As promised yesterday, the blog looks today at the impact of today’s rapidly ageing populations. The key point is that global life expectancy been rising for over 40 years, whilst fertility rates have been falling. A paradigm shift is thus inevitable, where future demand will be very different: 1970 Onwards. Growth accelerated, as the population became concentrated in the […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Fed Chair Yellen ignores demographics, goes back to stimulus
So, here we are again. Each year it seems to take less and less time for the US Federal Reserve to give up on its confident New Year forecasts of economic recovery. New Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, argued in February that the weather was responsible for the economy’s poor performance. But now she seems to have decided the […]
UK tinkers with higher pension ages, ignores impact on GDP
Many readers have asked to see how the UK economy is being impacted by its ageing population, following the blog’s December series on the US, China, Japan, Germany and France. As the chart shows, it is in a very similar position to all of these countries: Life expectancy has increased by 17% to 81 years today, from […]
France’s pension age stays low, whilst New Old 55+ generation increases
France, with GDP of $2.6tn, is the 5th and final profile in the blog’s series on the impact of ageing populations on economic growth. Its importance lies not just in the size of its economy, but also in the fact that its relationship with Germany has been the driving force behind the European Union and the Eurozone. France […]
“We really see retirement as the next big financial crisis”
How much money will you actually get when you retire? And how secure will that income be? Slowly but surely a debate is starting to open up about the impact of ageing populations on economic growth. And as a result, a second and equally important debate is starting about what is actually happening to pensions. “We […]
Pension fund speculation boosts oil prices as consumers suffer
Think back over the past 5 years. Can you remember a single time when oil supplies were actually difficult to find? If you can’t, then you have the same memory as the blog. Official statistics support this view. Thus last week’s US EIA report noted that “U.S. crude oil inventories are near the upper limit […]
Pension risks growing as pretence continues “all will be well”
We all hope to live long enough to receive a pension. But few of us have any real idea of how much money is needed to fund our retirement. Many happily assume that savings of $250k, for example, will easily fund round-the-world travel and major home improvements, whilst also providing plenty of spending money each […]
Most pension funds have negative returns since 2007
The chart above should be of great interest to anyone who hopes to retire on a pension. It should also be required reading for any executives planning their business portfolio for the future. Published by the Financial Times, it shows the actual performance of pension funds in selected OECD countries since 2001: • The blue […]
Oil markets break out of their ‘triangle’
There has never been any fundamental basis for the rise in oil prices over the past 3 years: • At no time has there been any actual shortage of product • In fact, inventories have always been at comfortable levels They rose only for two reasons: • The investment banks found they could make a […]
Europe’s €30trn pension fund ‘hole’
Pensions were one of the great inventions of the past century. Now the European Central Bank (ECB) has issued a ‘wake-up call’ on the affordability issues that lie ahead. The reason is very simple. As we note in ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal’, pensions were introduced first introduced in Germany in 1889, and then […]
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