Americans Worry the Most

Anxiety about having enough income in retirement is growing, according to a Financial Times/Harris Poll. The most worried of the countries surveyed are in the United States where 59% of those surveyed said they were more concerned about income security in old age. In the United States, pensions are more likely to be the result of stock investments, but plunging markets have left a huge hole in retirement accounts.

The Sandwich Generation

Many Americans in the Sandwich Generation, adults forty to sixty caring for both younger and older dependents, are struggling to balance financial and emotional challenges during the recession, according to Age Wave's 2009 Retirement Tipping Point Report. The report observes that 40% of the Sandwich Generation worry they will have to financially support their parents or in-laws.

In response to this report, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America emphasizes that Americans should strive to keep their retirement intact by separating emotion from finance. "When you are in a dire situation, a key rule of thumb is to make sure you protect your own needs so you can continue to have the capacity to help others," advises the vice president of advanced programs at Allianz.

Canadians Ill-Prepared for Retirement

The Government of Canada estimates that approximately five million Canadians – one-third of the work force – are not building enough of a nest egg to avoid a significant drop in living standards when they retire. While most public-sector employees have the security of taxpayer-backed pension plans, a staggering three-quarters of Canadians in the private sector have no plan at all.

Working Past Retirement Age: A Tale of Six Nations

Germans, French, and Spanish adults oppose working past retirement age for larger pensions while American, British, and Italian adults support the idea. These are some of the findings of a Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive(®) among a total of 6,332 adults within France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, and the United States in May, 2009.

Early-Out at Delta

Delta Airlines is offering early retirement incentives to thousands of pilots. Pilots who accept an early retirement incentive package will get up to nine months severance pay and other benefits. Roughly 9,400 pilots are eligible for the program.

Employers Cutting Retirement Benefits

As more workers postpone retirement, employers are cutting benefits, according to a recent survey.

Canadian Pension Summit

Ontario, Canada, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is pushing for a national summit on pensions and is asking Ottawa to take a leading role in a debate over whether governments need to take steps to help Canadians' bolster their retirement nest eggs. Last year, an Ontario commission on pension reform called for governments to investigate expanding the Canada Pension Plan or creating a comparable program to enhance coverage for workers.

Alberta is backing Ontario's call for a national pension summit. Alberta and British Columbia are exploring the creation of a supplemental pension plan that residents could join to save more for retirement.

Retirement Homes: More Complicated Than a College Dorm Room

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 Canada, representing more than 46,000 health care and community services workers in Ontario, has called on the Ontario Government to introduce regulations for retirement homes.

Under Ontario law, retirement homes are only obligated to comply with the Residential Tenancies Act, which was never intended to regulate health care providers. Thereby, retirement homes operate as primary care providers for elderly residents without any of the needed levels of accountability. As a result, many companies do not have adequately staffed homes to provide proper care.

SEIU insists the Ontario Government needs to create a legislated Retirement Home Act that would:

• Spell out the personal, medical, dietary, recreational and social
• service obligations retirement homes must provide
• Create a Resident's Bill of Rights
• Create democratically elected Residents Councils to aid retirement
• home residents to govern their own affairs
• Hire enough staff members to care for residents appropriately
• Train and screen staff appropriately
• Inspect homes on a regular basis

• Define different types and classes of retirement homes

The Louisiana Back-Off

A bill that would consolidate operations of the four Louisiana state retirement systems will likely be killed off by the legislators pushing it. Louisiana House Speaker Jim Tucker, sponsor of the bill, contends: "We need to back up and regroup, make sure our facts are correct,"

The consolidation of the systems' administration is not a new concept. The Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council has recommended the idea in several reports. Over the past ten years, state officials have also suggested consolidation as a cost-saving measure. But retirement system officials consistently have rejected the idea, saying it would put their multibillion-dollar investments at risk

Bunker Hill to Secede from the Texas Retirement System?

The Mayor of Bunker Hill, Texas, a posh suburb of Houston, is seeking a way to fund retirement packages outside of the Texas Municipal Retirement System's plan. The Mayor insists his reasons for pursuing changes are not about hurting the municipal employees but to "balance the needs of the citizens with what we pay our officers. This has never been about taking away your pensions." The employers, though, beg to differ. They argue the Mayor’s proposed changes could mean drastically changing their retirement plans or forcing them to seek employment elsewhere.