In a bipartisan deal, Congress and the president recently granted US companies the right to lower their pension-fund contributions at a time when the retirement funds are hurting. The Highway Investment, Job Creation and Economic Growth Act of 2012, which was signed into law by President Obama earlier this month, let the funding-rate formula for pension funds to be dialed back, allowing US companies...

The eurozone debt crisis has had a profound effect on the world economy. Countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal received emergency bailout money to stay afloat. Meanwhile, the U.S. government currently holds more than $15.7 trillion in debt — and lawmakers cannot agree on the best way to rein it in. Governments end up with...

WASHINGTON – According to the Pew Center report – “The Widening Gap Update” – Rhode Island’s management of its long-term liabilities for pensions and retiree health care were cause for “serious concern.” Although the state consistently paid its full annual pension contribution between 2005 and 2010, in 2010 the system was 49 percent funded and faced a $7 billion funding gap....

No doubt you are aware that more proposed changes to pensions has been announced by the Government. The good news is that the Coalition has attempted to simplify matters, which is very welcome after Labour’s legacy of the anti-forestalling legislation (how complicated does it need to be?). Let’s take a...

By MARTIN CRUTSINGERAP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. service companies, which employ roughly 90 percent of the work force, grew at a slightly faster pace in May. It marked their 29th straight month of expansion. The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index of non-manufacturing activity edged up to 53.7 last month from an April reading of...

Why are government pensions going broke? Wayne Lusvardi wrote about recently it in one of our Special Series on municipal bankruptcy, “California counties are more at risk of going belly up.” In one sentence, he wrote, “No one knows what rates of return pension funds will yield in the future” In a reply, “Truthsquad” referred to that sentence, and commented, “Exactly —...

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras warned Monday night that “the threat of eventual, inevitable bankruptcy will continue to plague our city” without changes to shrink its $901 million unfunded pension liability. the mayor’s seven-point pension proposal would cut that figure by about a quarter. As Justin Katz points out, what Taveras didn’t say is that the $901 million estimated liability...

Chancellor George Osborne has been urged to resist the temptation to treat pensions “like an ATM”, amid speculation that a tax raid on them is being planned for the Budget. Last month, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said wealthier savers should be stripped of higher-rate tax relief on pensions and insisted the better-off were benefiting disproportionately from the tax break....

On Saturday morning, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras will convene a meeting of the city’s retirees to ask them to accept reductions in their pension benefits to help the capital avoid filing for bankruptcy, as nearby Central Falls did last August. what happens if they don’t come to an agreement? David Skeel is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania...

So 1st of all what is a stakeholder pension? Nicely it is not a new kind of pension so to speak, but it is a private pension which has a set of conditions below which it should operate in order to be calle… For those of you who are thinking about organizing for your retirement, you will require to do...