May 2023
03May

US. DeSantis signs anti-ESG bill one day after state clean-energy investment

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate, signed a bill Tuesday he touted as the latest salvo in his war against ESG investing, one day after the state's investment office announced a significant investment in clean energy. The law requires the Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, to make investment decisions based "solely on pecuniary factors" and not include environmental, social and governance considerations. The board, which consists of Mr. DeSantis, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, and...

May 3, 2023
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April 2023
28Apr

US. Closing Pensions For Public Workers Has Proven A Mistake

A measure to close North Dakota's public pension plan is headed to Governor Doug Burgum's desk for signature. Before enacting the measure, the state’s chief executive would be wise to look at the experience of other states that have made such a drastic move. State leaders have learned the hard way that ending pension benefits comes with little to be gained and a big price to pay. More specifically, states that shifted new employees from defined benefit pensions to defined...

April 28, 2023
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27Apr

US. Aging Population, Higher Life Expectancy Put Pressure on Global Pension Systems

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of premature deaths and wiped out nearly a decade of life-expectancy gains, longevity is projected to return to its previous trend and rise to a global average of 77.3 years by 2050 from a global 73.4 years in 2023, data from the 2023 Allianz Pension Report shows. While the American pension system is rated among the best in the world by the Allianz Pension Index, it remains unclear if the U.S. public pension...

April 27, 2023
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27Apr

US Senate panel advances Biden’s labor secretary choice, opposed by gig worker apps

A U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday voted along party lines to advance President Joe Biden's nominee for U.S. labor secretary, Julie Su, to the full Senate for what will be a close vote due to heavy opposition by Republican lawmakers and business groups worried about regulation of the gig economy. The Democrat-led Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 11-10 to approve Su, a civil rights lawyer and former California labor commissioner who has served as a deputy labor...

April 27, 2023
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26Apr

Higher living costs force Americans to cut back on retirement savings, survey says

Bigger chunks of our paychecks are going to pay the bills as we juggle higher rent or housing costs, larger monthly payments on cars, and ongoing high prices on food, clothing and airfares. Who wouldn't be tempted to dial back how much money you set aside from each paycheck toward retirement? Throw cash in a 401(k) plan? When you need to make a car payment of $700 a month or higher? Or your rent just went up by $250 a...

April 26, 2023
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25Apr

PPG Industries unloads $309 million in U.S. pension liabilities

PPG Industries Inc., Pittsburgh, purchased a group annuity contract in March to transfer $309 million in U.S. pension plan liabilities to insurance companies. The chemical company disclosed the transaction in its 10-Q filing with the SEC on April 21. The filing did not disclose the number of insurers or their names. It is at least the third pension risk transfer transaction completed by the company in the past seven years. In 2016, PPG Industries purchased two group annuity contracts to transfer $1.6...

April 25, 2023
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24Apr

US. Megatrends: The Longevity Economy

Pick up a birthday card in the supermarket and you might find some humorous quips about longevity, like "Scientific research recently found that the more birthdays you have, the longer you live." In reality, though, that's an experience nearly 90,000 centenarians currently living in the U.S. can relate to and appreciate, according to data from the United Nations. It's also a phenomenon that is expected to increase over time: According to demographers from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of...

April 24, 2023
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21Apr

Management of Retirement Funds by Republican vs. Democrat States: Understanding the Differences

By Mustafa O. Caglayan, Edward R. Lawrence & Robinson Reyes-Peña As most of the state pensions in the USA deal with their respective funding crisis, we compare the management approaches undertaken by funds located in the states that are governed by Republicans vis-à-vis funds that are located in states governed by Democrats. We find that pension funds located in states governed by Republicans display a lower funding ratio compared to the pension funds located in states governed by Democrats. The...

April 21, 2023
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21Apr

80% of Older Americans Cannot Pay for Long-Term Care or Withstand a Financial Shock, New Study Shows

A new analysis by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the LeadingAge LTSS Center @ UMass Boston finds that 80% of older Americans (47 million) continue to be unable to sustain a financial shock such as needing to pay for long-term care services and supports (LTSS) or the loss of income due to divorce or widowhood. The 80%: The Continued Toll of Financial Insecurity in Retirement looks at the total net value of all assets—housing, retirement accounts, income, and...

April 21, 2023
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20Apr

US. Prudential agrees to pay denied life insurance claims in settlement with US Labor Department

In a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, Prudential Financial has pledged to no longer deny claims on life insurance policies after collecting premiums from policyholders it later determined had failed to prove "insurability" to qualify for coverage. DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration had investigated Prudential Financial after more than 200 beneficiaries were denied claims between 2017 and 2020 over questions of whether deceased policyholders actually qualified for coverage through employer-based supplemental life insurance programs — only after Prudential...

April 20, 2023
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