"Industry experts seek scaling back of premiums as the pension insurance agency expects to remain solvent long into the future."  MORE >>

"42% of Americans say they will consider curtailing retirement savings as they look for ways to make ends meet when federal student loan payments resume in October.... [O]ne in three households expect upcoming student loan payments of $1,000 per month. During the forbearance, 31% of borrowers didn't make any payments, and many say they reallocated their debt payments to retirement contributions, debt paydown, and emergency savings."  MORE >>

"Money can't buy petabytes of client data -- at least at Fidelity Investments, which owns eight of them, and claims it's swatting back offers from corporate giants and start-ups alike to buy its records.... The Boston broker-dealer and record-keeper, with roughly $3.2 trillion in pension assets, is playing hard to get -- or at least coy -- with access to raw data in its digital vaults going back decades[.]"  MORE >>

"Financial advisers are still facing the same queries from clients about workplace plans -- sometimes, in recent years, as driven by state mandates -- but the advisers no longer have to leave to start their own firms to help provide solutions. Now there are a host of 401(k) providers and government-facilitated options that can handle the administrative, investing and fiduciary roles that qualified plans require."  MORE >>

"Average annuity purchase interest rates increased again ... Closing out the first half of the year, insurers noted an increased number of plan terminations and expect to see a similar pattern moving into the remainder of the year.... Preliminary data indicates a record high of annuity inquiries in the first half of the year."  MORE >>

"Trucking company Yellow Corp.... has ceased operations and will be filing for bankruptcy, and while union employees will still take home their pension benefits, the company's protracted downward spiral means those benefits remain reduced despite a U.S. government bailout of their union pension fund earlier this year."  MORE >>

"This article explains how the proposed Equity for Surviving Spouses Act (ESSA) would ... [incorporate] into New York law the tried-and-true REACT approach that now protects the spouses of 100 million private employees. ESSA would entitle surviving spouses of New York public employees to a survivor retirement benefit at least equal to that of a joint and 50% survivor benefit form of the retiree's benefit, unless the spouse has waived such benefit on a plan form."  MORE >>

"Had target-date funds never been invented, and Vanguard and Fidelity had instead placed their 401(k) shareholders into their existing balanced funds, those investors would be significantly wealthier today.... That statement applies over all meaningful trailing periods: five years, 10 years, and 15 years. It also applies for the 19 years and nine months since the initial Vanguard target-date funds were launched, and for the 26 years and nine months since Fidelity's earliest series debuted. Across the board, the companies' balanced funds have earned more."  MORE >>

"By adopting best practices such as using a consistent format, avoiding jargon, distinguishing facts from opinions, and regular reviews, committees can significantly improve the quality of their minutes. Furthermore, ensuring secure storage, whether digital or physical, for a substantial duration is crucial for long-term reference and legal protection."  MORE >>