News Archive

"Some of the clearest uses for AI are language-heavy tasks that already consume staff time. Plan staff answer routine questions, rewrite technical language, sort incoming messages, and hunt for the right policy or procedure. Large language models fit that work. They can summarize documents, classify inquiries, draft plain-language responses, and help staff retrieve plan rules quickly."  MORE >>

"Segal analyzed the administrative expenses reported by DC annuity funds in Form 5500 filings for 2023 and 2024. When segmenting the data by plan type, geography, plan size and participant size, the data not only showed clear patterns in administrative cost, but provided guidelines to help plan sponsors understand the fees they should expect or negotiate for their plans. [This article presents those] findings and outline[s] seven steps trustees of plans with outdated fee structures can take to lower administrative costs."  MORE >>

"[HB26-1026] improves teacher retirement outcomes in three ways: [1] New option for purchasing PERA (Public Employees' Retirement Association) Service Credit which takes into account time out of the workforce. [2] Starting January 1, 2027 all districts must offer the excellent PERA 401(k) plan in both the pre-tax and Roth versions.... [3] Starting January 1, 2027 all districts must also offer the excellent PERA 457(b) plan in both pre-tax and Roth versions."  MORE >>

"Under the new law, employers that decide to create a [phased retirement plan (PRP)] shall pay the full amount of the TRSL Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) administrative fee. They also will pay a higher employer contribution to an individual's ORP account; the act increases that contribution from 6.2% to 8.0% of pay, subject to appropriations. The employer of any participant in a PRP will be required to notify the TRS of the terms of the participant's phased retirement[.]"  MORE >>

"Public pension fund managers have run the same accounting maneuver for fifty years. It is entirely legal, widely practiced, and engineered to make a structural debt problem look like a funding gap. The logic is circular: decide what return you expect to earn, then use that number as the rate at which you discount what you owe. The higher the assumed return, the smaller the reported liability. The smaller the liability, the lower the required contribution. The lower the contribution, the more comfortable everyone in the room feels -- until the bill arrives. That is where American public pension accounting stands in 2026."  MORE >>

"A new retirement saving option for teachers participating in the Bay State's teacher retirement system is closer to being available, courtesy of legislation that has passed both chambers of the Massachusetts legislature."  MORE >>

40 pages. "This issue brief provides an analysis of how lifetime retirement income features are currently used in public sector DC plans and identifies the rationale for why providing these features is an advantageous policy. It outlines a best-practices framework for public sector DC plan sponsors to evaluate and select annuity options.... The framework addresses common objections, compares product types, and provides a structured due-diligence process to prioritize adequate lifetime income while considering costs, participant needs, and administrative feasibility. "  MORE >>

"This article explains how pension funds can access best-in-class, high-growth, late-stage private technology companies at significant discounts to public market valuations through a small-ticket secondaries manager -- and why a disciplined underwriting framework makes this strategy particularly well-suited to pension funds' long-term, capital-preservation mandates."  MORE >>

"Most large public pensions now claim to be 'among the most transparent in the world.' At the same time, they resist full disclosure of limited partnership agreements, side letters and fee breakdowns; aggregate or net away critical cost components and frame investment performance using metrics that flatter outcomes. This creates a form of performative transparency -- a system that appears open, but in practice controls what can be meaningfully understood."  MORE >>

"In the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2025, the median public DB plan gained 13.8%, nearly double the median assumed rate of return of 7.0%.... This bodes well for an improvement in funded status across public pension plans. Many use an actuarial smoothing period of five years. Over the last five years, the median public DB plan has an annualized gain of 7.2%."  MORE >>

"The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) would create a centralized reporting portal [called SURCH (States Unclaimed Retirement Clearing House)] for these plans to report any missing retirement funds. NAUPA would then take the data, the last known address of record, and the funds, distribute that to the appropriate state unclaimed property office, which would then take it from there and attempt to identify and remit the funds to the appropriate owner.... Once the funds are transferred ... retirement plan administrators and recordkeepers are relieved of responsibilities for those funds[.]"  MORE >>

"Recently, [the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee] began probing whether 'radical' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments at CalPERS could threaten the fund's tax status.... The Committee noted that CalPERS claims significant tax benefits under Code section 401(a), which applies only to plans maintained 'for the exclusive benefit of [an employer's] employees or their beneficiaries.' However, the instances cited [by the Committee] do not appear to be consistent with this rule. To the extent that CalPERS is using plan assets for the benefit of social or political causes, the plan's qualified tax status is no longer valid, according to the Committee."  MORE >>

