May 2017

09May

Prudential names new Prudential Retirement CEO

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), announced that Phil Waldeck has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Retirement, a division of Prudential Financial, Inc., effective June 5. He succeeds Christine Marcks, who has informed the company of her decision to retire after more than 13 years of distinguished service, 10 of which were in the role of President and CEO. “Under Chris’s leadership, Prudential Retirement created a talent-centered, customer-focused culture that has inspired and created significant business growth...

May 9, 2017
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08May

US: What does longevity have to do with Social Security?

According to the 2015 Social Security report, less than 7 percent of people with enough quarters to draw their Social Security benefit died prior to receiving. There are three other groups of individuals that will not receive benefits – infrequent workers who do not have sufficient earnings to qualify for benefits, non-covered workers such as state and local government employees who did not pay into the program and immigrants who arrive in the United States at 50 or older...

May 8, 2017
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04May

US. Senate Kills State-Sponsored Retirement Plans For Private Sector Workers

In a narrow vote, 50 (yes) to 49 (no), the Senate by resolution killed an Obama-era rule that greenlighted state-sponsored auto-IRA retirement programs for small business workers. A majority vote was needed to repeal the rule. The AARP cried foul and urged a “no” (don’t repeal the rule) vote because: “Too many small business employees don’t have a way to save for retirement out of their regular paycheck.” That’s 55 million workers. “This is an industry effort to try to...

May 4, 2017
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03May

US. The Obama-era workplace retirement plans that the GOP wants to kill

I’m at a loss as to why some Republicans on Capitol Hill want to block the creation of workplace retirement plans for small-business employees. We know that Social Security will soon face some serious funding issues. And with fewer companies offering pensions these days, we know that workers have to save for their own retirement. The percentage of employers still offering a traditional defined benefit plan to new hires has fallen significantly, according to advisory services firm Willis Towers Watson. In...

May 3, 2017
News, OP Ed
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April 2017

27Apr

US. IRI wants tax reform, but not at expense of retirement plans

The Insured Retirement Institute is urging the Trump administration and Congress to tread lightly in considering tax reforms that would strip incentives to save in qualified retirement plans. In an extensive letter to the Commerce and Treasury Secretaries and Republican and Democrat leaders on tax policy in both chambers of Congress, IRI says proposals that would limit the tax preferred treatment of contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans would “risk significantly impairing retirement security” for the country. “With 30 million Baby Boomers...

April 27, 2017
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26Apr

US. A New York hotel deal shows how some public pension funds help to enrich Trump

Public pension funds in at least seven states including Missouri have invested millions of dollars in an investment fund that owns a New York hotel and pays one of President Donald Trump's companies to run it, according to a Reuters review of public records. That arrangement could put Trump at risk of violating an obscure constitutional clause, some legal experts say. The Trump SoHo Hotel and Condominium in Manhattan is an upscale 46-story property owned by a Los Angeles investment...

April 26, 2017
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25Apr

US. Pensylvania Governor and Treasurer push to cut Pension investment fees

Pennsylvania’s two large public-sector pension agencies got a message from Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday: cut the fees paid to outside firms handling billions in investments. Wolf and Treasurer Joe Torsella said at a news conference that they hoped that the state government pension fund would find ways to save $46 million annually and the school employees’ fund about $100 million a year. The two Democrats said Pennsylvania is near the top in the ranking of states that pay the highest...

April 25, 2017
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25Apr

Performance Evaluation of Pooled Funds in US and Canada

Pension funds kick off 2017 with positive returns. Morneau Shepell (MSI) has released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers' Pooled Funds for the first quarter of 2017. According to the report, in the first quarter of 2017, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of 3.0 per cent before management fees. "Stock markets made strong advances in the first quarter. Emerging market equities dominated with an impressive return of 10.9 per cent for the MSCI Emerging Markets...

April 25, 2017
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24Apr

Is retirement problem the same as a savings problem?

HOUSE Resolution 67, which Donald Trump signed last week, rolls back a rule that the Labor Department finalised late last year, which would have made it easier for cities and counties to run retirement savings plans for citizens who couldn’t get them through work. It is an odd choice for Republicans to kill plans that would encourage private, voluntary, tax-deferred saving, which they tend to approve of. But a trade group for investment funds opposes the city-run retirement plans....

April 24, 2017
News, OP Ed
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20Apr

US. Metro’s Manager Calls For More Funding, Reduced Pensions

Metro general manager Paul Wiedefeld officially charged into the region’s political arena Wednesday, unveiling an ambitious plan to save the transit system’s sinking finances. Wiedefeld is calling on local lawmakers to establish a dedicated source of funding that will provide $500 million annually for WMATA’s long-term infrastructure and maintenance needs. However, he is not prescribing a specific solution, such as a regional sales tax. Wiedefeld is leaving that for elected officials to decide. The bottom line of Wiedefeld’s long-awaited report, published...

April 20, 2017
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