Created: Sep 16, 2025 07:59 AM<\/p>\n
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Angela Joell, education and investments manager, Argus, left; Karl Smith, head of pensions, life and investment, Freisenbruch; Peter Sousa, chief executive of the Pension Commission; Larry Gibson, chief operating officer of pensions, CG; and Nathan Kowalski, advocacy chair of CFA Society Bermuda formed the panel at CFA Society Bermuda\u2019s Pension Breakfast Seminar (Photograph by Claire Shefchik)<\/p>\n
Employees can no longer rely on the Government to secure their retirement, industry leaders warned at the CFA Society Bermuda\u2019s Pension Breakfast Seminar yesterday.<\/p>\n
The event at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club highlighted a troubling trend: many retirees are taking the maximum 25 per cent withdrawal from their pension funds and \u201cparking it\u201d in low-yield bank accounts, missing out on potential investment growth. Speakers said the behaviour reflected a broader financial literacy crisis that could threaten the island\u2019s long-term financial stability.<\/p>\n
Karl Smith, head of pensions, life and investment at Freisenbruch, warned against assuming government deficits would allow the state to guarantee retirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult, because the mindset of individuals over the years was that the government\u2019s going to hear you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is the Government has to have the ability to hear you \u2014 whether here, in Canada or the US \u2014 but they carry such big deficits. That\u2019s the importance of educating individuals that they must manage their pensions themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Smith also challenged the notion that retirement age is fixed by government policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been forced within our minds that it\u2019s an age set by the Government,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not. It\u2019s a time set on you in regards to what you put in, what plan you put in place, and it\u2019s that planning piece that we\u2019re all missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel, which included Larry Gibson of CG, Angela Joell of Argus and Peter Sousa, the chief executive of the Pension Commission \u2014 was moderated by Nathan Kowalski, advocacy chair of CFA Society Bermuda.<\/p>\n
Panellists agreed that higher pension contributions and longer working lives may be needed to ensure retirees can achieve at least 70 per cent of their pre-retirement income.<\/p>\n
They noted that the average pension balance in Bermuda is about $150,000, well below the average American 401(k) balance of $313,000 for those aged 45 to 55. Local factors such as mid-career withdrawals, maternity leave and the gender pay gap make the shortfall more pronounced, they said.<\/p>\n
Panellists called for mandatory retirement planning sessions for employees as well as stronger education on diversification and inflation risks. \u201cWhen is the last time you looked at your pension plan?\u201d one speaker asked, stressing the danger of portfolios concentrated in cash and money market accounts.<\/p>\n
The CFA Society Bermuda continues to promote financial education, with its next literacy programme scheduled at Bermuda College from September 17 to October 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: Sep 16, 2025 07:59 AM Angela Joell, education and investments manager, Argus, left; Karl Smith, head of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,76097,184,185,99709],"class_list":{"0":"post-147624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-pension-and-welfare","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-wage-and-pension"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}