September 2021
08Sep

US. Retirement Reforms Included in Key House Committee Budget Language

The Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will begin debate Thursday on a set of major budget reconciliation recommendations, as directed by Section 2002 of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2022. The mechanics of congressional budget reconciliation legislation are complicated, but as explained in a white paper published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, reconciliation bills are not subject to filibuster. In other words, that means the legislation only needs...

September 8, 2021
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07Sep

HP ships off $5.2 billion in pension liabilities

HP Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has entered into an agreement to purchase a group annuity contract from Prudential Insurance Co. of America to transfer about $5.2 billion in U.S. pension plan liabilities. The transaction, which removes nearly half of the computer hardware company's U.S. pension plan assets from its balance sheet, is scheduled to close in the company's fiscal year fourth quarter ending Oct. 31. When completed, the group annuity purchase will transfer the benefit-paying responsibility for about 41,000 retirees and...

September 7, 2021
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03Sep

U.S. corporate pension funding rises in August – 2 reports

Funding ratios for U.S. corporate pension plans increased in August, according to reports from Legal & General Investment Management America and Wilshire. LGIMA found in its monthly pension solutions monitor that the funding ratio of a typical corporate pension plan increased by 1.6 percentage points to 90.8% in August primarily due to strong performance from global equities. LGIMA estimated U.S. Treasury rates rose 3 basis points while credit spreads widened by 2 basis points, resulting in the average discount rate rising...

September 3, 2021
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02Sep

US. Suburban residents risk losing homes over rising pension costs

By Amy Korte Patricia Hill grew up in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood dreaming of one day owning a home. She and her husband accomplished that dream in 2003 when they moved to the suburb of Matteson to raise their two daughters. They bought a two-story home in a quiet neighborhood for $315,000. Her property taxes were $7,800 for 2004. But Hill’s home is now worth less than she paid for it back in ’03. Meanwhile, her property taxes have done anything...

September 2, 2021
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01Sep

US. Many Teacher Pension Plans Get Failing Grade: New Report

Roughly three-quarters of states offer teachers a retirement plan that isn’t making the grade, according to a ranking released Tuesday. Just 13 states received either a B or a C grade overall in Bellwether Education Partner’s latest look at teacher retirement plans. None received an A. South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Utah and New York scored closest, topping the nonprofit organization’s new ranking. Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Kentucky New Jersey and Illinois rounded out the bottom five states. Most teachers are enrolled in a defined-benefit...

September 1, 2021
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01Sep

US. Indiana Public Retirement System posts net 23.1% return for fiscal year

Indiana Public Retirement System, Indianapolis, returned a preliminary net 23.1% for the fiscal year ended June 30. The preliminary net return of the system's $38 billion defined benefit plan was higher than its policy benchmark return of 22.4% in the year ended June 30 as well as in other reported time periods as of the same date. For the three, five and 10 years ended June 30, the DB plan returned preliminary annualized net returns of 10.7%, 9.9% and 7%, respectively,...

September 1, 2021
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August 2021
31Aug

Does the U.S. have a retirement crisis?

By Alicia H. Munnell At the end of a recent conference, the perennial question arose — once again — as to whether the United States faces a retirement crisis. Read also U.S. corporate pension funding rises in August – 2 reports I’ve never been wedded to the word “crisis,” but the Center’s National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) suggests that about half of today’s working-age households are at risk of not being able to maintain their standard of living in retirement. While the...

August 31, 2021
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Students demand that teacher pension fund revoke fossil-fuel investments
30Aug

US. Students demand that teacher pension fund revoke fossil-fuel investments

More than 500 Bay Area high school students gathered outside the San Francisco Federal Building on 7th Street Friday before marching down Market Street to City Hall, calling on the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the state’s pension fund for California public school teachers, to divest its investment holdings in fossil fuel companies. They pointed out that that California’s wildfires demonstrate the need to reduce emissions. “This climate strike has been going on for years, but we’re feeling the effects of climate...

August 30, 2021
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27Aug

US. How to Plan for Retirement in a Gig Economy

Being your own boss. Making your own schedule. Taking control of your career. Those perks and others—including not worrying about being downsized by your company—drive professionals into self-employment all the time. In fact, the gig economy keeps growing year after year. How big is the gig? Pretty enormous. The month before the 2020 pandemic exploded, CNBC reported that independent contractors made up anywhere from 10% to a third of workers. Then, Covid hit, and though some freelancers lost their work,...

August 27, 2021
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26Aug

The New Income Projection Rules for Defined Contribution Plans

By Richard L. Kaplan & Barry Federici The SECURE Act enacted at the end of 2019 requires that defined contribution retirement plans provide plan participants will projections of how much monthly income their accumulated balances will generate upon their retirement. This article analyzes the new Labor Department regulations that go into effect on September 18, 2021 and suggests various revisions, including an explanation of likely tax consequences. Source: SSRN 559 views

August 26, 2021
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