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Retirement Income
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Oct. 13 issued the premium rates for 2024.
2024 Premium Rates
The PBGC determined the premium rates applicable for 2024 plan years in accordance with the indexing rules provided in Section 4006 of ERISA, as amended by The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022...
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The recently announced increase in the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2024 is much more modest than the one announced just a year ago. But milder or not, it has meaning. So what does it mean?
The milder-than-last-year hike in the Social Security COLA is due to the...
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For the next 10 years, the Social Security trust funds will have a positive balance. But balance sheet solvency after that will be another matter, says the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
In its latest Social Security Primer, updated Oct. 2, 2023, the drumbeat the CRS hits is little...
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Having a formal retirement plan can be an asset in a variety of ways, but its value is underappreciated, says a recent study.
A strong majority of retirement investors with an informal retirement plan, and an even bigger majority of those with a formal written retirement plan, express confidence...
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The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced Oct. 12 that the monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 3.2% in 2024. The change will affect more than 71 million Americans and translates to an increase in Social Security benefits of more than $50...
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Summer—also known as the third quarter—brought some sunshine for private-sector pension plans in 2023.
Funded Status
By three measures, private-sector defied benefit plans gained ground in their funded status in the third quarter. Two gauges report slight drops; however, those decreases were...
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There’s an oft-repeated line from that 1967 classic movie “Cool Hand Luke” about a “failure to communicate.”
Now, most of us aren’t trying to convey the consequences of violating prison rules, but there are messages where mere words sometimes fall short of their purpose. There are literal...
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Today’s workers’ expectation of when and how they will retire is a radical departure from how retirees actually retired.
That’s according to Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies’ (TCRS) survey report, Life in Retirement: Pre-Retiree Expectations and Retiree Realities.
In comparing the...
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Improvements in retirement-plan design have put more workers in a better position to meet their retirement goals, yet for Americans who lack access to a plan, the outlook remains challenging.
That was one of the key takeaways from Vanguard’s inaugural Retirement Outlook report, which evaluates...
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Like trees whose green leaves are mixed with the first ones brushed by Autumn’s paintbox, the results for private-sector pension plans were mixed in September.
By a variety of measures, September was a pushmi-pullyu for DB plans, according to several analyses. Liabilities down, funded status up,...
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In a move that would allow more individuals to save more for their health care expenses in retirement, the House Ways and Means Committee on Sept. 28 approved legislation to significantly expand the health savings account (HSA) contribution limits, as well as broaden the number of individuals...
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As if the stress from high inflation and the possibility of an economic downturn wasn’t already enough, add concerns about higher taxes on 401(k) plans and IRAs to the list of worries.
According to Allianz Life’s 2023 Q3 Quarterly Market Perceptions Study, Americans are increasingly worried about...
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For the next 10 years, the Social Security trust funds will have a positive balance. But balance sheet solvency after that will be another matter, says the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
In its latest Social Security Primer, updated Oct. 2, 2023, the drumbeat the CRS hits is little...
READ MORE
Over the last year, the impact of inflation and economic uncertainty has contributed to increased financial stress, leading many employees to focus on short-term financial needs instead of saving for retirement.
That’s one of the key findings from Bank of America’s 13th annual Workplace Benefits...
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A few years ago, my wife went to a garage sale and bought a box of old books for $25. She came home as excited as I had ever seen her. Why? One of the books was an 1831 edition of The Federalist Papers. We searched online and were thrilled to see an estimated value of $500. Those poor sellers had...
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Concerns about increasing partisanship in traditionally bipartisan retirement policy and legislation was the theme of a conversation between Brian Graff and Preston Rutledge at the ERISA 403(b) Conference in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2.
Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, and...
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Uniformity and universality are not hallmarks of retirement plan coverage. A new report offers a look at who in the private sector is most likely to have access to a plan and to be covered.
The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Sept. 21, 2023 released the March 2023...
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Analysis of the first state-sponsored retirement plan for uncovered workers—OregonSaves—supports earlier findings that auto-IRAs do, in fact, close the coverage gap.
More specifically, a new paper examined Oregon’s program, started in 2017, which requires employers who did not offer any workplace...
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After enduring one of the worst stock markets in decades, health savings account (HSA) investment assets have grown rapidly, according to Devenir’s 2023 mid-year HSA market survey report.
As part of its 26th semi-annual HSA survey, Devenir reports that, at the mid-point of 2023, $116 billion in...
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Natural disasters disrupt normal business activity. The IRS makes timely notice to taxpayers of areas eligible for relief after disasters such as Hurricane Idalia and other recent events (see sidebar). Herein, we trace some of the regulatory language and published guidance from the IRS on disasters...
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