July 2017

18Jul

US. Kroger to contribute $1 billion to bolster underfunded pension plan

Kroger Co. KR, -0.59% disclosed in a filing Monday that it will contribute up to $1 billion to pension plan, which it believes the "significantly" address the underfunded position of the plan. The supermarket chain said it plans to fund the contribution by issuing debt. The said certain participants' benefit balances will be distributed out of the plan, by way of a transfer to other qualified retirement plan options or a lump-sum payout. The company expects a one-time expense...

July 18, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
18Jul

US. Microsoft raises 401k contribution matching to help retain employees

Advisors say that to retire, employees should save up to 15% of their salaries each year. With a program like the 401k setup, workers are encouraged to put pre-tax money into the savings with an optional contribution from their employers for a long term solution. However, some have been unhappy with the results. The 401k plan that many employers offer to its workers has been undergoing a shift in the last year. During 2016, many companies have been adjusting how...

July 18, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
17Jul

US. Millennials don’t save for enough retirement — but Congress can help

“Young people are not saving enough.” “They will have to double their savings to retire at a reasonable age.” These quotes represent the conventional wisdom about our nation’s millennials, the more than 80 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 36. However, the savings picture for millennials has become more complex, according to recent data. This cohort of young people is saving more, though for short-term goals instead of retirement. To promote retirement savings, Congress should pass the Automatic Individual Retirement...

July 17, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
12Jul

US. Pensions prove popular: Auto-enrolment take-up has smashed government expectations

The workplace pension has proved more popular than the government imagined, according to statistics revealed today by the Pensions Regulator (TPR). More than 8m people have signed up for a workplace pension since auto-enrolment was launched in 2012. With hundreds of thousands more employees set to enrol in the coming months, the total number will ultimately beat the expectation of 8m people in total set out five years ago. This ambitious agenda of helping workers save for retirement would not have...

July 12, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
11Jul

Pension funds ask U.S. regulators to expand companies’ workforce disclosures

A coalition that includes some of the largest U.S. pension funds want federal regulators to force big banks and other public companies to disclose details on how they manage, compensate and incentivize their employees. In a rulemaking petition seen by Reuters, a coalition of 25 institutional investors including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to craft regulations requiring public companies to provide...

July 11, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
05Jul

US. How rising healthcare costs are changing the retirement landscape

It’s hard enough getting employees to save for their retirement. It’s even harder to get them to think about how much they need to save for medical expenses in retirement. “Most Americans don’t think about what the medical component will be for them,” says Robert Grubka, president of employee benefits at New York-based Voya Financial. “They often think that Medicare and government-provided healthcare is enough and what people quickly find out is, it is helpful but it doesn’t mean it’s...

July 5, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
03Jul

US. Retirement savers ditch the ‘do it yourself’ approach, opt for target dated funds and professional guidance

It turns out "do-it-yourself" investing is not all that it's cracked up to be. Employees saving for retirement in workplace 401(k) plans are increasingly eager (or willing) to autopilot their allocation and portfolio management decisions. Vanguard reports that among the more than 8,500 retirement plans it administers, with more than 4.6 million participants, usage of target date funds, balanced funds or managed account services has tripled in the decade. This explosive growth has taken place since Washington gave its blessing for...

July 3, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...

June 2017

30Jun

US. Citing Advocate Ruling, Judge Signs Off On $4M ERISA Deal

An Illinois federal judge on Thursday gave the go-ahead to a $4 million settlement in a pension dispute between a Chicago-area hospital and a class of its employees, saying the deal is appropriate given the U.S. Supreme Court’s extension of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s church exemption. US District Judge Manish Shah said that the agreement, which puts to rest the employees’ claim that Holy Cross Hospital violated ERISA when it underfunded and then terminated their pension plan, was...

June 30, 2017
News
Read more...
28Jun

US. UPS to Freeze Pensions for 70,000 Workers to Reduce Costs

United Parcel Service will freeze a pension plan for about 70,000 nonunion U.S. employees because of escalating costs and volatility in determining future payments, replacing it with a different retirement benefit. UPS joins companies including DuPont Co. and Lockheed Martin in freezing pensions, which means that some or all participants may stop accumulating benefits. UPS’s retirement obligations are on top of a $1 billion jump in capital spending being planned for this year to handle a surge in e-commerce shipments. “It’s...

June 28, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...
27Jun

U.S. states’ pension plans’ funding ratio down in 2016: report

The funding ratio for state retirement systems fell 4 percentage points to 69 percent in fiscal 2016 due to weak stock price performance and a strengthening U.S. dollar, according to a report issued on Monday by advisory firm Wilshire Consulting. It is the second consecutive year the funded ratio dropped by 4 percentage points, and the first year since 2010 that the aggregate funded ratio is below 70 percent, according to the report. The report studied the funding ratio, or ratio...

June 27, 2017
News, Slider
Read more...