Persistent UMass center helps retirees track down pensions
Such persistence is the hallmark of the Pension Action Center, a nonprofit that for more than 20 years has helped people find and claim the benefits due them. Since its founding in 1994, the center has helped recover more than $50 million owed to 7,500 retirees.
Union retirees fear dramatic pension cuts under new federal law
Bill Hendershot and his wife live on his union pension and Social Security. Hendershot, a retired Consolidated Freightways long-distance truck driver, gets around now in a 12-year-old Toyota Corolla. The couple still pay a mortgage on their home in Canal Fulton. And he’s among a huge group of union retirees nationwide who could see their monthly […]
PBGC report highlights importance of pension counseling
We at the Pension Rights Center have long recognized the important role that U.S. Administration on Aging’s Pension Counseling and Information Program (PCIP) plays in protecting the legal rights of retirees and their families. So we were gratified to see that sentiment echoed by Constance Donovan, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Participant and Plan Sponsor […]
Pension plans, once inviolable promises to employees, are getting cut
The stock market has soared more than 75 percent in the past five years, yet many pension funds, where many middle-class workers should benefit from the market’s rise, continue to struggle, jeopardizing benefits for the workers who were counting on them in retirement.
Large Foundations: Rethink Your Priorities
It is potentially the golden age of philanthropy, but unfortunately many areas of recognized need are too often ignored by foundation boards and their executives.
Big change to law on union pensions
A new law passed by Congress in December could affect more than one million union workers and retirees who are covered by union-sponsored multiemployer pension plans. The law, which is now in effect, allows the trustees of severely distressed pension plans to reduce benefits for current and future retirees — if doing so can save […]
For some 3Mers, crowdsourcing key to pension decision
When 3M offered to buy out defined pension plans, comparing notes online emerged as a useful tool.
Retirements reduced by the stroke of a pen in D.C.
About 100,000 New Yorkers who depend on a variety of private-sector union pensions could be facing lowered payments in coming years.
13 On Your Side Consumer Alert: Pension Advances
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is warning consumers about a relatively new practice called pension advances.
Fiduciary breach issue gets Supreme Court hearing
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month in an ERISA case that could greatly expand guidelines for defined contribution plan executives’ fiduciary responsibilities.
High marks for retirement plans
This week, President Obama unveiled his economic fixes for the middle-class. Among them was a proposal for Automatic IRAs, which he has championed since the Administration’s early days. While the Automatic IRA is a first step in expanding coverage for those without an employer-based plan, a recent Bloomberg View article, “Experts Found the U.S. Retirement […]
Fiduciary Re-Proposal, Fee Disclosures On Deck for 2015; MEPs Wait in the Wings
Top employee benefit issues for the Department of Labor in 2015 are similar to those in 2014: a re-proposal that would expand the definition of “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and guidance on plan fee disclosures.
