Designing Public Pension Plans for the Twenty-First Century
A summary of papers presented at a August 17-18, 2012 conference, with links to almost all of the papers. Titles include: Why Do Individuals Choose Defined Contribution Plans? Evidence from Participants in a Large Public Plan; Linking Benefits to Investment Performance in U.S. Public Pension Systems; Pension Costs and Retirement Decisions in Plans that Combine DB and DC Elements: Evidence from Oregon; The Reverse Annuity Puzzle: The Choice of Lump Sum Distributions among Separating Public Sector Workers; Worker Exits from State and Local Government Jobs: The Role of Pensions in Explaining Life Cycle Patterns; Financial Education and Choice in State Public Pension Systems; Public Plans and Short-Term Employees; Investment Behavior in Public DB and DC Pension Plans; Shrouded Costs of Government: The Political Economy of State and Local Public Pensions.
(National Bureau of Economic Research)
|
Hedge Fund Firms Accepting Screens to Get Faith-Based Business
"Hedge fund managers hungry for institutional assets are increasingly willing to incorporate exclusionary screens into their investment approaches to keep portfolios in line with the socially responsible investment values of church-affiliated investors."
(Pensions & Investments)
|
Retirement Dreams Deferred
"Americans of every generation are readjusting their expectations in the wake of a devastating recession. And none more so than the nation's baby boomers, who are reaching the traditional retirement age and finding it means only more uncertainty and more work. Many are scared, but others are angry."
(Chicago Tribune; free registration required)
|
U.S. Cities Avoiding the Pension Obligation Bet
"Many of America's states, cities and counties may have massively under-funded public pension funds—but they are avoiding piling on risk by shunning bonds that could finance such shortfalls. The amount borrowed this year through new sales of so-called pension obligation bonds is set to be at its lowest since 2001 ... In the first seven months of 2012, there were just 14 deals worth $604 mil.lion, against $4 bil.lion issued in 2011."
(Reuters)
|
Statement Regarding Money Market Funds, by SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar, on August 23, 2012
"The cash management industry is a large industry that includes many pooled vehicles exempted from registration and largely excluded from regulatory oversight. There are larger macro questions and concerns about the cash management industry as a whole that must be considered before a specific slice of that industry—money market funds—is fundamentally altered. To move forward without this foundation is to risk serious and damaging consequences in contravention of the Commission's mission."
(Securities and Exchange Commission)
|
New Analysis Compares Do-it-Myself Investors to Target Date Funds
"Retirement plan participants who hand pick their own mix of investment options are generally exposed to greater risk due to reduced diversification and a tendency to not automatically adjust their portfolios over time ... [G]enerally, do-it-myself participants were less diversified by asset class and number of investment options, rarely used automatic rebalancing to meet their investment goals, and at younger ages, frequently had much less exposure to equities."
(The Principal Financial Group)
|
Big Income Losses for Those Near Retirement
"Americans nearing retirement age have suffered disproportionately after the financial crisis: along with the declining value of their homes, which were intended to cushion their final years, their incomes have fallen sharply."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
|
Investment Advisor Agrees to Pay $1.27 Mil.lion to 13 Defined Benefit Pension Plans Following DOL Investigation
"An investigation by [EBSA] found that the Glastonbury, Conn.-based fiduciary investment adviser made investments in mutual funds on behalf of ERISA-covered defined benefit plan clients and received 12b-1 fees from those funds.... [The firm] failed to fully disclose the receipt of the 12b-1 fees, and to use those fees for the benefit of the plans either by directly crediting the amounts to the plans or by offsetting other fees the plans would be obligated to pay the company."
(U.S. Department of Labor)
|
Former SEC Chairman Slams Schapiro Decision on Money Market Pullback
"'There's clearly a need to do something about money market funds,' former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said ... 'Everything else is marked to the market. This should be marked to the market in the interest of investors. The fact that Mary Schapiro couldn't get her three members of the commission to support this is really a national disgrace.'"
(Pensions & Investments)
|
Today in ERISA History: Retirement Equity Act of 1984 Signed Into Law
"Aug. 23, 1984—The Retirement Equity Act of 1984 (REA), Pub. L. 98-397, is signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. REA made a number of significant changes which have become a part of our daily plan language, including QDROs, QJSA, and Code section 417."
(The Pension Protection Act Blog)
|
[Opinion]
The Tricks and Gimmicks That Pad Public Employee Pensions
"Planning to retire as a Sonoma County [California] department head? Give a year's notice, and you'll increase that all-important final-year salary by 5 percent. Give up that county car and take a car allowance in that final year and you'll get another boost. The car is not pensionable. The allowance is. Want to pad that pension some more? Cash out that unused administrative leave, vacation and holiday time, etc."
(PressDemocrat)
|
[Opinion]
ICI Comments on SEC Decision to Halt Official Agency Consideration of Money Market Fund Proposals
"Like hundreds of other organizations that have submitted their views, [the ICI] have strongly opposed the structural changes to money market funds under consideration at the SEC, because of the adverse consequences of these proposals for investors, issuers and the economy.... We are pleased with the recent announcement that the Commission will not be pursuing them further.""
(Investment Company Institute)
|
|
|
[Opinion]
U.S. Chamber Applauds SEC Commissioners for Stance on Money Market Regulation
"Fundamentally altering the structure and character of money market mutual funds would have destroyed the product and sharply reduced short-term financing for businesses and cities while derailing our economic recovery. Given these implications, we will continue to use every available tool to urge all regulators to answer one simple question: With the major reforms the SEC already adopted in 2010 and the importance of money market funds to the American economy, why risk fundamentally changing money market mutual funds now?"
(U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 15 Other Employer Organizations)
|
|
Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
|
Are Banks Soft-Pedaling Clawbacks?
"At a time when news of banking scandals is uncomfortably frequent, a new report says that last year only 17% of global banking organizations 'clawed back' compensation payments previously made to employees. The survey ... was not expansive, with only 42 banks participating (in addition to 18 insur.ance companies and three other types of firms). Still, the results may suggest that regulators are not achieving the objectives of their persistent calls for banks to implement clawback policies."
(CFO)
|
Employee or Independent Contractor: Tips for Avoiding Employee Misclassification
"If a worker's classification is still unclear, the employer (or the worker) can file a Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding, with the IRS. The IRS will review the facts and circumstances and officially determine the worker's status. Be aware that it can take at least six months to get a determination, but a business that continually hires the same types of workers to perform particular services may want to consider filing the form."
(hr360)
|
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard OKs Domestic Partner Benefits
"After wavering on the issue for weeks, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard signed off Thursday on an ordinance providing domestic partner benefits for city and county workers. The mayor overcame his discomfort with the inclusion of employees' unmarried opposite-se.x partners—who, as Ballard had pointed out, already have the option of marrying."
(Indy Star)
|
|
Press Releases
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
