# **Pension Panic: Why the World is Freaking Out Over Budget Pension Changes** If you’ve been on the internet lately, you’ve probably seen the memes, the think pieces, and the collective groans about budget pension changes. Governments worldwide are tinkering with retirement funds, and people are not happy. But why is this topic suddenly trending…
The Great American 401(k) Mutiny Has Gone Global, and the Rest of the Planet Is Taking Notes (and Popcorn) By the time the U.S. Treasury floated the idea of “modernizing” the 401(k) last month—essentially swapping the sacred tax deduction for a government match like a coupon you can only spend at approved outlets—markets from São…
Social Security Payments: The World’s Most Inclusive Lottery Nobody Wins Geneva, Switzerland — While Swiss bankers polish the brass nameplates that still read “Numbered Accounts R Us,” a far more democratic form of wealth redistribution is quietly taking place in 180-odd countries: governments mailing, wiring, or—if the local cell tower hasn’t been repossessed—WhatsApp-ing money to…
The British have always had a gift for understatement, but even by their own standards, “We may raise the pension age a tad” ranks alongside “The Titanic has taken on a bit of water.” The latest Whitehall wheeze is to nudge the UK state pension age from 66 to 68 sometime in the mid-2030s, a…
Retirement Planning: The World’s Most Expensive Waiting Room By Our Correspondent, presently in one of those “wellness” cafés that charge extra for existential dread ZURICH—On the polished parquet of Credit Suisse’s flagship branch, a septuagenarian in Loro Piana loafers is asking whether his 3-million-franc nest egg will still cover a flat white when he turns…
A Social Security Bill, by Any Other Name, Still Smells Like Desperation Geneva—Across the fluorescent-lit conference rooms of the International Labour Organization, the phrase “social security bill” is being whispered with the same reverence once reserved for the Ark of the Covenant and, more recently, for Beyoncé tickets. Delegates from 187 countries have gathered to…
The Great Global Pension Pick-Pocket By Our Man in Geneva, Nursing a Negroni and a Grudge GENEVA — Somewhere between the 12th refill of the UN cafeteria coffee urn and the 17th PowerPoint slide titled “Inter-generational Solidarity,” finance ministers from 40-odd countries reached a quiet consensus this week: retirement accounts are the new cookie jar,…
