Multiemployer Pension Plans Potentially Eligible for Special Financial Assistance Under ARPA

58 pages. "The report provides [1] background on multiemployer DB pension plans, [2] an overview of the special financial assistance, [3] a description of the four eligibility criteria, and [4] a listing of plans (along with each plan's participant and funding data) that satisfy the eligibility criteria using the most recently available data." [CRS Report R46803, May 28, 2021]  MORE >>

Congressional Research Service [CRS]

Understanding the Impact of the Low Interest Rate Environment on Retirement Security in the U.S. (PDF)

58 pages. "Persistent low interest rates could affect the retirement security of Americans profoundly through direct impacts on investment returns and through impacts on the capacities of governments and the private sector to finance Social Security, pension funds, and other retirement savings mechanisms. This report examines academic and practitioner research on these topics critically, with an eye toward drawing common themes and conclusions, while reconciling and explaining discrepancies." [Also available: 51-page Appendix, containing brief summaries of papers reviewed.]  MORE >>

Society of Actuaries

Senate, House Considering Bills to Continue to Improve Retirement Savings

"[In] recent weeks, a flurry of retirement-related bills have been introduced, including some major bipartisan proposals."  MORE >>

Pensions & Investments

What Makes an Average Retiree Feel Confident?

"The majority of average retirees report their standard of living in retirement is unchanged from what it was during their working years, while the average retiree rates their level of satisfaction as 7.8 on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest score."  MORE >>

PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required

How Does Social Security Reform Indecision Affect Younger Cohorts?

"[The authors] calculate the value that people in different income classes and different birth cohorts would receive if the government decided now what it will do when the trust funds are exhausted.... In some cases, the value of knowing today what the policy change will be in 2035 is worth more than two months of labor market earnings."  MORE >>

National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER]; purchase required for full document

Continuing to Work, Even at a Job Without Benefits, Boosts Retirement Income

"Retirement security improved over time for the under-prepared people who continued to work -- in contrast to an erosion in security for the people who, despite falling short, had retired at 62 and locked in a small Social Security check. The most interesting finding concerned the older workers who had extended their employment by switching to no-benefit jobs. Their retirement income in their late 60s replaced 68 percent of their past earnings, on average -- still less than what they need but up dramatically from 52 percent if they had retired early."  MORE >>

Squared Away Blog, by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

[Opinion]

Pension Rights Center Comment Letter to IRS Urging Additional Items for Upcoming Priority Guidance Plan (PDF)

"PRC urges Treasury/IRS to take [these] actions ... [1] Fix guidance on deferred vested individual statements ... [2] Increase consumer protections applicable to electronic delivery ... [3] Improve spousal protections ... [4] Reinstate the letter forwarding program ... [5] Revise Treasury regulations on forfeiture ... [6] Restore guidance prohibiting lump sum cash-outs to retirees in plan deriskings ... [7] Definition of church plans."

   MORE >>

Pension Rights Center

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Harold Ashner and Linda Rosenzweig Named 2021 Washington, DC, Super Lawyers

Keightley & Ashner LLP

Baker Botts Welcomes Prominent Executive Compensation and Benefits Partner in Dallas

Baker Botts

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Missing Participants: What's Next?

RECORDED

Pension Action Center at Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston

Legal Issues and Regulatory Updates

July 14, 2021 WEBCAST

Conference of Consulting Actuaries

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Best Practices for Handling Missing Participants

Holland & Hart LLP

GAO Report: EBSA Enforcement Efforts to Protect Participants' Rights in Employer-Sponsored Retirement and Health Benefit Plans

U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO]

Columbia University Settlement Provides Reminder of ERISA Litigation Risk

Faegre Drinker