July 2019

24Jul

US.New Rule to Encourage Retirement Plans by Smaller Companies Coming Soon

Small businesses would have an easier time banding together to create joint 401(k) retirement plans for workers under a rule the Labor Department is set to finish soon, according to a senior administration official. The expected rule would broaden the ways companies could join together to offer retirement accounts. Under a proposal floated in October, different types of businesses, say landscaping companies and real-estate firms, could create a joint plan as long as they are located in the same...

July 24, 2019
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24Jul

US. How The Decline Of Pensions Furthered The Racial Wealth Gap

The gulf between those who will enjoy their golden years and those who will struggle is growing. An ever larger number of American workers will have to make large and painful cuts in their standard of living after they stop working. The retirement crisis comes on the heels of declining defined-benefit (DB) pensions. Riskier and costlier defined contribution (DC) accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs have taken their place. At the same time, the workforce has changed as non-white...

July 24, 2019
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23Jul

US. Bernie Sanders Introduces “Right to a Secure Retirement” Plan

Independent senator and 2020 Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled his “right to a secure retirement” plan Friday. The plan includes expanding Social Security; protecting pensions; guaranteeing housing, food assistance and care for seniors; and providing fully covered healthcare through Medicare for all. Sanders introduced the plan as he and 16 other Democratic hopefuls participated in the AARP presidential forums in Iowa over the past week and weekend. Read more @Democracy Now

July 23, 2019
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22Jul

US. What Congress Could Do To Stop a Pension Crisis

A looming retirement crisis is facing the U.S. taxpayer that will become an economic tsunami if Congress doesn’t act. The pensions of 1.3 million workers in certain multiemployer pension plans and the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are set to collapse. Only Congress can prevent this from cascading throughout the economy, to taxpayers and into healthy pension plans and their employers. How things spiraled into this crisis is complicated, but important to understand. Some say it’s a...

July 22, 2019
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19Jul

Reconstructing Retirement: Work and Welfare in the UK and USA

By David Lain In the United Kingdom, retirement programs are being reconstructed to follow the American practice of abolishing mandatory retirement and increasing state pension ages. This timely book compares prospects for work and retirement at age sixty five-plus in both the United States and the United Kingdom. After exploring the shifting logic behind both nations' policies--policies that increase both the need and opportunities to work past age sixty five--David Lain presents an original comparative statistical analysis on the...

July 19, 2019
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19Jul

U.S. Public Pension Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Trustees and Investment Staff

By Von M Hughes In an ever-changing financial and political landscape, your job as a public pension fiduciary continues to get more difficult. Now, you have the help you need. U.S. Public Pension Handbook is the only one-stop resource that covers the various areas of public pension policy design, governance, investment management, infrastructure, accounting, and law. This comprehensive guide presents critical data, information, and insights in topic-specific, easy-to-understand ways--providing the knowledge you need to elevate your expertise...

July 19, 2019
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17Jul

US. Coloradans support state-operated retirement savings plan for private workers, poll says

More than two-thirds of Colorado voters support the state creating a retirement savings plan for private-sector employees whose employers do not offer one, according to a new survey commissioned by a political group that pushes progressive legislation at statehouses across the nation. The results of the poll, first reported by The Denver Post, come about a week after Gov. Jared Polis appointed eight people to help study how Colorado could join a small but growing number of states that...

July 17, 2019
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16Jul

US. Gov. Bevin: Special session on pensions to start Friday

A long-anticipated special legislative session will convene later this week in an effort to deliver relief for regional universities and quasi-governmental agencies strapped by surging pension costs, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin announced Monday. Lawmakers will meet starting at 8 a.m. Friday at the state Capitol in Frankfort, the Republican governor's office said. An official proclamation listing the special session's agenda will be issued later this week, Bevin's office said in a news release. It takes at least five working...

July 16, 2019
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16Jul

US. Senate split over retirement savings bill

The House of Representatives passed the Secure Act, a bill that would create more opportunities for Americans to save for retirement, with overwhelming bipartisan consent in May. But the bill is stalled in the Senate. The legislation could die in the upper chamber if it is not passed by a floor vote, unanimous consent, as an updated Senate bill or attached to another bill that must pass (typically these are spending bills). In other words, the bill is not...

July 16, 2019
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15Jul

US. Congress Moves to Put Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation On Taxpayer Dole

The Ways and Means Committee of the House just approved a bill for a big taxpayer bailout of private multi-employer/union-sponsored pension plans. Many of these plans are hopelessly insolvent. In other words, they have committed to pay employee pensions far greater than they have any hope of actually paying. In the aggregate, the assets of multi-employer plans are hundreds of billions of dollars less than what they have solemnly promised to pay. There is an inescapable deficit...

July 15, 2019
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