Sort content by
Investor Profile

NEST’s defined contribution lessons

At the end of last year, 47 per cent of global pension assets were in defined contribution structures. As the trend towards defined contribution continues, one of the newest DC funds, the UK’s NEST, has some clear messages on what makes a defined contribution fund work. Chief executive, Tim Jones speaks with Amanda White.   […]
Amanda WhiteSeptember 9, 2014
Uncategorised posts

International reaction to QSuper’s innovation

Australian fund, QSuper’s creation of eight different investment cohorts for its 440,000 default fund members this month has sparked curiosity and admiration from defined contribution experts in the US, the UK and New Zealand. The investment strategies for each group will be focussed on an estimated retirement outcome for that segment, taking into account the […]
Amanda WhiteMay 9, 2014
Research

Pension risk in DC funds

Defined contribution plans focus too much on the short-term accumulation of pension assets rather than the longer-term goal of securing an adequate retirement income. This paper by the World Bank, based on case studies from a number of countries, argues that pension supervisors have not properly defined the objectives of DC pension systems It suggests […]
Amanda WhiteMay 7, 2014
Research

Cost shifting and the freezing of corporate pension plans

This paper, which examines the impact of the trend in the US of corporate funds freezing their defined benefit funds and offering defined contribution plans, shows that net of the increase in total DC contributions, firms save 2.7-3.6 per cent of payroll per year, and over a 10-year horizon they save 3.1 per cent of […]
Amanda WhiteApril 24, 2014
Investor Profile

Australian fund leading the way on real assets

The $15 billion Australian super fund for hospitality workers, HOSTPLUS, has a 10 per cent allocation to infrastructure and is aggressively increasing its allocation to real assets. David Rowley spoke to chief investment officer, Sam Sicilia, about what the fund seeks from real assets.   A quarter of the $15 billion in assets held by […]
David RowleyFebruary 28, 2014
Uncategorised posts

Merton’s message: give up on alpha

Nobel Prize winner, Robert Merton, has thrown down the gauntlet. He claims that by focusing on a retirement income goal he can beat any competitor that is managing a 70:30 portfolio that has wealth accumulation as the goal. Do you dare take him on? The defined contribution pension management industry has it wrong, according to […]
Amanda WhiteDecember 18, 2013
<4of7>