Month: June 2019
How to Find ‘Forgotten’ Cash
Once your account starts gathering dust — meaning, typically, it has sat untouched for three to five years — banks usually transfer the money to the state of your last known address. Visit “unclaimed.org” and follow links to the website of each state where you’ve lived. If you find a listing in your name, you […]
When Orchestras Strike: The Recent History of Orchestral Labor Strife
In the fall of 2016, a performance of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra took on a special significance. With their regular concerts cancelled in the midst of a bitter contract dispute, Pittsburgh musicians put on a free public performance, joined by brass players from Boston, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, […]
There’s a retirement crisis in America where most will be unable to afford a ‘solid life’
It’s financial literacy month, do you know where your retirement is? CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman rings the NASDAQ opening bell today to kick off the special month, created in 2003 to teach Americans how to establish and maintain healthy financial habits.
Barry’s Pickings: Retiree Lump Sums—a (Non-Hysterical) User’s Guide
There has been significant coverage of IRS’s recent Notice announcing that it no longer intends to amend required minimum distribution (RMD) regulations to prohibit defined benefit (DB) plans from paying lump sums to retirees.
Finding your lost retirement money
No one wants to lose money, particularly for retirement. But it happens — people lose track of, or don’t know they have, retirement accounts.
It just became easier for employers to dump retirees’ pensions
Traditional pensions are disappearing in America, and the federal government just made it easier for employers to get rid of them. With no fanfare in early March, the Treasury Department issued a notice that allows employers to buy out current retirees from their pensions with a one-time lump sum payment. The decision reverses Obama-era guidance, […]
Treasury Department OKs More Lump-Sum Pension Payments
A recent change to pension guidance makes it easier for companies to buy out a retiree’s lifetime annuity payment with one lump-sum payment, a switch that could hurt the long-term financial security of many older Americans.
Portman bill protects pension benefits by expanding voting rights
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) on March 14 sponsored a bipartisan bill to protect multiemployer pension payments by allowing workers and retirees to also vote on pending potential benefit cuts.
Northwestern University Fights Retirement Plan Suit in 7th Cir.
Northwestern University defended its retirement plans from a challenge brought by employees, saying the plans are designed to meet the needs of investors with different levels of sophistication and retirement planning objectives.
Legislation giving participants more say in MPRA benefit cuts reintroduced in Senate
Bipartisan legislation giving participants of struggling multiemployer pension funds more of a voice when benefit reductions are being considered was reintroduced Friday in the Senate.
Trump Treasury Backtracks On Lump-Sum Pension Rules Meant To Protect Retirees
The Treasury Department told off employers back in 2015: Lump-sum pension buyouts for retirees already in payout status are a no-no. In practice, employers stopped offering them, per Notice 2015-49, despite the fact that proposed and temporary rules never came out. Now, in a Trump-era twist, the Treasury Department has backtracked with Notice 2019-18, a […]
Braun proposes end to congressional pension
Freshman U.S. Sen. Mike Braun announced Tuesday he has introduced legislation that would eliminate congressional pensions. Braun, R-Ind., was joined on the bill by freshman Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. They have named their proposal the End Pensions in Congress Act.
