Rifa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Rifa - Essay Example Key Words financial terms, jargons, financial methods and techniques Discussion a) Jonny 1) According to Turner’s 2004 report, pension crisis is caused by two major factors. These are the downturn in financial markets and unpredicted improvement in longevity (Whitaker 1997, pg. 16). Of course there are other factors as well, but these two elements have the biggest role to play in anybody’s descent into pension crisis. Bill Murray should therefore watch them closely if he wants to avoid being caught up in the cobweb that is pension crisis. 2) A money purchase scheme is a variation of defined contribution pension schemes (Hearn 2004, pg. 32). It is normally created by employers as a pool from which they can pay their retired employees income. Despite the employer sponsoring it, it is managed by a board of trustees (with the only exception being public sector schemes). The Trustees are in charge of paying death and retirement benefits. The amount of income payable depends on the amount of contributions made to the scheme by an employer or member, the performance of investment funds and the annuity rate at the time one is retiring. 3) Jonny is not too young to think about pension schemes. In fact, at the age of 30, he should be ready to start putting money in a pension scheme. The reason for this is that he has 30 years or less of gainful employment, after which he will retire. Contributing consistently for 30 years in any pension scheme (especially a money-purchase scheme) is enough to sustain him for possibly the rest of his life. Pension Crisis Pension is a contract made in a regular basis to a person with a fixed sum on the retirement from service (Rein & Schma?hl 2004, pg. 69). Pension crisis can be defined as the predictable difficulty found in the payment for the federal, corporate and the state pensions in Europe caused by the difference between resources and the pension obligations used in funding them. Causes of Pension Crisis Underfunded Pe nsion Plan Pension funds have to maintain a funding status or the assets value to liabilities in order to be able to afford the retirement benefits for their employees. An underfunded pension plan has fewer assets used to afford its liabilities. This is mainly caused by mismanagement as the pension schemes rely on the amount of cash being contributed from the sponsor which can be an employer (Rein & Schma?hl 2004, pg. 71). This management has a negative impact to the employees because there pension money has not been well handled. Shifting Demographics have also led to the lower ratio of workers per retiree. These are caused by the number of people retiring thereby causing employers to spend a lot of money on them compared to the profit gain of the company. The lower birth rates are also seen as a major factor as it leads to the decreasing labor force that is the number of workers. Money Purchase Scheme A money purchase scheme includes stakeholder and other occupational pension plan s among others (Rein & Schma?hl 2004, pg. 73). Its benefits depend on contributions to the pension fund and also the investment of the assets placed which can be positive or negative. When one retires the amount of money depending on the two factors is what will lead to the income one will get on retirement. Money