Deprivation of Retirement Benefits on Divorce through Living Annuities in South Africa

This article discusses the law regulating living annuities when spouses in South Africa are divorcing. It demonstrates that South African courts have interpreted the law to prejudice non-member spouses financially. It argues that courts have failed to consider matrimonial principles when determining whether living annuities are susceptible to being shared on divorce. It argues further that adequate consideration of matrimonial principles will render it impossible for retirement fund members to prejudice their spouses financially by purchasing living annuities without the consent of such spouses, particularly when married in community of property. Disregarding matrimonial law principles may lead to deprivation of property.

Strategies in Retirement Fund Selection in the Mexican Retirement Market 1997-2018

Objective: This research studies individual investment strategies that can be employed by Mexican workers to choose a retirement savings company, to provide evidence that can guide workers and governments in their pursuit for a higher replacement rate. Methods: To accomplish such task, more than 200,000 individual decisions in rolling-windows are simulated, based on more than twenty-years of market prices on retirement funds in Mexico (1997-2018). Outcome: Results indicate that contrarian-based strategies dominate momentum-based strategies in three out of four categories of funds. Recommendations: Moreover, in two out of four categories of funds the highest return is reached by the system’s average, calling for the introduction of an ETF-type of product to the Mexican financial market. Originality: The novelty of this research resides in the perspective of the analysis, positioning the Mexican worker in the role of an investor making a financial choice. Conclusions: The maximum average return is the best way to select a retirement fund manager when there is a guaranteed minimum pension, which acts as a risk-hedge, as it is in the Mexican case.

Savings for retirement and the millennial generation in Mexico: perception about the importance of having a retirement fund

The aim of this study focused on knowing the existing relation between Savings, Financial Capability, Future forecast and Retirement funds in relation to gender, which allows to determine the Savings culture, while also proving if there is a relationship between Savings, Financial Capability, Future forecast and Retirement funds in relation to gender among the population known as Millennial generation. The study is non-experimental, approached from the hypothetic-deductive paradigm, it is descriptive and correlational, as well as transversally cut. The participants were 89 Millennials(73% women and 27% men), whoseagesranged between 18 to 35 years old. The sample was non-probabilistic by auto-determination, since the technique used was “snowball sampling”, which consisted on sharing the instrument through social networks. For the study, the survey designed by the Mexican National Commission of Retirement Savings System (2017) was used. For the data capture and analysis, the program SPSS Statistics v23 was used and the measurement technique was Pearson s Chi square with df and sig <0.05. The main results show how young millennials have not thought about retirement or at least, they are currently not taking action on this issue, hence, they have not decided to save money for the future at the moment.Regarding the parametricresults, it was determined that thereis no relationship between what millennials perceive about keeping a record of monthly income and expenses, what they would do in case they received an unexpected sum of money, receive a monthly pension, the retirement age, amount of the retirement pension and the knowledge of what a retirement fund is with the variable gender.

The Need to Adopt Preventative Measures to Combat the Misappropriation of Retirement Fund Assets

This paper discusses the challenge of the misappropriation of retirement fund assets by trustees, fund asset managers and retirement funds’ administrators. It demonstrates that retirement fund members lose substantial retirement benefits due to the illegal and unlawful conduct of those who manage and administer retirement funds. It evaluates whether the South African legislative framework offers retirement funds and their members adequate protection from activities that may compromise the delivery of the pension promise such as: mismanagement; fraudulent activities; gross negligence; and the outright looting of retirement fund assets. In particular, this paper illustrates that the law in South Africa does not deter would-be wrongdoers from acting in a manner that may compromise the benefits expected by retirement fund members when they exit their funds. It advocates the adoption of adequate preventative legislative measures that would make it difficult for anyone to act in a manner that would compromise retirement fund members' benefits in South Africa.

LEGAL AND POLICY BASIS FOR BAHASA ISYARAT MALAYSIA INTERPRETATION SERVICES

There is an increasing need for Malaysian Sign Language interpreters or known as Jurubahasa Isyarat Malaysia (JBIM) to meet the economic, social, and cultural needs of persons who are deaf. To resolve the continuing lack of JBIM, the present paper addresses the legal and policy basis for the establishment of a government-owned and operated service system. We review several legal and government strategic documents, namely the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008, the Local Government Act 1976, the Policy for Persons with Disabilities 2007, the Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities 2016-2022, and the National Community Policy 2018. Although Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (BIM) is recognized by the law beyond its status as an official language of deaf Malaysians and as part of their cultural identity, our analysis of these legal and policy documents do not suggest a tangible and proper mechanism for BIM interpretation service system. We assert the BIM interpretation services to be established and provided by local governments through collaboration with other federal government agencies and deaf people’s organizations. We also discuss structural measures regarding recruitment and certification, job-related equipment, retirement fund as well as competitive wage. These four aspects are vital in ensuring the effectiveness and sustainability of the BIM interpretation services.

The Zero Bias in Target Retirement Fund Choice

Using a sample of individuals who hold target retirement funds (TRFs), we examine how people use arithmetic to estimate their retirement age. We find a robust “zero” bias where investors have a strong preference for TRFs that end with zero compared to TRFs that end with five. The evidence is consistent that the bias is an outcome of people using imprecise arithmetic, specifically rounding up and down in the computational estimation required to estimate their retirement year. The zero bias manifests itself in people born in years ending between eight and two. Those born in zero- through two-ending years select TRFs that imply they intend to retire at 70, whereas those born in eight- and nine-ending years choose TRFs that imply retiring at 60. The choices can significantly lower or increase wealth by altering the contribution amounts and exposing investors to risk incompatible with their age profile. The bias is particularly costly for those who are risk averse and select later TRFs but is also most beneficial to risk-averse consumers who choose early TRFs. We experimentally confirm that the contribution rates are related to the TRF choices and that the use of imprecise mathematical rounding is implicated in the bias.

Age Differences on the Intention to Save in a Voluntary Retirement Fund

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) posited that an individual’s intention of performing a behaviour depends on their attitude, subjective norm and the perceived behavioural control (PBC). Employing the theoretical construct of the TPB, this study aims to investigate if age moderatesthe effect of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control towards saving intention in the voluntary retirement fund in Malaysia. A quantitative approach was adopted with data collected through a nationwide self-administered questionnaire. Through a multistage proportionate stratified sampling, 384 response was collected. The multi-group permutation results confirm the differences between age groups regarding subjective norms towards the intention to save in a voluntary retirement fund in Malaysia. In the concluding remark, the implication of the study and an avenue for future research in voluntary retirement saving domain is discussed.

The role of Perceived Behavioural Control as mediator on financial incentives towards saving in a voluntary retirement fund

The purpose of the mediation analysis is to investigate how perceived behavioural control mediates the relationship between the cash and tax incentives towards the intention to save in a voluntary retirement fund. A quantitative approach was adopted analysing 384 responses collected through a nationwide multistage proportionate cluster sampling. A nonparametric sampling procedure using bootstrapping following the Preacher and Hayes technique in mediating analysis were employed. The specific indirect effect from the bootstrapping result concluded that tax incentives influence the saving intention via perceived behavioural control, in contrast to cash incentives which is not significant. Predicting a person’s intention to save in a voluntary retirement fund is an important issue, and the findings of this study would have practical implications on policymakers and commercial marketers alike, as it would help to encourage retirement savings through voluntary funds to prevent financial insufficiency in the golden age.