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In the United States, a 401(k) plan is an employer-sponsored defined-contribution pension account defined in subsection 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. Employee funding comes directly off their paycheck and may be matched by the employer. There are two main types corresponding to the same distinction in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA); variously referred to as traditional vs. Roth, or tax-deferred vs. tax exempt, or EET vs. TEE. For both types profits in the account are never taxed. For tax exempt accounts contributions and withdrawals have no impact on income tax. For tax deferred accounts contributions may be deducted from taxable income and withdrawals are added to taxable income. There are limits to contributions, rules governing withdrawals and possible penalties.
A pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan", where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan", under which a fixed sum is invested that then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration. The original Social Security Act was signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, and the current version of the Act, as amended, encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.
The Canada Pension Plan is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It forms one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other component being Old Age Security (OAS). Other parts of Canada's retirement system are private pensions, either employer-sponsored or from tax-deferred individual savings. As of September 2017, the CPP Investment Board manages over C$328.2 billion in investment assets for the Canada Pension Plan on behalf of 20 million Canadians. CPPIB is one of the world's biggest pension funds.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families". In fiscal year 2012–13, CalPERS paid over $12.7 billion in retirement benefits, and in fiscal year 2013 it is estimated that CalPERS will pay over $7.5 billion in health benefits.
Employee benefits and benefits in kind include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.
The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom with £79 billion under management as of March 2019. It has over 400,000 members, made up of active and retired academic and academic-related staff mostly from those universities established prior to 1992. In 2006, it was the second largest private pension scheme in the UK by fund size. The headquarters of Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) are in Liverpool.
Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom residents have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions.
The pensions crisis or pensions timebomb is the predicted difficulty in paying for corporate or government employment retirement pensions in various countries, due to a difference between pension obligations and the resources set aside to fund them. The basic difficulty of the pension problem is that institutions must be sustained over far longer than the political planning horizon. Shifting demographics are causing a lower ratio of workers per retiree; contributing factors include retirees living longer, and lower birth rates. An international comparison of pension institution by countries is important to solve the pension crisis problem. There is significant debate regarding the magnitude and importance of the problem, as well as the solutions.
In Australia, superannuation, or just "super", is compulsory for all people who have worked and reside in Australia. The balance of a person's superannuation account, or for many people, accounts, is then used to provide an income stream when retiring. Federal law dictates minimum amounts that employers must contribute to the super accounts of their employees, on top of standard wages or salaries.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is a non-departmental public body which regulates work-based pension schemes in the United Kingdom. Created under the Pensions Act 2004, the regulator replaced the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) from 6 April 2005 and has wider powers and a new proactive and risk-based approach to regulation.
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is a statutory fund in the United Kingdom, intended to protect members if their defined benefits pension fund becomes insolvent. It was created under the Pensions Act 2004. The Board of the PPF is a statutory corporation responsible for managing the Fund and for making payments to members.
The Mandatory Provident Fund, often abbreviated as MPF (強積金), is a compulsory saving scheme for the retirement of residents in Hong Kong. Most employees and their employers are required to contribute monthly to mandatory provident fund schemes provided by approved private organisations, according to their salaries and the period of employment.
The Pensions Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to improve the running of pension schemes.
The KiwiSaver scheme, a New Zealand savings scheme, came into operation from Monday, 2 July 2007. Participants can normally access their KiwiSaver funds only after the age of 65, but can also use them as a deposit for a first home.
The National Pension System (NPS) is a voluntary defined contribution pension system in India. National Pension System, like PPF and EPF is an EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) instrument in India where the entire corpus escapes tax at maturity and entire pension withdrawal amount is tax-free.
A defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum or combination thereof on retirement that is predetermined by a formula based on the employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns. Traditionally, many governmental and public entities, as well as a large number of corporations, provide defined benefit plans, sometimes as a means of compensating workers in lieu of increased pay.
Pensions in Germany are based on a “three pillar system”.
Pensions in Spain consist of a mandatory state pension scheme, and voluntary company and individual pension provision.
References
- 1 2 "The Financial Assistance Scheme" . Retrieved 10 March 2010.
- ↑ "Pension schemes with solvent employers urged to contact FAS review". 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
- ↑ "Hain welcomes interim findings of Assets Review". 16 July 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
- ↑ "Financial Assistance Scheme" . Retrieved 12 March 2010.