Month: April 2015
How to search for lost pension money
Dear Savvy Senior: What tips can you offer for tracking down a lost pension from a previous employer?
PRC statement in response to a subcommittee hearing on multiemployer pension plans (April 29, 2015)
The Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions of the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on “Examining Reforms to Modernize the Multiemployer Pension System.” In response to this hearing, the Pension Rights Center released the following statement: The Pension Rights Center is a nonprofit consumer […]
A “Gettysburg Address” on pension promises
Last week, I spoke to an auditorium full of economics and public policy students at Gettysburg College, as part of the Economics Department’s Finance Symposium. This year’s topic: “Re-Defined Benefits: The Past, Present, and Future of Defined Benefit Pensions in the United States.” You can read my speech here or watch the entire symposium on […]
Why Labor Department Gets a Say on IRA Advice
Individual retirement accounts are a creation of tax law, with rules spelled out by the Internal Revenue Service. Now the Labor Department, which oversees workplace retirement plans, is weighing in—proposing new rules for brokers and others giving advice about retirement savings.
Speech by Karen Friedman at Gettysburg College on “Re-Defined Benefits: The Past, Present, and Future of Defined Benefit Pensions in the United States” (April 23, 2015)
Karen Friedman participated in a Finance Symposium, hosted by the Economics Department at Gettysburg College. The topic for the symposium was “Re-Defined Benefits: The Past, Present, and Future of Defined Benefit Pensions in the United States.” Below are her remarks. You can watch the entire symposium on the Economics Department’s Facebook page. Hello, I’m Karen Friedman, the executive vice […]
Some Union Pension Cuts Likely As New Federal Rules Take Shape
The likelihood that hundreds of thousands of union members nationwide won’t be receiving the full pension benefits promised to them is becoming clearer as federal regulatory agencies in Washington, D.C., move to implement new pension legislation quietly approved in the final weeks of 2014.
Supporters, Critics, Gear Up for Fight Over Proposed Expanded Fiduciary Definition
Supporters and opponents of the Department of Labor’s conflict-of-interest proposed regulation ramped up their campaigns soon after the Obama administration announced the rule’s release.
Teamsters Mount Grassroots Campaign to Block Pension Cuts
Teamsters are up in arms over looming pension cuts that could slash the incomes of both current and future retirees—anyone under 80.
Glimmers of hope for victims of unfair pension takebacks
In a recent article, “Can They Grab Your Pension?”, AARP Bulletin highlights the problem of recoupment – when a pension plan overpays a retiree and then demands that the retiree pay back the overpayment. To recoup the money, the plan usually reduces the retiree’s benefit. It might also demand that the retiree pay a lump […]
Save Our Retirement Coalition’s Initial Statement on Rule Protecting Americans’ Retirement Savings
Washington, D.C. – The seven members of the SaveOurRetirement.org coalition – AARP, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Americans for Financial Reform, Better Markets, the Consumer Federation of America and the Pension Rights Center – released the following statement following an initial review of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule protecting Americans from harmful conflicts of interest, when brokers and other financial advisers give retirement […]
Private pension funding drops to lowest level in 6 years
Even as stock market rose last year, pension funding levels at America’s biggest companies in 2014 fell to levels not seen since just after the financial crisis.
EPCRS Changes Make Key Clarifications For Employers, Participants, Practitioners Say
Two recent Internal Revenue Service updates to its correction program, the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, ease some burdens on employers discovering costly errors in their plans, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA.
