As the bull market enters its 11th year, state and local pension plans are piling on risk, as they try to make up shortfalls. Public plans had a median 47.3% of their assets in U.S. equities at the end of the third quarter, according to database Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service. That is more than they have had since 2007 and up from 44.1% a year earlier. Taking on more exposure to stocks is a riskier bet, especially as...
A forensic review of the endangered mine workers pension should be undertaken immediately. Workers and retirees deserve answers and once the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation takes over the plan, it will be too late. The bankruptcy of Murray Energy, America’s largest private coal mining company has coal workers “nervous and scared” for their pensions, says CNN. The company is seeking to dramatically slash its liabilities through bankruptcy, including $8 billion of pension and retiree healthcare obligations. Murray...
St. Louis law firm Schlichter Bogard & Denton has reached an $18.1 million settlement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a lawsuit over the university's 401(k) retirement plan. The firm, headed by Jerome Schlichter, sued the university in 2016 on behalf of employees and retirees. The suit accused MIT of paying excessive record-keeping fees to Fidelity Investments and failing to monitor the plan's investments. The lawsuit pointed out that Fidelity's chief executive was an MIT trustee, and that...
Senator Marco Rubio plans legislation to block U.S. government pensions from investing in Chinese stocks after the board overseeing the funds put off a decision that would add exposure to China. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board on Monday addressed concerns that switching the benchmark for its $50 billion TSP I Fund to mirror an index with Chinese assets would undermine U.S. economic and national security. A decision was delayed for at least two weeks, according to Kim Weaver,...
Most of us depend on a paycheck to provide the funds we need to cover costs of living. But when you retire, your paycheck ends even though you still need a source of support. While different retirees may have their own unique income streams, such as money from alimony or from real estate investments, the most common sources of cash for seniors include the following. 1. Social Security For 50% of married couples and 70% of unmarried...
The largest public pension fund in the United States is divesting from the two major for-profit prison companies running migrant detention facilities for the federal government, the California Faculty Association announced following a meeting with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) on Friday. Read also Where does retirement income come from in the US? The move by CalPERS is part of a larger trend by pension funds and businesses that have pulled their financial backing from GEO Group and...
By Craig Barnes The 2019 Salary & Retirement Report-Finance & Banking Positions is published annually with the most accurate salary data for over 20 positions in Executive functions. The report features national median salaries for each position, percentiles (10%, 25%, 75%, 90%) and median salary by age. The retirement planning data in the report includes: -401k Matching Funds by Age and Matching Percent -401k Fast Track "Aggressive" Cumulative Funds -401k Fast Track "Moderate" Cumulative Funds -401k Fast Track "Protected"...
The City of Boston is ending its relationship with Fisher Investments, pulling $248 million in pension assets from the firm. Mayor Martin Walsh announced on Wednesday that the city would stop working with the company in light of sexist comments Ken Fisher had made at an investment conference last week. “The statements made by Ken Fisher implicate not only his own judgment, but potentially that of the company as a whole,” Walsh wrote in a letter to the Boston Retirement Board....
Last week, General Electric announced the impending freeze of its pension plans to new accrual, for salaried workers and executives. And, as much as we’re accustomed to the stories of woefully-underfunded public pensions and multi-employer pensions, it’s worth taking a look at the situation at GE, and asking the question, why were GE’s plans so underfunded that they felt it necessary to take this step? (And, yes, part of the answer is simply, “everyone’s doing it” and per the...
Some of the biggest public pensions funds in the United States have invested in one of the world’s largest purveyors of video surveillance systems that the U.S. government claims are used in wide-scale repression of the Muslim population of western China. Read also US. White House Focuses on China Stock Limits in Retirement Fund The Trump administration’s decision to put the company, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (002415.SZ), on a blacklist last week has prompted at least two of...
