March 2022

US. G.O.P. Senate Hopeful Faces Scrutiny Over Handling of Teacher Pensions
17Mar

US. G.O.P. Senate Hopeful Faces Scrutiny Over Handling of Teacher Pensions

Before he entered Pennsylvania’s Senate race, David McCormick oversaw a giant hedge fund that invested billions of dollars for the retirement plans of the state’s teachers. But Mr. McCormick’s company, Bridgewater Associates, delivered such middling profits and charged such high fees that the Pennsylvania teachers’ retirement fund moved to sell off its Bridgewater holdings beginning two years ago. Overall, Bridgewater’s performance was a contributing factor in nearly a decade of poor returns for the retirement fund, trustees of the fund said...

March 17, 2022
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16Mar

US. The Smart Way for Public Pensions to Divest from Russia

With Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine demanding a response from freedom-loving peoples everywhere, the NATO nations and other countries around the world have embarked on a wide range of economic sanctions. Some of them are far more extensive than anybody had previously imagined possible, such as the freezing of Russian central bank assets and its global interbank access, and now the U.S. oil boycott. Amid this global expression of scorn, American state and local politicians are jumping on the...

March 16, 2022
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15Mar

US. The ABCs of Group Retirement Plans

The foundational concept of a group retirement solution—the multiple employer plan—has deep roots. Dating back to the early 20th century and formalized by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, multiple employer plans (MEPS) began as vehicles to make agreements between management and labor unions possible across numerous employers in the same industry. While the multiple employer solutions we know today may look different, their underlying benefits have endured the test of time. In fact, their structure becomes even more relevant every...

March 15, 2022
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14Mar

US. A Guide To The State Pension Funds Divesting From Russia

As economic sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine spread, state and local public pension plans are looking at selling off their Russian-related assets and some are already doing so. Lawmakers in at least a dozen states are pressuring their pension funds to divest from Russian-related investments. Divestment isn’t likely to have much impact on the funds themselves as Russian-domiciled investments make up less than 1% of most (if not all) state portfolios. But collectively, it sends a message....

March 14, 2022
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11Mar

US. Putin, Russian Pals “Mystery” Partners in Public Pension Deals?

America’s state and local government pensions invest as much as 40 percent of their assets in secretive, offshore “alternative” hedge, private equity, real estate and venture funds which warn that certain unidentified “mystery investors” pay lower fees, are provided greater information about investment strategies and portfolio holdings, have been granted liquidity preferences and receive superior net performance—all at the expense of America’s public sector workers. Read also US. Corporate pension buyouts record second-highest year in volume How many wealthy Russians are...

March 11, 2022
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The Early Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Americans’ Economic Security
10Mar

The Early Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Americans’ Economic Security

By Marco Angrisani, Jeremy Burke & Arie Kapteyn The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous effects on the U.S. economy and may have had serious negative repercussions for many Americans’ financial stability. We use longitudinal survey data from a nationally representative internet panel, the Understanding America Study, to examine the early impacts of the pandemic and policy responses to it, on Americans’ financial stability, financial well-being, and financial behavior (as of May 2020). We find that rather than experiencing large declines, Americans’...

March 10, 2022
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10Mar

The Current State of U.S. Workplace Retirement Plan Coverage

By John Sabelhaus Despite widespread support for government policies aimed at improving workplace retirement plans, nearly half of wage and salary workers in the U.S. still lack coverage. The lack of employer-sponsored pensions or other workplace retirement saving plans has led to state-level government initiatives aimed at expanding coverage to workers whose employers do not offer such plans. Designing and implementing efforts to broaden workplace retirement plan coverage requires understanding what types of workers lack coverage, in terms of both...

March 10, 2022
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09Mar

US. This Is The Best Kept Secret In Retirement Planning & It’s About To Make Retirement More Expensive & Complicated

Looking past the gas pump to me on the other side, a 60-something year old woman states, “I waited a long time for this.” Jiggling the nozzle out from my tank, “What’s that?” I ask. She replies blandly, “Retirement.” Continuing, as if speaking to a larger invisible audience, she points up to the pump price sign and shakes her head saying, “With these prices, I just don’t know.” Fuel prices, and transportation costs generally, are on the rise for all of us....

March 9, 2022
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US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club' rises to 93.8% in 2021
08Mar

US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club’ rises to 93.8% in 2021

The average funding ratio of 19 U.S. publicly listed corporations with more than $20 billion in global pension fund liabilities totaled 93.8% at the end of 2021, up from 86.2% at the start of the year, according to a report from Russell Investments. The impressive increase in the average funding ratio for the "$20 billion club" was attributed primarily to an increase in the discount rate of about 35 basis points, said the report released Monday. Positive investment returns also contributed...

March 8, 2022
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07Mar

You Quit Your Job, but You Still Need a Retirement Plan

When she realized she wanted to quit her job at a San Francisco software company, Anna Rider was taking care of two babies: a food blog that she wanted to grow, and her actual child — the son she had five months ago. So Ms. Rider left, becoming one of the tens of millions of Americans who gave their notice in the past year and joining the cultural moment that has come to be known as the Great Resignation. She not...

March 7, 2022
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