June 2019

11Jun

New York Comptroller Aims to Double Pension Plan’s ESG Funding

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli pledges to double the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s sustainable investments. That will bring the pension program’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG)investments to $20 billion over the next decade. To aid in that effort, he will next create a multi-asset climate solutions program, which will operate similarly to its emerging manager program. It will work with managers, consultants, and index providers on creating alignment with the fund’s sustainability goals. The fund intends to better assess its...

June 11, 2019
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11Jun

Bank fraud in San Miguel de Allende: expats fight to regain US $40 million stolen through Ponzi scheme

In San Miguel de Allende, it is said foreigners live here either because they want to be forgotten, or because there’s no one left to remember them. This small-town alchemy of anonymity and forgettability laid the groundwork for an alleged decade-long Ponzi scheme estimated to have stolen US $40 million from more than 150 Banco Monex accounts belonging to United States, Canadian, British, European and Australian expatriates. While several local Mexicans were also embroiled in the bank fraud, the vast majority...

June 11, 2019
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07Jun

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...

June 7, 2019
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07Jun

US. 5 questions employers need to ask about retirement plans

In a tight labor market, offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan can give companies the advantage they need to attract and retain quality employees. Workplace savings plans can also positively impact a company’s bottom line. They provide business owners with a valuable tax deduction, while offering both employers and employees a tax-advantaged savings vehicle to help fund retirement. Allan Westcott, senior vice president and director of institutional services at United Wealth Management, a division of United Bank, offers the following...

June 7, 2019
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06Jun

Why a Decade of Bull Markets Hasn’t Fixed Pension Funding

In 2008, the average U.S. pension fund had 83 percent of what it needed to make good on retirement benefit promises. As of the end of 2018, pensions had only 72 percent, according to Conning’s “State of the States” report released Wednesday. “During the past decade, state pensions have had three main roadblocks to improving their funded status: restructuring, underperformance, and reduced contributions,” wrote the authors, who are members of asset manager Conning’s municipal research team. Part of the...

June 6, 2019
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May 2019

31May

Borrowing to Save? The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Debt

By John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, Bill Skimmyhorn Does automatic enrollment into retirement savings plans increase borrowing outside the plan? We study this question using a natural experiment created when the U.S. Army began automatically enrolling its newly hired civilian employees into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) at a default contribution rate of 3% of income. We find that four years after hire, automatic enrollment causes no significant change in debt excluding auto loans...

May 31, 2019
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31May

America’s Largest Musicians’ Union Announces Pension Cuts

Trustees of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers' Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) announced the evening of May 24 that they will apply to the U.S. Treasury for a reduction in member benefits, due to the AFM-EPF's "critical and declining" status – meaning the fund is projected to run out of money in 20 years. The AFM represents 80,000 professionals in the United States and Canada who play in symphony orchestras and opera houses, on Broadway, in film and television,...

May 31, 2019
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29May

US. New Bill Would Conduct the Largest Investigation of Private Pensions in 40 Years

Bipartisan US senators are proposing legislation in an effort to secure workers’ retirement benefits in the long run, through the formation of a new retirement commission that would guide private retirement plans to a more sustainable future. Coined the Federal Retirement Commission Act, Sens. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, and Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, would create a group responsible for reviewing private benefit programs and submitting to Congress recommendations on how to improve or replace the programs....

May 29, 2019
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29May

US. Public Pensions Had a Good Q1

The country’s 100 biggest public defined benefit pension plans experienced a funding increase of $185 billion in the first quarter, thanks mainly to robust investment gains of 7.3% in aggregate, Milliman, a consulting and actuarial firm, reported Monday. This improvement was the largest quarterly funding increase since Milliman rolled out its public pension funding index in September 2016. It came on the heels of the biggest quarterly decrease of $306 billion in the fourth quarter. Milliman estimated that first...

May 29, 2019
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27May

The End Of Risk-Free Retirement

Saving money for retirement has never been easy for the average worker, but at least it was feasible. Until 2000 or so, it was a simple matter to put all your savings in CDs, Treasury bonds, or tax-free muni bonds and generate a steady income. Better yet, you could do this with no risk, just by keeping your money in FDIC-insured banks. This is not possible today due to low rates. Neither you nor a massive pension plan acting...

May 27, 2019
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