Month: July 2013
High Anxiety: The Nonprofit Sector’s Retirement Problems
When you ask employees at nonprofit organizations about job satisfaction, more often than not they will give you a positive response; for these mission-oriented workers, purpose is paramount. When asked about their plans for retirement, however, nonprofit employees express insecurity and uncertainty about the future.
Oregon takes a step toward retirement security for all
Oregon recently took a step forward in the movement to expand retirement savings for its workers. Oregon’s state legislature passed House Bill 3436, which creates a task force to explore options for helping private-sector workers who lack access to a workplace retirement plan save for retirement. The bill is now awaiting the governor’s signature. House […]
Pension Advocates Raise Questions About IRS Rulings on Church Plan Status
In the months since the Internal Revenue Service lifted a moratorium in 2011 on issuing private letter rulings on church plans, IRS has issued at least 13 rulings granting church plan status, including one conferring church plan status on a defined benefit pension plan sponsored by a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) unincorporated religious organization that had been […]
Claim That 401(k)s Beat Defined Benefit Plans Stirs Controversy
A basic — and increasingly nostalgic — assumption in the private pension world has long been that the financial payouts of defined benefit plans are much better than those of defined contribution plans, and it’s too bad that defined benefit plans seem to be heading for extinction.
Teamsters pension plan stuck in crisis
The plight of the Teamsters’ Central States, Southeast & Southwest Pension Plan has been in the news lately and its prospects are not good.
Detroit Pensions Battle
PRC’s Karen Friedman discusses the impact of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing on retirees’ pensions and the safety of pensions in general. Segment starts 8:00 minutes into the program.
Detroit’s workers and retirees face big cuts
While the details of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filing Thursday continue to unfold, one thing is clear: Tens of thousands of current and retired city workers face the risk of significantly smaller pension checks.
Congress should protect investors, not undermine them
In 1975, when the U.S. Department of Labor issued a rule defining who is an investment advisor under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Vietnam War had just ended, Steve Jobs was tinkering around his dad’s garage, and Angelina Jolie was barely in diapers. To say that the world has changed since then is […]
“Retail Investor Protection Act” Does Not Protect Investors: Coalition
The controversial “Retail Investor Protection Act, recently introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), is gaining opposition from coalitions set on protecting investor interests.
Protecting Retirement Savings: The Case for Modernizing Advice
Event description: The Pension Rights Center, along with AARP, the AFL-CIO, Americans for Financial Reform, and others held a briefing for congressional staff on the important role fiduciary duty standards play in protecting the interests of American investors and the urgent need for the SEC and DOL to update these rules. Watch video of the briefing.
PRC letter to the U.S. House of Representatives opposing H.R. 2374 on fiduciary standards (July 8, 2013)
The Pension Rights Center sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging them to vote against H.R. 2374, the deceptively titled “Retail Investor Protection Act.” The Center warned that the bill would scuttle years of work and an on-going process to ensure that financial advisors provide investment advice that serves […]
Norman Stein calls for an end to conflicts of interest in investment advice (July 8, 2013)
At a briefing for Congressional staff on the harmful impact that H.R. 2374 would have on retirement security, PRC Senior Policy Advisor Norman Stein detailed the need for unconflicted investment advice in retirement plans and called for the defeat of the bill. For more information, read the Pension Rights Center’s July 8, 2013, letter opposing […]
