Thesis (LLM.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / This dissertation deals with the inception of the office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator in South Africa with comparison with the United Kingdom and Australia. The challenges faced by the office of the Pension Fund Adjudicator are one element that advised the composition of this dissertation. South Africa is a well developing country that carries well developed laws, including, the laws that deals with the pension fund complaints and this dissertation shall analyse and unpack those laws and principles that deals with the pension fund complaints.

Thesis (LLM. (Development and Management Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / This mini-dissertation discusses South African social security and retirement reforms that will be used as guidelines towards promulgation of the new Pension Funds Act which will incorporate both private and public pensions. These proposals have been highlighted in the Retirement Reform Discussion Paper issued by National Treasury in 2004 and the Social Security and Retirement Reform paper, issued by both National Treasury and Department of Social Development, 2007. Further, the recent discussion papers entitled ‘Strengthening Retirement Savings and a Safer Financial Sector to Serve South Africa Better’ published in 2011 and 2012 respectively have strengthened social security and retirement reforms debate in South Africa. This mini-dissertation will incorporate both social security and retirement reforms.

Thesis (LLM. (Development and Management Law)) University of Limpopo, 2013

Individuals are often not aware of the required level of contributions needed to fund a retirement savings plan. This problem is compounded by the fact that the assistance provided to these individuals by way of commercially-available retirement planning models does not take into account the effect of income tax on the level of required retirement savings contributions and recent changes in the tax legislation to the income tax payable by individuals has had a significant effect on these required levels. As a preamble to the research process, an exploratory questionnaire was administrated to a sample of individuals, which was designed to measure the level of awareness of these individuals of the contributions to a retirement savings plan needed to fund their postretirement financial needs, and of the impact of age, the level of income and income tax on their contributions. Responses to the questionnaire indicated a low level of awareness of retirement planning amongst these individuals. A retirement planning model was then designed to test the effect of earnings, age and changes in tax legislation on the level of an individual's required monthly contributions to a retirement savings plan. Independent variables of age and income were processed using the model. These same variables were then processed using the Old Mutual and Liberty Life retirement planning models and a comparison was made between the model developed in the research and these commercially developed models, to assess their usefulness and limitations. Based on the above comparison, it appeared that the Old Mutual and Liberty Life retirement models both included the effects of the individual marginal tax rates in their calculations. However, they appeared to be using marginal tax rates which were higher than those reflected in the 2006 individual income tax tables. In addition these models did not include the effect of income tax exemptions and deductions and they therefore provided more conservative estimates than the retirement planning model designed in the research. Recent tax adjustments have had the effect of greatly increasing the after-tax income of individuals and therefore it is important to include the effects of changes in tax legislation in determining the monthly contributions to a retirement savings plan.

The diploma thesis focuses on the present-day system of social security in the Czech Republic. The pension system is analyzed in detail and compared to systems in other countries. It shows the differences among all the various ways of financing the pension systems and the columns it is supported by, also listing all the reasons for the reform of the pension system in our country.

The aim of this thesis is to describe particular financial products and compare them from the evaluation point of view. We also will review these products from the perspective of clients who differ in investment and saving attitude. We will focus on czech households and describe their habits in area of financial products and examine their behaviour during a time period in relation to phases of economic cycles and other exogenous variables. We also will describe functioning of financial system and focus on information asymmetry between houselholds and financial institutions. Further we will look at examples of moral hazard done by financial institutions. The conclusion of this thesis provides recommendations of suitable products for each client.

With an increasing proportion of older people in the Australian population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this research is on Australian women of the baby boom generation, their working futures, and the work-retirement decision. This is explored both from the viewpoint of women and from a social policy perspective. The research draws on Considine�s model of public policy, futures studies, and Beck�s concept of risk society. The research comprises three studies. Using focus group research, Study 1 explored the views of Australian women of the baby boom generation on work after the age of 65 years. Study 2 aimed to explore current thinking on the research topic in Australia and overseas. Computer-mediated communication involving an Internet website and four scenarios for the year 2020 were used for this study. Study 3 consists of the analysis of quantitative data from the Healthy Retirement Project, focusing on attitudes towards retirement, retirement plans, and the preferred and expected age of retirement. The importance of choice and a work � life balance emerged throughout the research. Women in high-status occupations were found to be more likely to be open to the option of continuing paid work beyond age 65 than women in low-status jobs. However, the women were equally likely to embrace future volunteering. The research findings suggest that policies for an ageing female workforce should be based on the values of inclusiveness, fairness, self-determination, and social justice, and address issues of workplace flexibility, equality in the workplace, recognition for unpaid community and caring work, opportunities for life-long learning, complexity and inequities of the superannuation system, and planning for retirement. Further, providing a guaranteed minimum income for all Australians should be explored as a viable alternative to the current social security system.

With an increasing proportion of older people in the Australian population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this research is on Australian women of the baby boom generation, their working futures, and the work-retirement decision. This is explored both from the viewpoint of women and from a social policy perspective. The research draws on Considine�s model of public policy, futures studies, and Beck�s concept of risk society. The research comprises three studies. Using focus group research, Study 1 explored the views of Australian women of the baby boom generation on work after the age of 65 years. Study 2 aimed to explore current thinking on the research topic in Australia and overseas. Computer-mediated communication involving an Internet website and four scenarios for the year 2020 were used for this study. Study 3 consists of the analysis of quantitative data from the Healthy Retirement Project, focusing on attitudes towards retirement, retirement plans, and the preferred and expected age of retirement. The importance of choice and a work � life balance emerged throughout the research. Women in high-status occupations were found to be more likely to be open to the option of continuing paid work beyond age 65 than women in low-status jobs. However, the women were equally likely to embrace future volunteering. The research findings suggest that policies for an ageing female workforce should be based on the values of inclusiveness, fairness, self-determination, and social justice, and address issues of workplace flexibility, equality in the workplace, recognition for unpaid community and caring work, opportunities for life-long learning, complexity and inequities of the superannuation system, and planning for retirement. Further, providing a guaranteed minimum income for all Australians should be explored as a viable alternative to the current social security system.

