May 2025

US. House Committee advances proposal to cut back on federal employee pensions

In April, Representative James Comer (R-KY) announced a series of proposals that would force many federal civilian employees to pay higher premiums for retirement benefits and to lower their benefits by changing the formula for calculating payments, and last week the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability approved, by a narrow vote, to advance the proposals. Last Wednesday’s vote now advances the bill to the House Budget Committee, where it may face resistance from Republican lawmakers who might be reluctant...

US. Congress reintroduces ‘portable’ federally-run retirement plan bill for private sector workers

The Retirement Savings for Americans Act, which would offer a federally-run program for uncovered low- and middle-income workers, was reintroduced in the Senate last week by Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO), after being reintroduced in the House April 7 by Representative Lloyd Smucker (R-PA). The RSAAlegislation to help private sectors workers without access to 401(k)s build wealth and save for retirement. Recommended For You “Too many hard-working Americans are not able to prepare financially for retirement. Over half of working employees lack access to...

April 2025

Estadounidenses piensan que necesitarán $1.26 millones de dólares para jubilarse cómodamente

Los estadounidenses creen que necesitarán $1.26 millones de dólares para jubilarse con comodidad, según el estudio de planificación y progreso 2025 de Northwestern Mutual. El “número mágico” para que los estadounidenses se jubilen cómodamente en 2025 es de $1.26 millones, $200,000 menos que los $1.46 millones reportados el año pasado y prácticamente igual a las estimaciones para 2022 y 2023. Sin embargo, entre los estadounidenses que tienen ahorros para la jubilación, uno de cada cuatro (25%) afirma tener solo un año o menos...

US budget: Senior care will shrink even as the country’s older population grows.

The Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services delivers a devastating blow to the very foundation of aging services in America. By breaking apart the coordination and delivery of programs under the Older Americans Act, the administration is jeopardizing the health, independence and dignity of millions of older adults and their caregivers. At the core of this proposal is the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living, the agency that has effectively administered the Older...

US. More and more Americans are draining their 401(k)s to survive — with ‘hardship withdrawals’ at 15%-20% above normal.

More Americans are tapping into their 401(k) to make ends meet — treating it more like an emergency fund than a retirement savings plan. Hardship withdrawals are running 15% to 20% above the historical norm, Empower CEO Ed Murphy told Bloomberg TV. Empower is the second-largest retirement plan (by number of participants) in the U.S. While new rules make it easier to withdraw funds, some people may be turning to their retirement savings as prices on consumer goods — from groceries to...

Varying effects of public pensions: Pension spending and old-age employment under different pension regimes

By Kun Lee Socioeconomic consequences of pension reforms have often been discussed without careful consideration of institutional contexts, despite the fact that institutional designs of public pensions differ substantially across countries. This study argues that the outcomes of pension reforms vary depending on the institutional structure of public pensions, by showing that the associations between public pension spending and old-age employment rates of different socio-demographic groups vary across different institutional contexts. Using time-series cross-section data from 20 European countries and...

US Labor Department considers overturning pension fund ESG rule

The US Department of Labor has requested that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals suspend litigation over a Biden-era rule that allows pension funds to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. With federal agencies now operating under the Trump administration, a number of states have attempted to overturn the Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights rule, which enables retirement fund managers to take ESG factors into account in the case of a tiebreaker between two financially...

For Most Americans, Going Broke in Retirement Is a Bigger Fear Than Death: Survey

The Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement has published its annual retirement study, finding yet again that a solid majority of Americans say they worry more about running out of money in retirement than they worry about their mortality. Specifically, 64% of survey respondents this year said they worry more about financial destitution in retirement than death. Despite the concern, 62% say they are not saving as much for retirement as they would like, while 54% say inflation contributes to their...

US. New York State Pension Fund Commits $2.4 Billion to Climate Investment Strategies

The New York State Common Retirement Fund, one of the largest public pension plans in the U.S., announced the allocation of $2.4 billion to its Sustainable Investments and Climate Solutions (SICS) Program through investments in three climate-focused investment funds. State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli also announced that the fund completed its annual review of thermal coal, oil sands, shale oil and gas, and integrated oil companies, resulting in new restrictions on investment in eight coal and shale oil and gas...

US. The Increasing Role of Alternatives in Public Pension Plans

Over the period 2001 through 2021, the allocation by public pension plans to alternative assets like private equity, real estate, and hedge funds increased from 14% of risky investments to 39%. However, the overall trend masks a high degree of variability across plans as the alternative-to-risky share for pensions in states like Maine, New Mexico, Indiana, Wyoming and Texas increased by an average of 58 percentage points while it hardly changed for pensions in South Dakota, Nevada, Georgia, Iowa...