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Guaranteed Income
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) would have billions more to work with under the federal FY 2018 budget proposal unveiled May 23.The Trump administration’s first budget includes provisions relevant to the PBGC that would: make changes to PBGC premiums that would raise $21 billion;...
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Federal employees’ COLAs would be eliminated under the fiscal year 2018 budget proposal released by the White House on May 23.According to FedSmith, the budget the Trump administration unveiled proposes eliminating the cost-of-living adjustment for current and future federal retirees under the...
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Are your participants dazed and confused about retirement planning and its importance? If so, studies suggest they may not be alone. But recent blog entries offer a way to dispel the fog.On PenChecks’ blog, Carol Buckmann makes the case for increasing participants’ grasp of retirement plans and...
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Choosing between a lump sum and regular, smaller payments over a long period is only the beginning. There are many other moving parts to the process, and many important considerations.An Informed Choice?MetLife in “Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study: Making Workplace Retirement Savings Last,” Showed...
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The number of workers participating in the Social Security system has risen, as has the number of people receiving benefits. But while the importance of Social Security has increased, say recent reports, individual retirement accounts figure very prominently as well.Social SecurityEighty years...
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Premiums paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are an important concern for DB plans, their administrators and their sponsors. And an increasing concern at that, since they grow and grow. But there are questions regarding what exactly that money is going toward.In Findley Davies’...
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Why would an individual opt to receive a lump sum payment? Some experts offer their insights.The entire matter, MetLife says in its recent study, “Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study: Making Workplace Retirement Savings Last,” is a relatively new phenomenon. The study points out that defined benefit...
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Public pensions’ funded ratios improved in the first quarter of 2017 — and some markedly so. That according to a report on the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans.According to Milliman’s 100 Public Pension Plan Funding Index, the overall funded ratio for those plans stood at72% by March 31. In...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the agency created to address the problem of insolvent pension plans, has had solvency problems of its own. But its condition improved somewhat in 2016, according to new data.The PBGC has released data concerning its assets, liabilities premiums and...
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A new study examines what small business owners in Connecticut think about the state’s new retirement plan and how well they grasp it. The Nutmeg State’s system for private-sector employees has been in place since May 27, 2016.With other states putting similar plans in place and still more...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has expanded the availability of filing information for those who use “My PAA,” its online premium filing system. It made the announcement on April 24.My PAA account holders now can view the comprehensive premium filings that were successfully...
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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal cautions: “Grab Your Pitchforks, Your 401(k) May Need Defending From Congress.”The article (subscription required) covers ground we have heard for months now — that “The lucky participants in one of the best retirement plans around are coming after yours...
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The Beaver State took another step forward this week to implement the “OregonSaves” program, as the Oregon Retirement Savings Board approved the final rules that will govern the operation of the program.Starting Nov. 15, 2017, Oregon employers with 100 or more employees must begin to register with...
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Working Americans appear to still be taking their lump (sums), but liking them less, according to a new survey.The “Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study” by MetLife, based on a summer 2016 survey Harris Poll conducted, found that one in five individuals (21%) who took a lump sum either from a defined...
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Working Americans appear to still be taking their lump (sums), but liking them less, according to a new survey.The “Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study” by MetLife, based on a summer 2016 survey Harris Poll conducted, found that one in five individuals (21%) who took a lump sum either from a defined...
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Corporate pension plans showed a slight drop in funding in 2016, but there was some good news as well — at least if the 100 largest corporate plans Milliman studies are any indication.Funding RatiosThe 2017 Milliman Corporate Funding Study, which looks at the 100 U.S. public companies with the...
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“I would encourage caution among policymakers when considering dramatic changes to retirement policy for tax policy purposes,” former Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’ Subcommittee on Economic Policy on April 5.“As tax reform discussions...
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These days there’s little controversy about the wisdom of using behavioral finance to help workers start saving — but what about when they change jobs?While “leakage” — loosely defined as a pre-retirement withdrawal of retirement savings — is widely disparaged as undermining retirement security,...
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The obvious: Mergers create something new out of the original corporations or funds. But there are many other effects that are less than obvious — and among them is the impact on the investments into which those entities’ associated defined contribution plans have been placed and how the funds in...
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“Life is complicated and has many moving pieces. One can’t look at retirement in a vacuum,” American Academy of Actuaries Senior Pension Fellow Ted Goldman says of the effort to address and foster employees’ financial wellness.Goldman spoke at an April 5 session of the Enrolled Actuaries meeting in...
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