1 Million American Pension Plans Could Be Insolvent In 10 Years
The federal agency that regulates the nation’s pension system issued a stark warning this week about some retirement plans.
PRC letter to OMB, supporting the collection of additional information from terminating pension plans (November 18, 2014)
The Pension Rights Center sent a brief letter to the Office of Management and Budget in support of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s request to require additional information from terminating defined benefit plans. The PBGC’s request includes the Center’s recommendation from July that plans provide an accurate list of annuity providers and list the participants […]
The Most Important Symbol for Investors Is ‘DOL’
Many investors are glued the financial news, tracking the latest reports about interest rates, earnings reports and stock movements. They believe this kind of intense focus will help them maximize returns. They couldn’t be more wrong. Instead of spending time looking up a stock symbol to find out its latest price, investors would be better […]
Benefit clawbacks: Only way to avoid a pension cliff?
The reduction and even suspension of pension benefits isn’t something anyone wants. However, a growing number of financially troubled multiemployer benefit plan managers may find it to be an inescapable eventuality.
Pension crisis looms
First we had the fiscal cliff, then the highway cliff. Now get ready for the pension cliff.
What to consider when your company offers a pension buyout
The old rock of retirement income — the pension — is increasingly fading from the American economic landscape.
Speech by Karen Friedman at the New England Women’s Policy Conference (November 7, 2014)
Thank you for inviting me to speak at the New England Women’s Policy Conference on economic security. I’m Karen Friedman, the executive vice president of the Pension Rights Center, the country’s oldest and foremost consumer group working to promote and protect the retirement security of workers, retirees and their families. You know, Halloween was […]
How to help older adults with their retirement plan problems
Event description: Retirement benefits earned through employment can play a critical role in poverty prevention for the older adults. Legal services providers, housing and financial counselors, benefit specialists, and other elder law advocates who encounter individuals unable to obtain the pension and retirement savings plan benefits they rightfully earned may feel they lack the expertise to […]
Senators’ De-Risking Letter Adds Weight To Growing Issue, Concerns, Observers Say
A recent letter sent by two Senate Democratic committee leaders asking several federal agencies to develop regulatory policy on de-risking pension plans adds some heft to the issue, but there are already some regulatory provisions in the law addressing their concerns, practitioners said.
Enforcement of ERISA Rights and Responsibilities
Date: October 24, 2014 Event description: At an October 24 conference, attendees learned from architects of ERISA what Congress said in 1974 about the enforcement of participant rights and the responsibilities of plan fiduciaries. Conference participants also examined Supreme Court rulings 40 years later and heard how advocates on all sides view these and other […]
Decision time for Boeing pension-buyout offer
Former Boeing employees who have not yet retired have until Oct. 31 to tell the company whether they want a lump-sum check in December or a monthly annuity payment that begins the same month, or reject both options.
PBGC Proposal to Track De-Risking Plans Seen by Pension Rights Center as Good Step
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s recent request for comments on a proposal to require companies making pension risk-transfer offers to their employees to report such offers to the PBGC is aimed at helping the agency determine its future liabilities, but the information may also prove useful for the public, a spokeswoman for the Pension Rights […]