"The PPFI funded ratio stood at 87.6% as of April 30, in stark contrast to the 83.7% observed as of March 31 and closer to the 87.0% mark seen as of February 28, illustrating recent market volatility."  MORE >>

"A disciplined approach to uncovering hidden costs in portfolios can be critical to understanding the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), improving governance, and fulfilling fiduciary responsibilities.... TCO addresses cost drivers across the investment value chain, from management fees to trade execution, settlement, and custody costs. Plan sponsors can achieve this with a bottom-up analysis of all cost elements and operational processes that prioritize risk management, transparency, and contract compliance."  MORE >>

39 pages. "Aon conducted a study of the investment policy statements of the 50 largest U.S. public pensions.... There is no single 'right' way to write an IPS, but it should be structured and worded with intention to provide clear guidance for implementation Especially with an evolving investment environment -- it is important that IPS documents evolve with the markets while maintaining appropriate risk management."  MORE >>

"[A recent study] systematically examines how consultants shape the investment behavior of U.S. public pensions.... The core conclusion is devastating. Consultants push pensions toward the same high-fee investments, often through the same networks of private fund managers, creating widespread portfolio convergence and systemic concentration risk -- yet the study finds no meaningful evidence that these consultant-driven shifts improve performance."  MORE >>

"A substantial majority of the teachers surveyed said they believe that having access to multiple plan options and multiple retirement providers is a good thing.... Nearly three-quarters of teachers ... said that they believe they are better equipped than their school districts to choose the right financial products and investments to finance their retirement."  MORE >>

"Although public pension systems operate under state-law fiduciary rules rather than the federal regulation this rule would amend, the structure it establishes matters: it is the most detailed federal description to date of what a prudent investment selection process looks like, and state courts evaluating public trustee conduct will inevitably use it as a reference."  MORE >>

"Reason's '2025 Pension Solvency and Performance Report' characterizes public pensions as operating continuously on a precipice, one market downturn from falling into an abyss and sending their sponsoring governments to fiscal ruin. Reason relies on specious comparisons of public pension plans and selective data while ignoring industry standards and practices, to present a pessimistic image of public pensions that are in financial and actuarial peril and investing at an inappropriately high level of risk."  MORE >>

"Alaska's government employees do not participate in Social Security, which leaves a significant gap in retirement benefits. Most of the state's government workers participate in the Alaska Supplemental Annuity Plan (SBS-AP), which more than replaces the benefits they would have received under Social Security. School employers, however, do not offer this benefit, leaving teachers at significant risk of inadequate savings for retirement. Senate Bill 55 (SB 55) aims to address this gap by making the same SBS plan available to teachers through school employers."  MORE >>

"The city carries more than $36 billion in unfunded pension liabilities across its four primary funds ... Simultaneously, over 20,000 city-owned vacant lots sit idle ... [This] proposal offers a new framework: micro-districting.... [T]his model converts dormant public-sector assets into recurring revenue rather than one-time windfalls.... [By] transforming long-standing liabilities into investable assets ... this approach offers a fiscally sound, politically feasible, and equity-focused path forward."  MORE >>

"Public pensions, normally the first to lead securities fraud cases, have been notably absent from the Apollo/Epstein stock drop litigation. That absence may reflect a deeper conflict: the same pensions that could sue Apollo for misleading disclosures are heavily invested in its private equity and private credit funds, where valuations remain opaque and untested."  MORE >>

46 pages. "This report breaks down financial and investment data by fiscal year-end dates -- incorporating data collected from fall 2021 through fall 2025 to more clearly reflect performance trends over time."  MORE >>

"Communications leaders should play a leading role in the application and understanding of new and evolving tools such as artificial intelligence.... The era of searching for information is quickly being replaced with the era of simply asking for it. This means communicators must also focus on how the people they serve use AI to find information."  MORE >>

"State-administered defined contribution plans must offer self-directed brokerage accounts with at least one cryptocurrency investment option by July 1, 2027, with governing boards authorized to set investment parameters, valuation methodologies, and administrative fees."  MORE >>