March 2021
22Mar

US. Covid-19 Makes Racial And Class Status Longevity Gaps Worse

Everyone knows the poor die sooner than the rich. Some humans can live past 90, but many don’t have access to the health and wealth that lets humans live a normal human life span. In the last 20 years, all longevity gains for Americans have gone to those in the upper half of the income distribution. Boston University researchers Jacob Bor, Gregory Cohen and Sandro Galea found that income and education gaps in life expectancy widened during the period 1980–2014....

March 22, 2021
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19Mar

IRS Pension and Annuity Income

By IRS This publication discusses the tax treatment of distributions you receive from pension and annuity plans and also shows you how to report the income on your federal income tax return. How these distributions are taxed depends on whether they are periodic payments (amounts received as an annuity) that are paid at regular intervals over several years or nonperiodic payments (amounts not received as an annuity). Get the book here

March 19, 2021
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19Mar

US. $35 Trillion in Retirement Savings Tells a Tale of Two Economies

New data published by the Investment Company Institute (ICI) shows total U.S. retirement assets grew to $34.9 trillion as of December 31, which is up 7.5% from the end of the third quarter of the year and up 9.3% overall for last year. With such strong growth for the year, the ICI reports, retirement assets accounted for a third of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of December. The ICI update shows that assets in...

March 19, 2021
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18Mar

US Corporate Pension Funded Ratio Climbs to 92.9% in February

Funding for the 100 largest US corporate pension plans, as tracked by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, improved by $67 billion in February as the plans’ aggregate funded ratio rose to 92.9% from 89.7%, thanks to a 26 basis point increase in the monthly discount rate. It was the fifth straight month funded ratios have improved. Read also U.S. Participants don’t know what is happening to their fees A paltry investment gain of 0.13% during the month led to a...

March 18, 2021
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17Mar

Virus exacts toll on women’s retirement savings, workplace diversity efforts – panel

The issues facing women in saving for retirement dominated discussions at Pensions & Investments' Defined Contribution Spring Virtual Series held March 8-11. With the pandemic bringing those issues into sharp relief, talk centered on the "shecession," a reference to the COVID-19-triggered exodus of women from the workforce as they wrestled with the lack of child care options. During a panel discussion on the first day of the conference, which coincided with International Women's Day, speakers lamented the departure of women from...

March 17, 2021
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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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