27 04, 2023

Closing Pensions For Public Workers Has Proven A Mistake

2023-05-24T15:18:07-07:00April 27th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

By Dan Doonan Source: Forbes A measure to close North Dakota's public pension plan is headed to Governor Doug Burgum's desk for signature. Before enacting the measure, the state’s chief executive would be wise to look at the experience of other states that have made such a drastic move. State leaders have learned the hard way that ending pension benefits comes with little to be gained and a big price to pay. More specifically, states that shifted new employees [...]

19 04, 2023

U.S. public pension funding rises in March

2023-04-19T15:52:22-07:00April 19th, 2023|Categories: Pension Funding|Tags: , |

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments The overall estimated funding ratio of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans improved to 74.5% as of March 31 from 73.6% a month earlier, according to the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding index. During the month of March, Milliman estimated that public pension plans had an aggregate investment return of 1.8%, with an estimated range of 0.7% to 2.8%. While February was a down month, strong returns in January contributed to [...]

17 01, 2022

Big pensions are nearly 100% funded, the healthiest they’ve been since 2008 financial crisis

2022-01-17T10:56:08-08:00January 17th, 2022|Categories: Pension Funding|Tags: , |

By Greg Iacurci Source: CNBC The pension plans of big U.S. companies haven’t looked this good since before the 2008 financial crisis — and that’s good news for workers and employers. A pension’s “funded” status is a core gauge of its health. It’s a measure of plan assets relative to liabilities (how much money the plan needs to pay future income). Pensions less than 100% funded don’t have enough money on hand to meet future obligations to retirees. The [...]

21 04, 2021

Public pensions funded ratio continues strong recovery; hits new high-water mark of 79.0% in Q1 2021

2021-05-13T08:05:20-07:00April 21st, 2021|Categories: Pension Funding|Tags: |

By Rebecca A. Sielman Source: Milliman The first quarter (Q1) of 2021 marked a fourth consecutive quarter of high-water marks for both assets and liabilities for public pensions, with the estimated funded status of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans growing from 78.6% at the end of December 2020 to 79.0% at the end of March 2021, as measured by the Milliman 100 Public Pension Funding Index (PPFI). The deficit between estimated assets and liabilities closed slightly from [...]

6 05, 2020

Public pension funds are a net gain for state and local revenue – study

2020-05-06T14:47:18-07:00May 6th, 2020|Categories: Economy|Tags: |

Public pension funds were net revenue generators for state and local governments in 2018, surpassing taxpayer contributions by $179 billion, according to a biennial study released Tuesday by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. That represents a 30.6% increase from the original study covering 2015-2016. In 2018, pension funds generated about $341.4 billion in state and local revenues through investments and retiree spending, while the taxpayer contribution to those pension plans was $162 billion. For 40 states, [...]

22 04, 2020

NIRS Reponds to The New York Times on Public Pensions

2020-04-22T08:10:43-07:00April 22nd, 2020|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: |

In response to a New York Times article published April 2, 2020, an article regarding public pensions, NIRS writes that characterizing these retirement plans that serve 15 million working and 11 million retired employees of state and local government as “time bombs” borders on journalistic malpractice. Indeed, public pension funds face challenges that will arise because of the unprecedented economic conditions facing all investors. But, the vast majority of these plans are built to last. The letter indicates that when [...]

21 04, 2020

Public pensions survived the Great Recession. They will survive coronavirus, too

2020-04-21T10:25:22-07:00April 21st, 2020|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

For most Americans these days, timing is everything when it comes to retirement. At the moment, it looks like those who recently retired or who are on the cusp of retirement may have picked a bad time to be born. For them, the steep drop in the investment markets caused by the coronavirus pandemic came at just the wrong moment. History tells us that the markets will recover and that cycles of ups and downs are inevitable. But under [...]

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