(Reuters) - Pension funds in developed economies are facing a new crisis as falling equities and tumbling bond yields widen their deficits, threatening the incomes and retirement dates of future retirees.
At the heart of their problems is a steady move by pension plans in the United States, euro zone, Japan and the UK to cut exposure to risk after the financial crisis.
But this "de-risking" may end up depressing their long-term returns from stock market investment and challenge the conventional wisdom that shares generate higher returns than bonds.
With weaker holdings and increased liabilities, companies will find it more difficult to fund existing pension schemes. They may cut new business investments as they use more cash to pay pensions.
For future pensioners, it means they will potentially face a lower retirement income and a longer working life -- or both.
This year has been a nightmare for many in the industry -- which controls $35 trillion, or a third of global financial assets -- and funding deficits are posting double-digit rises.
"We had a credit crisis and government bond crisis, and the third one we have is the pension crisis. This is the one where everything is going wrong and there's no obvious way out," said Kevin Wesbroom, UK head of global risk services at consultancy Aon Hewitt.
The sharp retreat in stocks through the summer has hurt them again by weakening their asset positions and threatening to erode stock market recoveries seen since the equity collapse surrounding the 2007-2009 credit crisis.
Even lower bond yields are proving to be a new headache.
"The real killer is liabilities are going up because in the flight to quality everyone gets out of equities and runs for cover in safe assets like government bonds, and yields are falling," said Wesbroom.
Many defined benefit(DB) pension plans -- where benefits are pre-determined -- pay a fixed stream of income to retirees.
The low-yielding environment makes it harder for the funds to meet these bond-like liabilities, forcing them to accumulate even more fixed income instruments to try to meet their obligations, creating a vicious circle.
My comment: THIS IS THE REAL MEANING OF AUSTERITY: work till you drop dead as happens in most third world countries....After stealing all the wealth of the third world, the BANKSTERS have set their sights on developing and developed countries. As more and more of the wealth of the working people is transferred through 'Austerity' programs to the already Ultra Rich, expect nothing from governments in the form of pensions and other entitlements that working people pay into all their lives. The 3rd world is the future of Amerika and UK and Germany and France and Canada and ______________ (fill in the name of any nation you wish)...Since people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to the System, rightfully expecting something in return, will not go silently into the night, they will be helped along with bullets, bombs and other means that will make the expectation of entitlements a moot point. Depopulation is the only means by which this rapidly widening disparity between the 'Filthy' Rich and the Middle Class will be bridged. The Uber Rich will set themselves on both sides of the bridge and the Middle Class will fall into the chasm crushing the Poor Class beneath them. In the final analysis ‘Austerity’ means ‘Anarchy’, get as far away from major cities as you can, reality is going to be far worse than we can fathom at the present time when things are still relatively ‘Normal’.
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