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Most households in Sub-Saharan African cannot afford adequate housing. Most often, their pension benefits are also meagre, usually resulting from low contribution levels and mismanagement. Coupled with low life expectancies, most would not live to enjoy the benefits of pensions, thus validating the need to utilize their hitherto deferred pension benefits for immediate housing investment and consumption.

Quantitative research methodology via the present value technique was used in valuing pension benefits to demonstrate the potential of pension schemes as savings mobilization mechanisms for long-term pension-backed housing financing in Ghana.

Policy wise, the paper provides some evidence to support proposals for the development of pension-backed housing finance systems in Ghana with lessons for Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors demonstrate that the Tier 2 defined contribution mandatory occupational pension scheme could serve the purpose of a savings mobilization mechanism for long-term housing financing. The authors observe that by increasing the Tier 2 contribution rate to 30 per cent, the majority of the sample, mainly of the middle-income class, could accumulate between US$11,000 and US$17,000 over their working life. At the same rate, between US$5,783 and US$9,550 could have been raised as savings between 2010 (when implementation began) and 2014. This could form a substantial equity contribution in a mortgage investment and or borrowed on a housing microfinance basis.

The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the need to develop alternate savings mechanisms and collateral assets using pension assets, other than property, for mortgage financing. The proposals made are aimed at influencing policy by way of advocating for the use of latent pension equity to improve the housing conditions of members while they are alive, and also to suggest pension-backed housing financing as an alternative investment option. A comprehensive study would be required to settle issues of scalability, pricing and model design.

The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of integrating women‐centred savings schemes into formal finance systems in order to help such schemes to leverage finance for housing purposes.

The research adopts a case study approach that uses mainly semi‐structured interviews. The case studies involve two savings schemes with their respective supporting organisations and five commercial banks in South Africa.

The case studies show that, if savings systems are flexible and suitable to their needs, women are capable of saving and repaying housing loans. The results also suggest that the accumulated group savings and the savings schemes themselves act as good collateral. However, despite showing interest in involvement in the low‐income sector, banks do not have a financially viable and workable business model to exploit this potential market.

Integrated community housing is essential. Future research is required to determine how good repayment rates could be achieved while maintaining risks at acceptable levels.

For practical purposes, collaboration with intermediary organisations working with women‐centred savings schemes would be a beneficial starting point in linking the savings schemes with formal finance systems.

The paper provides valuable reference material for understanding the gap that exists between what banks currently offer and what poor households require in meeting their housing needs. It may also be useful to researchers and practitioners as a basis for exploring innovative finance models for banks.

Deferred annuities, which offer longevity insurance with relatively low premiums, are a potential payout option in defined contribution (DC) pension plans in Japan. This study aims to measure individual preferences for these annuities.

This study conducts stated choice experiments using an original internet survey. This methodology provides a decision-making scenario similar to that faced by individuals when making real retirement saving decisions. Subjective valuations of deferred, immediate and term annuities are compared.

This study finds that male individuals have an insignificant preference for deferred annuities – the benefits of which begin at an advanced age. On average, deferred annuities are considered a gamble, betting against life and individuals who are married and have higher financial assets tend to value them less.

While previous studies, based on theory and simulations, have found that deferred annuities should be included in individual retirement assets, this study examines annuity preferences from the demand side (i.e. DC plan participants) –an approach that has not been addressed in the literature.