September 2019

04Sep

US. Is Working Longer The Solution To The Retirement Crisis?

It’s an unavoidable fact: in our broken pension system, millions of older Americans lack the means to retire with dignity. Individual workers want a full retirement and are willing to take responsibility for it. Profligate spending—drinking too many lattes—is not the reason most Americans don’t have decent pensions. It is the do-it-yourself, commercial, voluntary system that has failed Americans planning for retirement Some policy makers (typically fit as a fiddle and happily employed as academics or Senators) have...

September 4, 2019
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02Sep

US. Don’t cut Social Security. Expand its benefits.

The premise and conclusion of Robert J. Samuelson’s Aug. 27 op-ed, “The elderly aren’t so poor after all,” were misleading and dangerous. With 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day, we should look for ways to ensure their financial security during retirement, not pull the carpet out from under them. By Mr. Samuelson’s own account, 23 percent of retirees ages 65 to 80 say they don’t have enough money to live comfortably. The evidence supports their concern. According to the...

September 2, 2019
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August 2019

30Aug

The Impact of Governmental Accounting Standards on Public-Sector Pension Funding

By Divya Anantharaman, Elizabeth Chuk The funding policy for defined benefit pension plans covering government employees represents an important decision for government entities sponsoring those plans. In recent years, a number of state and local governments have experienced extreme funding shortfalls (e.g., New Jersey, Illinois, and Detroit), raising concerns about whether government entities are contributing enough to their pensions. Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statements Number 67/68 (hereafter, “GASB 67/68”) fundamentally alter the financial reporting of pension liabilities, by (i)...

August 30, 2019
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30Aug

Using Vignettes to Improve Understanding of Social Security and Annuities

By Anya Samek, Arie Kapteyn, Andre Gray Evidence shows that people have difficulty understanding complex aspects of retirement planning, which leads them to under-utilize annuities and claim Social Security benefits earlier than is optimal. To target this problem, we developed vignettes about the consequences of different annuitization and claiming decisions. We evaluated our vignettes using an experiment with a representative online panel of nearly 2,000 Americans. In our experiment, respondents were either assigned to a control group with no...

August 30, 2019
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30Aug

Prudential Financial announces leadership succession for U.S. Businesses

Andrew Sullivan to lead growth-oriented and purpose-driven U.S. leadership team focused on accelerating financial wellness strategy Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) today announced that Andrew Sullivan will succeed Stephen Pelletier as executive vice president and head of U.S. Businesses, reporting to Chairman and CEO Charles Lowrey, effective December 1. Pelletier will retire following an extraordinary 27-year career with the company, in which he led Group Insurance and Prudential Annuities, and founded Prudential’s international asset management businesses, now PGIM Global Partners....

August 30, 2019
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27Aug

Senators Demand U.S. Pension Fund Reject China Investment

Two senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are calling on administrators of the federal government’s main retirement savings fund to reverse a decision that they say would shift billions in investments into Chinese companies supporting that nation’s military and espionage efforts. Read also US. Blame The Fed For The Coming Pension Fund Crisis Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, sent a letter Monday to Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board Chairman Michael...

August 27, 2019
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27Aug

New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern firm on keeping Superannuation age at 65

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says if the National Party hadn't stopped contributions to the Superannuation Fund, there'd be no need to discuss raising the Superannuation eligibility age to 67. National announced yesterday it was sticking to its previous promise to raising the Superannuation eligibility age to 67 from 2037 if it were elected to government next year. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report: "Our argument of course has always been that if we continue to make contributions to...

August 27, 2019
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23Aug

Bridging Public Pension Funds and Infrastructure Investing

By Clive Lipshitz, Ingo Walter Underfunding of U.S. public pensions is a chronic policy issue that has become more severe over time. Public pension obligations were estimated at $5.96 trillion at the end of 2017 supported by assets of $4.33 trillion — a shortfall of $1.63 trillion and a ‘funded-ratio’ of 72.6%. We consider the sustainability of public pension systems in the face of changing demographics and frequently inadequate funding and investment returns, and make the connection to the...

August 23, 2019
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23Aug

US. Pension fund joins action against Facebook

The California State Teachers' Retirement System has joined a derivatives case against Facebook in regards to Cambridge Analytica. The litigation at hand is a pending derivative lawsuit against Facebook's leadership, including the social media company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. CalSTRS said intervening in the existing derivative suit will give it the opportunity to pursue corporate governance reform. Its aim is to "protect Facebook's profitability, strengthen the resiliency of its business model and enhance the long-term value of Facebook as...

August 23, 2019
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22Aug

US Corporate DB Pension Funding Falls $11 Billion in July

The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans fell $11 billion in July as the funded ratio dropped to 87.9% from 88.4% at the end of June, according to consulting firm Milliman. The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI) showed that the funded status deficit grew to $216 billion from $205 billion at the end of June due to a drop in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value pension liabilities. However, the...

August 22, 2019
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