November 2019

22Nov

How Would 401(K) ‘Rothification’ Alter Saving, Retirement Security, and Inequality?

By Vanya Horneff, Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell The US has long incentivized retirement saving in 401(k) and similar retirement accounts by permitting workers to defer taxes on contributions, levying them instead when retirees withdraw funds in retirement. This paper develops a dynamic life cycle model to show how and whether ‘Rothification’ – that is, taxing 401(k) contributions rather than payouts – would alter household saving, investment, and Social Security claiming patterns. We show that these changes differ importantly...

November 22, 2019
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21Nov

US. Great News From The IRS For Retirement Savers

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave retirement savers an early holiday gift this year in the form of higher contribution limits for 2020. According to its November 6th announcement, workplace retirement plan contribution limits would be increased in 2020. Likewise, the income limits for Traditional IRAs and ROTH IRAs will also rise in 2020. Larger contributions to retirement accounts will allow you to further minimize your current tax bills. Additionally, higher retirement account contribution limits can be great for...

November 21, 2019
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20Nov

US. Longevity Project explores the nuanced implications of longer life

As longer life expectancy brings about substantial changes in the make-up of American society, Americans are still grappling with the implications of longer life on how we work, live and learn, according to a poll fielded by the Longevity Project, a new initiative developed in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL). Read also Young people are saving more for retirement than Boomers and Generation X — and this is why The mission of the Longevity Project is...

November 20, 2019
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20Nov

US. Fisher Investments loses Chicago police pension; total losses exceed $3 billion

The Chicago police pension fund is ending its $67 million relationship with Fisher Investments. The Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago joins a number of institutional investors that have cut ties with the Camas, Washington-based asset manager following sexist comments billionaire founder Ken Fisher made at a conference on Oct. 8. There, he likened winning new clients to picking up women at a bar. The Windy City’s police pension fund has about $2.6 billion in total assets as...

November 20, 2019
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19Nov

US. Understanding The FedEx Pension Closure

“FedEx Closes Pension Plan to New Hires”: that’s the headline at the Wall Street Journal today. Or, as the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported, “FedEx to launch a new 401k plan with a higher match, but no pension with it. ” Superficially, it looks like a repeat of the same old story of employers taking pensions away from their employees. But, in fact, there are a few wrinkles here. In the first place, FedEx had already frozen its traditional pension plan,...

November 19, 2019
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15Nov

US. 3 ways retirement plan design can address workforce challenges

Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever before. With five generations of employees spanning a wide array of generations, socioeconomic brackets, educational backgrounds, geographies and job types, employers need to think about how to structure a retirement plan to address the differing needs of workers. A well-structured retirement plan enables workers to build sufficient savings, manage risk, choose appropriate investments, generate lifetime income and save for expenses in retirement. It can also serve as a key differentiator in...

November 15, 2019
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14Nov

US. Federal pension fund to include China investments, bucking political pressure

A pension fund for federal workers on Wednesday said it will begin tracking a benchmark that includes China-listed companies, despite strong opposition from a bipartisan group of Senators. The decision by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), an independent government agency that oversees the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) retirement fund, comes amid heightened trade tensions with China and efforts to limit the flow of U.S. capital to Chinese companies due to security concerns. It also bucks months of...

November 14, 2019
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08Nov

US. Pensions Venture Into Risky Corners of the Market in Hunt for Returns

Some pension-fund managers are venturing further into unusual investment territory as this year’s plunge in bond yields makes it harder to find decent long-term returns. Read also US. Coal Mine Workers Pension “Death” Deserves An Autopsy Funds are dabbling in riskier asset classes, including private markets, real-estate projects, infrastructure financing and direct lending. Some are making riskier fixed-income bets, buying volatile assets such as 100-year Argentine government bonds. Others are going farther afield, investing in greenhouses and waste management. Read also...

November 8, 2019
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07Nov

US. IRS Announces Higher 2020 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits For 401(k)s And More

How much can you save for retirement in 2020? The Treasury Department has announced inflation-adjusted figures for retirement account savings for 2020: 401(k) contribution limits are up; traditional IRA contribution limits stay the same; almost all the other numbers are up. The amount you can contribute to your 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan goes up from $19,000 in 2019 to $19,500 in 2020. The 401(k) catch-up contribution limit—if you’re 50 or older in 2020—will be $6,500 for workplace...

November 7, 2019
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06Nov

Green Coalition: Pension Plans Miss Billions by Not Divesting from Fossil Fuels

A new study shows that the two largest pension funds in the US—the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)—as well as the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, combined missed out on $19 billion in investment returns over the last decade by investing in fossil fuel stocks. The study is the latest salvo by environmentalists in their battle to convince the large pension funds to divest their portfolios of the stocks of...

November 6, 2019
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