March 2021
17Mar

What Is The Pension Provision In The Stimulus Package? An Explainer

By Teresa Ghilarducci Included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed by President Biden on Thursday is an $86 billion aid package for participants of about 185 to over 300 employer-union pension plans. If aid had not been available more than a million retired retail clerks, candy makers, truck drivers, construction workers and others would have faced severe cuts in their pensions. These plans are part of a larger system of about 1500 multiemployer pension plans covering about 10 million workers. These plans...

March 17, 2021
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16Mar

U.S. Participants don’t know what is happening to their fees

A survey finds nearly three-quarters of Americans don’t know how much they pay in retirement plan fees, while the ‘401k Averages Book’ shows fees continue to come down. Nearly three-quarters of Americans surveyed do not know how much they pay in fees for their retirement accounts, according to a survey commissioned by investment management firm Rebalance. More than half of survey respondents (57%) indicated they believe that they pay either no fees, or very low fees, to maintain their retirement investment...

March 16, 2021
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11Mar

US. House Passes $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Stimulus Package; Biden Plans to Sign Friday — Update

The House passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief bill and sent it to President Biden for his signature, with Democrats muscling an expansive round of new spending and antipoverty measures through Congress just as America begins to emerge from a year of pandemic-related shutdowns. Read also Puerto Rico debt-restructuring plan filed amid criticism The relief bill offers a $1,400 check to many Americans, an extension of a $300 weekly jobless-aid supplement, and a one-year expansion of the child tax credit. It also...

March 11, 2021
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05Mar

US. Stimulus Bill Freezes Retirement Plan Contribution Limits

What You Need to Know The freeze would take effect in 2031. It is intended to reduce a tax deferment that favors the highest earners, Democrats say. Retirement plan lobbyists are working to get the provision stripped from the Senate version of the bill. The $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, which passed the House on Feb. 27, freezes retirement plan contribution limits starting in 2031. The bill, H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, would freeze the annual cost-of-living...

March 5, 2021
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03Mar

Can the United States accelerate sustainability in financial regulations?

In the last few years, while multiple countries have made progress in developing sustainable-finance plans to help direct investment to climate solutions and environmentally beneficial companies and products, the United States, under the administration of former President Donald Trump, moved to weaken environmental regulations and discourage sustainable investing. With the arrival of President Joe Biden’s administration, the United States could rapidly roll out policies to make up lost ground. Sustainable-finance plans advance globally Around the globe, countries are stepping up to...

March 3, 2021
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03Mar

US. Pandemic Prompts Many to Take More Notice of Retirement Plan

Major retirement plan recordkeepers have found that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many Americans to take better stock of their retirement and emergency savings. Many even increased their 401(k) contributions, and only a small percentage took out a coronavirus-related distribution (CRD). TIAA found that more than three-quarters of participants in the plans it recordkeeps checked their account balance last year and 61% visited a provider website. This engagement, TIAA says, was likely driven by the dramatic volatility of the year. TIAA...

March 3, 2021
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02Mar

US. Pension Relief Plan in COVID-19 Stimulus Bill That Passes House

On Saturday, a measure to give troubled multiemployer pension plans assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) passed the House of Representatives, as part of a larger $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from President Joe Biden. Read also US. Stimulus Bill Freezes Retirement Plan Contribution Limits The federal stimulus package, which includes $1,400 checks for many Americans and increased funding for vaccines, also holds the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), an update to the Butch Lewis Act....

March 2, 2021
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01Mar

US. Prelude to a State Pension Bailout

By Andrew G. Biggs After decades of mismanagement, state and local government pensions face unfunded liabilities topping $4.2 trillion. When a major public plan finally runs dry, you can bet Congress will bail it out no matter the crippling cost. Congressional Democrats’ Covid-relief package includes a multibillion-dollar bailout for union-affiliated private-sector multiemployer pensions. If politicians will bail out truckers’ and coal miners’ pensions, why would they turn away teachers and firefighters? Multiemployer pensions are jointly run by labor unions and employers,...

March 1, 2021
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February 2021
26Feb

US. With lower returns on the horizon, public pensions will turn to riskier assets, Moody’s says

State and local government pension systems are increasingly dependent on investment returns, and at risk of increasingly volatile results, as funding levels remain depressed and systems increasingly start to pay out more than they take in, according to a new report from Moody’s. The credit-ratings agency anticipates higher volatility and lower returns across asset classes in 2021 compared to 2020, even as many pension sponsors have spent the past few years lowering their assumed returns from previous loftier targets that...

February 26, 2021
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25Feb

Cómo un fondo de pensiones en EEUU ayudó a financiar la guerra por el petróleo en Irak

Muchos fondos de pensión públicos son inversores conservadores, pero el Oilflow SPV 1 DAC fue más allá. Invirtió los ahorros de jubilación de los profesores de Pensilvania en la guerra por el petróleo en Irak. Los escritores Javier Blas y Jack Farchy repasan esta historia en su nuevo libro. Los profesores de Pensilvania no eran los únicos. En Carolina del Sur, los ahorros de más de 600.000 policías, jueces y otros trabajadores del sector público habían sido dirigidos a la...

February 25, 2021
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