Author: Kate Pixley
WSJ: His Ex Is Getting His $1 Million Retirement Account. They Broke Up in 1989.
“Inertia has the upper hand,” said Norman Stein, a law professor at Drexel University and senior policy adviser at the Pension Rights Center.
PRC Responds to Multi-Agency Request for Information on Reporting and Disclosure
The Pension Rights Center issued comments on May 22nd in response to a Request for Information from the Department of the Treasury, the IRS, the DOL, EBSA, and the PBGC on Section 319 of SECURE 2.0.
Bloomberg Law: Pending DOL Report to Consider Pension Risk Transfer Changes
“We look forward to seeing the report, which we very much hope will include PRC’s recommendations to strengthen protections for workers and retirees when companies transfer their pension liabilities to insurance companies,” said Karen Friedman, PRC’s executive director. “Plan participants lose a lot in these transactions—including valuable [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation] insurance and other ERISA […]
PRC News, Spring 2024
New “No conflicts” Retirement Investment Rule Rolled Out Pension Rights Center Executive Director Karen Friedman joined other members of the Save Our Retirement Coalition at the White House in April for the Biden Administration’s announcement of a new U.S. Department of Labor rule to protect retirement income security. The rule requires that investment advice given […]
401(k)s Failing Most Americans, Politico Investigation Confirms
By David Brandolph The Pension Rights Center has long made the case that the U.S. retirement system is failing millions of workers who won’t have sufficient income for a dignified and secure retirement, as we’ve been reminding blog readers in recent posts. Billions of dollars in Congressionally authorized tax subsidies for contributions to self-directed retirement […]
NIRS Study Finds Americans Support Pensions to Address Retirement Crisis
A whopping 83% of working age Americans surveyed agree that having a pension makes it more likely to have a secure retirement, the National Institute on Retirement Security found in a recent study. Without a pension, most middle-class Americans won’t accumulate enough savings to be self-sufficient in retirement, NIRS said. The survey found that 77% […]
Bloomberg Law: Athene-Linked Pension Cases Strike at Need for New DOL Guidance
Annuity-only providers such as Athene may be uniquely prone to risks, because they lack the asset diversification individual life insurers enjoy, said Norman Stein, senior policy counsel at the Pension Rights Center, which advocates for the return of more traditional defined-benefit pensions and opposes pension risk transfers.
Bloomberg Law: AT&T, Lockheed Suits Mark First Real Test for Pension Transfers
Labor Department guidance requires employers seek out the “safest available annuity,” Norman Stein, senior policy counsel for the Pension Rights Center, said. That standard may not be satisfied if employers opt to work with an insurance company facing significant criticism instead of one that’s universally respected, he said.
ASPPA: Recordkeeping in the Electronic Age
Recordkeeping today is not your grandfather’s recordkeeping. Maybe not even your older sibling’s. So guidance and education from the Department of Labor (DOL) would be helpful in adjusting to the changes that have taken place, concludes a recently released report.
NYT: Retirees’ Pensions Were Restored. Debate About It Hasn’t Died.
Cathy Green has never paid much attention to what goes on in Congress. But when she learned that a federal law would allow her pension to be cut by as much as 30 percent, she became alarmed.
InvestmentNews: Companies transferred billions in pension assets to annuities. Here come the lawsuits
If the lawsuits progress, there’s a lot that observers might learn about how companies solicit and evaluate bids, said Norman Stein, senior policy counsel and acting legal director at the Pension Rights Center.
PRC Supports Senate Committee in Quest to End Retirement Income Crisis
By David Brandolph The Pension Rights Center weighed in last week with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, stating that both short-term incremental and long-term bold solutions must be considered and implemented if we are to help millions of Americans avoid the hardship of a financially calamitous retirement. Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) […]
