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Pension Investment Advisory Fees -- Once High, Now Getting Higher

"The national consulting firms ... indicated they generally maintained only 'published' fee databases, which are of limited utility.... Given the ease with which data regarding fees can be compiled, ... the lack of in-depth fee information might be due, in part, to conflicts of interest in the pension consulting industry. Consultants, eager to maintain favorable relations with money managers (to whom they also sell services) might not be motivated to negotiate with managers too vigorously on behalf of their clients. Client ignorance regarding investment advisory fees permitted greater consultant latitude in negotiating."

3% COLAs of Rhode Island Pensioners Will Help Pay 4%+ Fees of Wall Street High Rollers

"The Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011, enacted November 18, 2011 (which is being challenged as unconstitutional), suspends the COLA for all state employees, teachers, state police and judges until the plans' funding level exceeds an 80 percent funding level. Whether the suspended COLA is ever reinstated will depend on the investment returns the pension earns.... By [the author's] estimate, $2.1 billion in fees (out of the $2.3 billion in COLA savings) will be paid by the pension to hedge, private equity and venture capital tycoons. That's some 'reform.'"

How to Steal a Lot of Money from CalPERS, the Nation's Largest Public Pension

"Presumably the mega-pension knows ... all the fees -- asset-based and performance -- it pays its money managers pursuant to fee invoices.... What CalPERS doesn't know is the performance and other fees its managers take directly from the funds they manage for CalPERS without asking, disclosing or invoicing.... [A] software program developed by outside firms determined at the end of 2015 that the pension paid $3.4 billion in performance fees over the past quarter-century to private-equity firms. In 2016, that number was said to be $490 million. Don't believe these figures for a second."

Pension Red Alert: 70% of Pensions Are Never Audited

"[I]f your money is invested in a pension that has never been audited, no one knows for certain the money is actually there. That, I would submit, should be of concern to every investor in an unaudited retirement plan. You need to find out if your pension is unaudited and, if so, demand a true audit before it's too late."

Red Flags Surround CalPERS' Costly Hedge Fund Gamble

"Hopefully, there will be no unpleasant surprises related to pulling the money safely back into the state pension over the next year. The more public pensions that follow CalPERS' lead and run (as opposed to walk slowly) for the door, the greater the probability they'll find it's locked. Structural illiquidity (lock-ups) and illiquid investments are commonplace in hedge funds."

Participants Hurt by Action and Inaction by US Airway Pension Service-Providers and PBGC

"Benchmark Financial Services, Inc., was retained by the [US Airline Pilots Association] to investigate potential conflicts of interest, undisclosed fees, and wrongdoing involving firms providing investment-related services to the Retirement Income Plan for Pilots of US Airways.... [In the firm's] opinion (as well as in the opinion of the Office of the Inspector General for the [DOL]), the participants in the Plan were provided with no substantive assurance of the integrity of the assets in the Plan, and were denied useful information needed to monitor the Plan's ability to pay benefits."

Fidelity Infrastructure Fee, Wells Fargo Pension Rebates: Intermediaries Enjoy Fund Payments

"The glaring questions these cases raise for regulators and investors are: Should major financial intermediaries, such as Wells and Fidelity, be permitted to agree among themselves to withhold, summarily disclose, or even mischaracterize, the payment arrangements between them? Is the answer to this question different when retirement plan assets, protected by the federal ERISA statute, are involved?"

Before Teamsters Negotiate Benefit Cuts, They Should Investigate Reason for Pension Plan Failures

"We, as a nation, have the resources to forensically investigate the reasons pensions fail to provide retirement benefits promised workers. To date, despite the widespread failures, no one seems to care. Forensic investigations of failed plans will both improve the management of existing pensions, as well as signal to Wall Street and other wrongdoers that those who contribute to the demise of a pension will be held accountable."

Kentucky Fried Pensions

"This new book by Chris Tobe, a former trustee of the $14 billion Kentucky Retirement Systems and the first public pension whistleblower to file a complaint with the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower, focuses upon corruption at public pensions.... Tobe establishes a link between corruption related to pension investments and corruption related to underfunding in Kentucky and Illinois. The central thesis is that pension cultures that are willing [to] look the other way regarding unsavory investment dealings will go along with bogus pension funding schemes as well."

Rhode Island Officials Admit History of 'Pay-to-Play' and SEC Inquiry

"[The Rhode Island] Treasurer's office confirmed ... that, unbeknownst to Rhode Islanders, secret payments to placement agents, commonly referred to as 'kick-backs' had occurred in the past.... [Further,] the SEC had confidentially contacted the pension requesting information about these questionable payments."