Continuous reforms of pension systems of countries of the world remain significant considering the fact that many countries, including South Africa, face challenges of how to adequately provide for their ageing populations. South Africa’s retirement system takes a formal three-pillar approach; comprising the state old-age pension, occupational funds, and private savings. Pension provision (occupational) takes the form of retirement funds which are mostly established by employers, administered by insurance companies, and regulated by the state through legislation. South Africa does not have a public fund and relies solely on the private retirement system. Many workers in South Africa retire with no income or with insufficient benefits and end up relying on the state for support. The reasons for this include a general lack of a culture of saving, the absence of a public fund, the voluntary nature of the system, leakages that exist within the system, a lack of mandatory preservation of benefits, risks with lump-sum cash payments, and the fact that the system focuses more on those in formal employment. This raises the question whether the system is in line with what is guaranteed by section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 that everyone has a right to have access to social security. The right guarantees “everyone” access to some form of income (protection) during retirement, which makes retirement provision an important social security component. Thus, pensions play an important social security role as they protect the elderly from falling into poverty. Benefits received from retirement savings serve as income replacement in retirement and should therefore receive adequate protection, and they must be able to provide adequate protection to the beneficiaries – beyond mere survival. Over the years South Africa has embarked on many reform processes to find ways to improve its retirement system. This study determines the adequacy of South Africa’s occupational retirement system along social security objectives. It describes the nature of the system, considers proposals made for reform purposes, examines international law, (including systems in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom for a comparative study), identifies weaknesses in the system, and makes some proposals to improve coverage and protection of benefits. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

員工持股計畫是由財經律師Louis Kelso所創，在美國已行之多年，廣為美國企業所採。最早的員工持股計畫是一種為了和平地從資本家手中移轉資本給員工、縮減貧富差距的工具。為了使這個計畫可以持續有效地運作下去，立法者將員工持股計畫為退休金計畫的一種，使員工必須長期持有股票，直到退休。然而在實務運作上，員工持股信託經常被運用為防止敵意併購的工具。尤有甚者，某些公司內部人會利用員工持股計畫為自己取得大量資金、移轉投資風險,但仍可保留對於公司的控制力。這些行為都有可能對股東及員工造成不利的影響，但在現行法制下，只能仰賴司法者透過判決保護這些經濟及資訊上的弱勢族群。 在台灣，員工持股計畫雖然已廣為許多企業所採用，但是發展了將近20年，只能成為另一種員工持有股票的工具。員工擁有的股票數量並不足以使其在股東會上贏得一個受公司內部人重視的地位，也不足以倚賴這些股票作為退休金之用。這種規模上的差異是台美員工持股計畫最關鍵的不同點。小規模雖然使員工持股計畫帶來的優勢少了許多，但相對地也減低許多代理成本，至今未有員工持股計畫侵害大量員工利益的事件爆發。然而這不表示員工持股計畫在台灣就是個可以被忽略的問題，若能在未來建立一套有效率的立法制度，使員工持股計畫的規模擴大，員工將可因此享受到更多公司盈餘，並且使其退休生活受到保障。相對地，參考美國員工持股計畫的問題後，也可以預先設想未來可能發生的弊端，未雨綢繆。本文相信，一個有效率的員工持股計畫，可以實現解決貧富不均的理想。 / Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) which is created by Louis Kelso is brought to practice for many years. Many enterprises use it as their retirement pension plan. The earliest employee stock ownership plan to transfer the capital frome capitalists to labors and reduce the disparity between the rich and the poor.In order to make the plan work out continueously and effectively, the legislator devise ESOP as a pension fund which makes employee own stock chronically until they retires. However, in practice, ESOP is usually exercised for preventing hostile takeover. Moreover, some company insiders may use ESOP TTO get a great deal of capital and transfer the investment risk, but still own the controlling power to their company. This behaviors will cause some harmful effects to the shareholders and the employees, but in the current legal system,the only one we can depend is the judge who can protect the minority in the economic and the information. ESOP is exercised by many enterprises in Taiwan. But after 20 years, it can only become one of the tools which assist employees to acquire company stocks.The number of shares which employees owns can’t make them have a posi-tion which let the company insiders take account in the shareholder committee and have enough amounts for their retirement pensions.This disparity in scale is the keypoint what is different between Tiwan and the U.S. ESOP. Althoygh small scale makes the adventage of ESOP decrease, it reduce lots of agency costs. To this day, there’re not any events which injure the interests of employees by ESOP. Never-theless, it doesn’t mean that ESOP in Taiwan is a issue which can be neglected. If we can establish an efficient legal system and extend the scale of ESOP, employees can obtain more company interests and have a security of their retirement life.In the opposite, after researching the problem of the U.S. ESOP, we can assume the culpably misconduct which will happen in the future and repair the house before it rains。Ｉ believe that a efficient ESOP can realize the ideal to solve the problem of uneven distribution of the wealth.