March 2019

18Mar

Public Pensions And Social Trust

So it seems that I hit the one-year mark of my writing on retirement at this platform, and have still not managed to address some of the topics I wanted to discuss, in particular, questions of what pensions look like abroad and what we can learn from them.  But right now I find myself thinking about international comparisons in another way, around the question of social trust. Round about a year ago, Megan McArdle, formerly a Bloomberg columnist and now writing at...

March 18, 2019
News, Slider
Read more...
17Mar

Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Who Has Seen the Risk?

By Peter Forsyth (University of Waterloo - David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science) & Kenneth R. Vetzal (University of Waterloo) The trend towards eliminating defined benefit (DB) pension plans in favor of defined contribution (DC) plans implies that increasing numbers of pension plan participants will bear the risk that final realized portfolio values may be insufficient to fund desired retirement cash flows. We compare the outcomes of various asset allocation strategies for a typical DC plan investor. The strategies...

March 17, 2019
Articles, Pension design, , ,
Read more...
15Mar

Why Americans must rise to the challenge of an aging population

At dawn on his 62nd birthday in 1366, Petrarch started a letter to his friend Boccaccio. “When you feel that you are old,” the Italian humanist told his fellow writer, “then and no sooner will you declare your old age.” Why should we care about old age any more now than Petrarch did then? Demographics. Every day until 2030, about 10,000 Americans will turn 65. Between now and 2050, the number of Americans over 65 will double. By then,...

March 15, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
14Mar

South Korean pension fund deals blow to Elliott in Hyundai fight

Elliott Management received a potentially fatal blow in its proxy fight to shake up South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group on Thursday when major shareholder the National Pension Service (NPS) said it would vote down the U.S. hedge fund’s proposals. Elliott, founded by billionaire Paul Singer, has been battling to get South Korea’s No.2 conglomerate to return excess capital to shareholders and fix governance problems since May last year when it scuppered a restructuring plan. [L4N1RG5BG] The fund has demanded...

March 14, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
12Mar

US. ‘Dire situation’: Pension costs may close dozens of Kentucky health departments

About $38 million in increased pension costs could shutter health departments serving 42 Kentucky counties next fiscal year. State health leaders are pressing lawmakers for a one-year reprieve to allow time to overhaul a public health system now facing a financial crisis. The higher pension tab could lead local health departments serving an additional 22 counties to run out of reserves and be forced to close the following year, state officials said. That would hit a system...

March 12, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
11Mar

These are the 15 best dividend stocks for investing in retirement planning

There are many types of investors in America. Whether you are in your 20s or retired, it is important to know what strategy is the best fit for your portfolio. Investing strategies start to change for investors when they get up into their 50s and 60s, as the retirement age starts to become a future reality rather than a distant blur. And after investors reach their formal retirement age and then grow into their 70s, investing strategies should change...

March 11, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
05Mar

Warren Buffet Tells Pensions and Endowments to Cut Management Fees

Warren Buffett has a word of advice for pension funds and endowments: cut out those high-fee “helpers,” namely consultants, outside managers, and others he deems a drag on returns. In Berkshire Hathaway’s latest annual letter, Buffett describes US growth over the last 77 years. Why 77 years? That refers to when he bought his first stock: three shares of Cities Service for $114.75. And he did a little math regarding public pension funds and college endowments. “If my $114.75...

March 5, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
05Mar

Phoenix Group sees more UK Plc pension insurance deals as Brexit nears

Phoenix Group, Europe’s largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, expects Britain’s approaching departure from the European Union to push more UK companies to offload risks linked to their pension schemes in 2019. The company also reported higher full-year profit and targeted cash generation of 3.8 billion pounds ($5.01 billion)from 2019 to 2023, more than the 2.5 billion pounds it earlier expected to earn between 2018 and 2022. Phoenix, poised to enter London’s blue-chip index, also...

March 5, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...

February 2019

27Feb

US Man’s “Holiday Inn” Retirement Plan Is Viral

Competition is at least partly to blame, with some 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day, according to the business news channel. American seniors seeking to retire on the cheap have a new source of inspiration: a Texas man who plans to spend his golden years in Holiday Inn hotels to avoid costly nursing home fees. "For a combined long term stay discount and senior discount, it's $59.23 per night," Houston-area resident Terry Robison said on Facebook three weeks ago...

February 27, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...
26Feb

US. MBTA pension fund faces hard times after 2018 losses

After the MBTA pension fund posted losses in 2018, officials warned Monday that the burden of covering retirement for thousands of T employees remains "a really crucial issue." The fund has been the subject of scrutiny for years as the MBTA grapples with budget concerns. New figures, discussed at the authority's board meeting, did not alleviate the pressure: the fund paid out $100 million more to retirees last year than it collected in contributions from current employees, and it...

February 26, 2019
News, Slider,
Read more...