accrual accounting and an increasing drain on taxpayer funds in public sector schemes. Third, clear evidence of improved financial performance occurred during the reforms.

Comparison of the costs of the defined-benefit and the defined-contribution schemes under an actuarial methodology

El objetivo de este trabajo es utilizar herramientas básicas de análisis actuarial para demostrar por primera vez que el costo del financiamiento del esquema de beneficio-definido es igual al de un esquema de contribución-definida siempre que estos planes otorguen beneficios iguales en términos de cantidad y condiciones para obtenerlos, y llevamos a cabo nuestros cálculos usando las mismas hipótesis financieras y biométricas. Enunciamos nuestros resultados en términos de un cálculo individual y de un modelo grupal (en el segundo caso, el esquema de beneficio definido requiere del cómputo de una prima media general); y en ambos escenarios, estudiamos la posibilidad de la jubilación anticipada con portabilidad total y parcial. Nuestra recomendación general es abandonar el debate sobre qué esquema es más caro. La principal limitante de nuestra investigación es también su mayor fortaleza: hemos demostrado que no hay predominio de ninguno de los planes sobre el otro cuando no hay otras distorsiones del mercado laboral; lo que significa que la discusión podría continuar vigente si consideramos la presencia de tales factores.