February 2023
08Feb

New Evidence on the Demand for Advice within Retirement Plans

By Jonathan Reuter & David P. Richardson We study demand for advice by retirement plan participants using administrative records from defined contribution retirement plans offered by 23 institutions where TIAA is the sole recordkeeper. We distinguish advice on asset allocation from advice on retirement income levels, and between participants who are and are not eligible for TIAA’s wealth management services. We find that advice seeking increases with age, account balance and annual contribution level, and is highest among those eligible for wealth management services. However, we...

February 8, 2023
Articles, Investment, Pension design, , ,
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07Feb

US. Public pension funds lowered expectations for returns as expenses spiked in fiscal 2022

Public retirement systems saw their expenses rise in fiscal 2022, while many reduced their assumed rates of return, according to an annual study by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. In fiscal 2022, the pension systems averaged 64 basis points in administrative costs and investment manager fees, up from 54 points the year before. Systems lowered their assumed rates of returns to an average 6.86%, from 7.07% a year earlier. Among all respondents, 60% said they lowered those rates...

February 7, 2023
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03Feb

US pension funds are on the brink of implosion – and Wall Street is ignoring it

By David Sirota As public officials across America prepare to funnel even more of government workers’ savings to private equity moguls, an alarm just sounded for anyone bothering to listen. It is a warning that Wall Street executives, busy skimming fees off retirement nest eggs, want you to ignore. The longer the warning goes unheeded, however, the bigger the financial time bomb may be for workers, retirees and the governments that pay them. Earlier this month, PitchBook – the go-to news...

February 3, 2023
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02Feb

U.S. A Retirement Income Distribution Plan Is as Critical as Saving

The majority of your life is spent in accumulation mode — earning a steady income and putting money aside for things like retirement, savings, your child’s education or a dream vacation home. After years of investing and saving, it is critical to shift your mindset out of accumulation mode and into distribution, or decumulation, mode when retirement nears. Making that mental shift is difficult for most, but having a comprehensive wealth plan that includes a retirement income distribution strategy...

February 2, 2023
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January 2023
31Jan

US. SECURE 2.0 to expand auto enrollment

A new law will expand automatic enrollment to all newly formed 401(k) and 403(b) plans, which experts say could significantly boost enrollment in retirement plans. The provision is one of more than 90 in the retirement security package, known as SECURE 2.0, which passed Congress in December and will change the future of the retirement landscape in a myriad of ways. Starting in 2025, all new 401(k) and 403(b) plans will be required to automatically enroll new employees in their plan,...

January 31, 2023
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30Jan

New York State common allocates 11 Billion alternatives

New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany, disclosed just over $1.1 billion in new commitments completed in December, a transaction report on its website shows. Within private equity, the $233.2 billion pension fund committed $350 million to Apollo Investment Fund X, a buyout fund managed by Apollo Global Management, and $300 million to Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners XI, also a buyout fund. The pension fund also disclosed two commitments to funds managed by KSL Capital Partners: $300 million to real...

January 30, 2023
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27Jan

Pensions Benefit More than Retirees, Says Report

Pensions obviously benefit retirees, their dependents and their beneficiaries. But while it may be less obvious, pensions also benefit society writ large — to the tune of trillions, with a T. The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) every two years updates its Pensionomics analysis that measures the economic “ripple effect” of payments from defined benefit plans. In “Pensionomics 2023: Measuring the Economic Impact of DB Pension Expenditures,” the NIRS quantifies the broader benefits of DB plans; namely, the economic...

January 27, 2023
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27Jan

US. Commissioner Peirce calls for SEC rule on cryptocurrency

Commission the authority to regulate the trading of digital commodities. If the SEC did pursue rule-making for digital assets, Ms. Peirce noted, "we would have to admit that we likely need more, or at least more clearly delineated, statutory authority to regulate certain crypto tokens and to require crypto trading platforms to register with us. And Congress might decide to give that authority to someone else." However, she argued that the SEC could "do the job well," specifically when it comes...

January 27, 2023
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26Jan

Should Labor Abandon Its Capital? A Reply to Critics

By: David H. Webber Several recent works have sharply criticized public pension funds and labor union funds (“labor’s capital”). These critiques come from both the left and right. Leftists criticize labor’s capital for undermining worker interests by funding financialization and the growth of Wall Street. Laissez-faire conservatives argue that pension underfunding threatens taxpayers. The left calls for pensions to be replaced by a larger social security system. The libertarian right calls for them to be smashed and scattered into individually-managed...

January 26, 2023
Articles, Labor Market, Pension Management, , , ,
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