September 2023

US. What Public Pensions Could Do for Private-Sector Retirees

Once upon a time, before the era of 401(k) plans and takeover capitalists eviscerating many company pension funds, defined-benefit pension plans were America’s primary supplement to Social Security. Back then, the actuarial assumptions were generally reasonable, even for the public pension systems, before some of the latter strayed down the path of unsustainable benefits promises and fishy math. Needless to say, times have changed, and nowadays the vast majority of Americans have very few guarantees of lifetime income other...

US. Biden’s pension relief flows to IG bonds

A large part of this infusion is making its way into the bond market this year, either in the form of investments in highly rated corporate paper or US Treasury debt. “A lot of money is coming from the pension relief provided by the government,” said a senior DCM banker. The Special Financial Assistance programme is intended for so-called Taft-Hartley pension plans, such as those run by labour unions like the Teamsters, which represents millions of truck drivers and delivery workers...

The Demographic Outlook: 2022 to 2052

By Congressional Budget Office The size of the U.S. population, as well as its age and sex composition, affect the economy and the federal budget. For example, the size of the working-age population affects the number of people employed; likewise, the size of the population age 65 or older affects the number of beneficiaries of Social Security and other federal programs. The Congressional Budget Office projects the population in future years by projecting fertility, net immigration, and mortality. (In this report,...

US. DOL auditing some multiemployer plans following PBGC aid, attorney says

The Department of Labor has sent investigative letters to several multiemployer pension plans that have received special financial assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and had previously suspended benefits under a 2014 law, according to an attorney who works with such plans. Investigators with the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration are seeking information on plan policies and procedures related to special financial assistance as well as the makeup payments to participants and beneficiaries who experienced suspension of their...

August 2023

Vanguard support for ESG shareholder proposals down from last proxy year

Vanguard funds supported only 2% of shareholder resolutions on environmental and social issues at its U.S. portfolio companies in its 2023 proxy year, down from 12% in the prior proxy year. The proxy year lasts from July 1 through June 30, according to a brief published by Vanguard's investment stewardship team on Monday. Specifically, Vanguard said that in proxy year 2023 the firm saw 359 environmental and social proposals put forward for a vote at its U.S. portfolio companies, up from...

US. North Carolina Retirement Systems discloses $500 million in commitments

North Carolina Retirement Systems, Raleigh, committed a total of $500 million to private equity and inflation-sensitive asset funds. The $114.6 billion pension fund disclosed the commitments in a report included with the Aug. 23 investment advisory committee meeting materials on the website of Dale R. Folwell, state treasurer and sole trustee of the retirement system. The commitments closed in June and July of this year, according to the report. Within private equity, NCRS committed $150 million each to Hg Titan 2...

US. IRS Postpones Rule That Hit Older, High Paid 401(K) Savers-And Their Employers

The IRS is again pushing off a start date for new legislation by introducing a transition period. Earlier, the IRS declared a one-year delay in the new reporting requirement for Forms 1099-K. The IRS has now announced an administrative transition period for the new catch-up contribution requirements under the SECURE 2.0 Act. The new rule requires older, higher paid 401(k) participants to make their catch-up contributions into after-tax Roth accounts, instead of pre-tax traditional accounts. Congress meant for it to take...

Retirement Security: Income and Wealth Disparities Continue through Old Age

By GAO Income and wealth inequality in the United States have increased over the last several decades. We looked at whether these trends continue for older Americans as they age. We compared income and wealth for all older households from 1989 through 2016 and found households in the top 20% saw disproportionately greater gains than other households. We also looked at income and wealth for a group of older Americans as they aged. We found disparities in income decreased, possibly due to...

Global Pension Risk Transfer Monitor: Record H1 Transaction Volumes in UK and US

-The Legal & General Group’s Global Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) businesses – Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), the United Kingdom’s longest-serving active PRT provider and Legal & General Retirement America (LGRA), a leading provider of pension risk solutions in the United States – today released the latest edition of the Global PRT Monitor, which analyses industry trends and market outlooks in the UK and US. In the US, the Monitor found that last year’s record momentum for US transactions...

U.S. PRT sales totaled $16.2 billion in Q2, more than doubling Q1 volume

U.S. pension risk transfer sales totaled $16.2 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling the volume from the previous quarter, a LIMRA survey found. The total volume in the second quarter also exceeded the volume during the same period last year by 31%, according to the survey. The increase in buyout volume from $12.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022 was primarily due to a single transaction. On May 1, Dallas-based AT&T Inc. announced the third-largest U.S. buyout transaction in history,...