September 2021
21Sep

US. SEC Is Exploring Reforms Regarding Private Fund Disclosure Of Conflicts Of Interest And Fees and Expenses

On September 14, 2021, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During his testimony, he stated that the SEC is exploring “potential reforms” regarding investment funds and managers. Chair Gensler explained that one of the potential reforms under consideration by the SEC was ways to enhance disclosures by private fund managers regarding conflicts of interest and allocation of fees and expenses. He stated that he believed the...

September 21, 2021
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20Sep

Texas pension funds receive lessons on cryptocurrency

Although cryptocurrencies aren't a common asset found within pension plan portfolios, a non-profit educational organization for Texas-based retirement fund officials and service providers is keen to show plan sponsors how digital assets could become a staple in their investment pools. At its annual Summer Educational Forum held in August, the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems featured two panels discussing the basics of institutional investors allocating to digital assets. In addition to holding a "Cryptocurrency 101" session hosted by Mannik...

September 20, 2021
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17Sep

The Impact of Public Pension Deficits on Households’ Investment and Economic Activity

By Jinyuan Zhang US public state pension deficits are very large, accounting for 18.5% of an average state's GDP and up to 50% in Illinois. In principle, households should respond to this heavy future burden by increasing current savings, particularly in safe assets, since pension deficits are countercyclical. Comparing households residing on opposing sides of states' borders, I document that households in larger-deficit states save more, investing more in safe bank deposits and less in risky stocks. Specifically, households hold...

September 17, 2021
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17Sep

Should ESG Funds Be In Retirement Plans?

Investors are pouring record amounts of money into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that screen holdings based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Read also Study: As a population gets older, automation accelerates Yet, odds are most people won’t find an ESG fund option in their 401(k) retirement-savings plan. Just 2.6% of 401(k) plans had an ESG option in 2019, according to the latest data from the Plan Sponsor Council of America. Read also Canada’s third-largest pension fund beefs ups plan...

September 17, 2021
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14Sep

US. House Democrats propose new retirement plan rules for the rich, including contribution limits and a repeal of Roth conversions

House Democrats proposed a slew of changes to retirement accounts for the rich on Monday, part of a restructuring of the tax code tied to a $3.5 trillion budget plan. Taken together, Democrats’ reforms aim to erode the use of retirement accounts as a perceived tax shelter for the wealthy and instead promote them as a way for low- and middle-income Americans to build a nest egg. Most of the changes would start in 2022. Wealthy individuals with retirement accounts exceeding $10...

September 14, 2021
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14Sep

US. Retiring Boomers Could Drive An Inflation Shift

Inflation tends to top the list of economic risks that investors obsess most about. After all, runaway inflation has devastated some economies over the centuries. Corralling inflation and keeping expectations well-anchored have been key mandates for most central banks for decades. However, inflation expectations are not uniform across age groups. Surveys from the New York Federal Reserve highlight the disparity. The over 60 crowd expects inflation to hit a staggering 5% three years from now, while those under 40 think...

September 14, 2021
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13Sep

New U.S. Hedge Fund Taps Japan Pension Cash to Bet on Stocks

U.S. investment advisory firm GSB Capital LLC has started a hedge fund focusing on Japanese stocks, using seed money provided by a corporate pension fund in the Asian nation. The GSB Japan Equity Long Short Fund targets mid- and large-cap Japanese shares, buying equity of companies with attractive fundamentals while shorting those with a poor outlook, a statement showed Monday. It aims to raise a maximum of $650 million, the firm said, without naming the seed-capital provider. Pressured by rock-bottom interest...

September 13, 2021
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13Sep

Millions of older people in the U.S. live on the economic edge—evictions will send them into homelessness

In late August, the Supreme Court ruled that evictions can resume, despite an effort by the Biden administration to temporarily ban them due to the pandemic. The impact of this ruling could have dire consequences for many older adults already on the financial brink. In fact, the number of homeless people who are 55 and older is rising at an alarming rate. I have seen this first hand as the CEO of Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), a 470-bed homeless...

September 13, 2021
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10Sep

US. Pension tension: 15 states with the worst public pensions

Public pensions took a beating during the Great Recession of 2008, and a recent report from the Equable Institute showed there to be no net recovery from those losses. The report also noted that total unfunded liabilities for statewide plans had increased from nearly $100 billion in 2001 to $1.35 trillion in 2019, with an estimated 2020 total of $1.62 trillion as a result of negative cash flows and market underperformance. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic had something to do with that:...

September 10, 2021
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10Sep

The Government Debt Iceberg

By Jagadeesh Gokhale Europe and the United States will soon begin to encounter fiscal constraints the like of which we have never seen before. Federal debt as a percentage of GDP more than doubled between 2000 and 2012. According to the US Congressional Budget Office, total national debt is expected to remain close to 100 per cent of GDP during the next decade and begin to increase thereafter as the baby-boomers fully enter retirement. · Debt levels in European Union countries...

September 10, 2021
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