A survey by The Hartford Financial Services Group and the MIT AgeLab finds that American women worry a lot more about many aspects of retirement than men.
Results show that women are well aware of the specific retirement risks they face and they out-worry men in every category except about being bored in retirement where men slightly outpace women.
Top concerns fall into three areas:
• Inflation. Women worry about their purchasing power in retirement. Eighty-three percent surveyed are very or somewhat concerned that the general cost of living in retirement will grow faster than their income, versus 69% of men.
• Health. Women worry about declining health. Seventy-five percent were very or somewhat concerned. And concerns about health go hand-in-hand with concerns about the rising cost of healthcare, with 87 percent of women worried.
• Longevity. Longer life means greater inflation risk. Sixty-four percent of women are very or somewhat concerned about outliving their retirement assets versus 46% of men.
“While our research shows that men worry more about having enough to do in later life, aging is a woman’s world,” says Dr. Joseph Coughlin, founder and director of the MIT AgeLab. “She is likely to outlive her male counterpart, remain active longer, and be responsible for caring for him and others—so it only makes sense that she is more worried about how she is going to live than about what she is going to be doing.”
Researchers conducted telephone interviews with nearly 1,200 pre-retirees and retirees between the ages of 45 and 74. A retirement concerns scale gauged men and women’s level of concern.
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Pension Fund Goes Shopping
Hydro-Québec’s pension fund has purchased a stake in Quartier DIX30, a retail complex near Montreal.
It acquired the 20% interest from real estate investment firm Devimco Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust holds a 50% stake in the retail complex while the Fonds de placement immobilier BB holds 15%, the Société de transport de Montréal Employees Pension Fund owns 9%, and the City of Quebec Employees Pension Fund holds 6%.
“We are gratified that the ownership of this property has been stabilized and are pleased with the partnership addition of Hydro-Québec Pension Fund,” says Edward Sonshine, president and CEO of RioCan. “It is rewarding that a pension fund of this caliber has confidence in RioCan and our capabilities as Quartier DIX30’s asset and property manager.”
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High Gas Prices Take Toll on Employee Loyalty
The higher price at the pump and worsening traffic are driving 26% of American workers to consider changing jobs to improve their commute times, according to a survey.
The Impact of Commuting on Employees study, conducted by BusinessWeek Research Services and commissioned by TransitCenter Inc. also finds that 48% of employees say their commute is getting worse.
“Three years ago, the price of gas wasn’t considered an HR issue,” says Larry Filler, president and CEO of TransitCenter, a non-profit organization that provides tax-free transit benefits as a means to promote mass transit use. “Today, it’s starting to take its toll on employee loyalty and becoming a serious concern.”
Geography is now a critical factor in the level of employee willingness to change jobs. Thirty-one percent of people who live in the suburbs or rural areas and travel to jobs in the city say they’re willing to consider taking another job to improve their commute while 46% of people who live in the city and reverse-commute would also consider a new job for a better commute.
When asked what commuter-related benefits would be most attractive in their new jobs, employees cite flex time (79%), telecommuting (72%), pre-tax commuter benefits (54%) and subsidies for their pre-tax commuter benefits (47%).
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International Trades Drive Surge in Trading Volume
A study finds that portfolio trading accounted for more than half of all equity trading volume last year among the biggest institutional traders in the United States—thanks in large part to a surge in portfolio trades of international stocks.
Greenwich Associates’ 2008 Portfolio Trading shows that geographically, the underlying currency of portfolio trading volume is shifting noticeably in the direction of the non-dollar markets.
International trades increased to nearly 30% of portfolio trading volume in 2007-2008 from less than 25% the prior year, with the United Kingdom and Continental Europe making up slightly more than half of non-U.S. volume.
“International portfolio trading volumes have grown in step with U.S. institutions’ international equity investments,” says Greenwich Associates consultant John Colon. “In past years this growth was driven by institutions’ activity in Asia Pacific stocks; over the last year, it was driven more by U.K. and European underlying trades and by about a dozen very active hedge funds.”
The most active traders in the research group—those generating more than $5 billion in annual portfolio trading volumes—conduct nearly two-thirds of their U.S. equity trading volume via programs. On the whole, portfolio trading represents about 50% of pension fund trading volume versus approximately 30% among mutual funds.
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Jenkins Joins CPPIB
Mark Jenkins has joined the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) as vice-president and head of private debt.
He will oversee the launch of a multi-faceted global private debt investment program.
Most recently, Jenkins was managing director, co-head of leveraged finance origination and execution for Barclays Capital in New York.
Prior to that, he spent more than 10 years at Goldman Sachs in senior positions within fixed income and financing groups in New York.
He also held senior finance roles at Laidlaw Inc.
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Oxford Appoints Three
Oxford Properties Group, which is owned by OMERS, has appointed three new people to its global asset management team.
Neil Jacob joins Oxford as senior vice-president, global asset management, located in Boston. He previously worked at a real estate management and consulting practice where he focused on asset management, acquisitions, dispositions and structured financings across all asset classes and both the public and private markets.
Jacob has also held senior asset management and capital markets roles at various commercial real estate firms in the United States, including TrizecHahn Corporation and Trammel Crow Company.
Michael Kanuka has joined Oxford as vice-president, global asset management, and was most recently at Citigroup’s Toronto office where his practice concentrated on global markets in the disciplines of structured finance, investment underwriting and relationship management.
He also worked in Citigroup’s Chicago office. Prior to Citigroup, Kanuka worked in both Chicago and Los Angeles with CIBC World Markets.
And Michel Vauclair has joined Oxford as senior vice-president, global asset management. He previously worked at UBS in Geneva, where his role as managing director, head of asset management for Europe included the primary responsibility for managing the real estate assets invested by UBS on behalf of private clients. Prior to this role, Mr. Vauclair restructured several large real estate portfolios for sale in both Europe and the U.S. for UBS, and was deputy CEO for Swissotel.