February 2019

07Feb

US. Retirement Security Bill Re-Introduced In Congress

More U.S. workers would get opportunities to participate in an employer-provided retirement under a bipartisan retirement security bill introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure contains several provisions which the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) has long-supported and advocated for enactment. Known as the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act, the bill was initially introduced in previous session. It was re-introduced by Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wisc., and Mike Kelly, R-Pa., as the House Ways and Means Committee conducted...

February 7, 2019
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03Feb

State Automatic Enrollment IRAs After the Trump Election: Are They Preempted by ERISA?

By Kathryn L. Moore (University of Kentucky College of Law) In recent years, a number of states have sought to close the retirement savings funding gap by enacting legislation mandating that employers that do not sponsor a voluntary pension plan for their employees automatically enroll their employees in a state-administered IRA program. This article focuses on the most serious legal challenge these programs face: ERISA preemption.  The article begins by providing an overview of the state automatic enrollment IRA programs....

February 3, 2019
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01Feb

US. New York Imposes $19.75 Million in Fines in Pension Risk Transfer Case

The New York State Department of Financial Services is imposing $19.75 million in fines on Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, a unit of MetLife Inc., in connection with allegations of pension plan administration problems. MetLife agreed to pay the fines, pay $189 million in restitution to affected pension plan participants in New York state and elsewhere, and develop proposals for ways it could do better in the future in a consent order. Michel Khalaf, the president of MetLife’s U.S. business,...

February 1, 2019
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January 2019

31Jan

US. Lockheed to offload $1.8 billion in pension risks to Prudential

Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon’s top weapons supplier, said on Tuesday it would transfer $1.8 billion in pension obligations to U.S. life insurer Prudential Financial Inc to reduce the risk and costs of pensions. Prudential will assume responsibility for pension benefits of around 32,000 former Lockheed employees as part of the agreement. U.S. companies such as Accenture, General Motors, Verizon and Kimberly-Clark have been offloading their pension obligations to insurance companies to cut down on costs and reduce the...

January 31, 2019
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29Jan

Serbian pensioners risk poverty less than many in EU

Pensioners are at risk of poverty in Europe, according to Eurostat data, while the number of those living on edge of poverty is growing. According to EU's statistical agency's analysis covering 2017, pensioners at risk of poverty in the European Union was estimated to be 14.2 percent, slightly above the figure of 13.8 percent in 2016. The rate has been rising gradually since 2013, when it was 12.6 percent, the organization has announced. Outside the EU, candidate country Serbia...

January 29, 2019
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27Jan

Putting the Pension Back in 401(k) Retirement Plans: Optimal versus Default Longevity Income Annuities

By Vanya Horneff (Goethe University Frankfurt - Research Center SAFE), Raimond Maurer (Goethe University Frankfurt - Finance Department), Olivia S. Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)) A recent US Treasury regulation allowed deferred longevity income annuities to be included in pension plan menus as a default payout solution, yet little research has investigated whether more people should convert some of the $15 trillion they hold in employer-based defined contribution plans into lifelong income streams. We investigate this...

January 27, 2019
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25Jan

Warning: Many Seniors Face Nearly Impossible Financing 30 Years Of Retirement With 40 Years Of Work

Many workers are facing a nearly impossible challenge: financing 30 years of retirement with only 40 years of work, two National Bureau of Research economists warned today. “If a couple (in their early 60s) retired today, the survivor of the couple would have about a 40 percent chance of living an additional 30 years,” Robert Clark and John Shoven said in a report to a Brookings Institute symposium on the elderly in the workplace. With the Baby Boomer...

January 25, 2019
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24Jan

Retirement? Boomers aren’t ready yet

This generation isn’t just staying in the workforce — some who left are coming back Retirement isn’t for everybody — or at least not every baby boomer. The generation closest to retirement isn’t ready to leave the workforce, according to an Express Employment Professional poll of 1,500 U.S. workers between 54 and 72 years old, conducted by Harris Poll. Some have decided to extend their careers, others are dipping their toes into retirement by shifting to part-time work and...

January 24, 2019
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21Jan

US. NYC Mayor de Blasio Proposes City-Sponsored Retirement Plan

If the federal government can’t get it done and you live in a state is slow to adopt, maybe your city will step up (what’s next, neighborhoods?). New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently delivered his State of the City Address. Among the proliferation of payouts Hizzoner promised in city spending was his plan to provide “retirement security for all” in a city-sponsored retirement plan. “Fewer than half of all working New Yorkers have access to a plan...

January 21, 2019
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19Jan

Retirement Savings Adequacy in U.S. Defined Contribution Plans

By Francisco Gomes (London Business School), Kenton Hoyem (Financial Engines, Inc.), Wei-Yin Hu (Financial Engines, Inc.), Enrichetta Ravina (Kellogg School of Management) We evaluate retirement savings adequacy in the U.S. using a large panel dataset comprising the contribution rates, salary, tenure, account value, plan features and asset allocations of more than 300 thousand US workers with a 401(k) account. Our simulations account for medical expenditure, longevity, and investment risks, and realistically model the likelihood of withdrawals due to hardship, job...

January 19, 2019
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