Information about Pension Plans and Funds

Mary Williams Walsh of the NYT reports, A New Plan for Valuing Pensions: The board that writes accounting rules for states and cities has proposed a new approach for pension disclosures that falls far short of what some financial experts hoped, but which would still force many governments to highlight pension shortfalls they have played down. The current standard has come under heavy fire from mainstream economists, who say it makes virtually all government pension benefits look less costly... Read more

Mary Williams Walsh of the NYT reports, In Budget Crisis, States Take Aim at Pension Costs: Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits. Illinois raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of any state, and capped the salary on which public pensions are figured at $106,800 a year, indexed for inflation. Arizona, New York, Missouri and Mississippi will ... Read more

Bloomberg Businessweek reports, Baltimore proposes pension reforms; unions against: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed several changes to the pension system for police officers and firefighters.The city faces a $121 million budget deficit, and that number would balloon to $185 million without pension reform. Rawlings-Blake says the city can’t afford the cost of maintaining the current system. Under the mayor’s plan, officers and firefighters would be forced to ... Read more

The Asset Liability Management Workshop is held every three years to review CalPERS existing asset allocation and to evaluate alternative allocations. These allocations are evaluated in terms of their potential to improve funding of the plan and to stabilize employer contribution rates over the long term. Investment Staff use feedback from the workshop to develop an agenda item for subsequent review by the Investment Committee to adopt a final strategic asset allocation. View a video... Read more

Entie Governor Candidates Debate between Mark Dayton and Tom Horner in Winona MN, 8/21/10. Tom Emmer, skipped this debate. ... Read more

Dr. Burton G. Malkiel, the Chemical Bank Chairman’s Professor of Economics at Princeton University, is the author of the widely read investment book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street. He has also authored several other books, including the recently published The Elements of Investing. Dr. Malkiel has long held professorships in economics at Princeton, where he was also chairman of the Economics Department. He also served as the dean of the Yale School of Management and William S.... Read more

Let me first wish all my readers a Happy New Year full of health & happiness. It’s that time of year where I reflect on what lies ahead. Last year I wrote about Black Sloths and commented: …the global pension crisis will not disappear overnight. It is a long-term structural issue that will plague governments for years. In fact, part of me thinks that the Fed and other central bankers will try to engineer inflation to partly offset future pension liabilities. My worst fear is t... Read more

Carleton University 20102011 Budget Town Hall Presentation ... Read more

www.weforum.org The co-chairs examine how industry, government and civil society leaders can direct Latin America on the path to economic growth, income distribution and environmental sustainability. ... Read more

Kenneth Barry of Reuters reports, Assets of public pension funds up 6.2 percent in Q3: The value of assets held by the 100 largest U.S. public pension funds rose 6.2 percent in the third quarter from the prior quarter, reaching their highest level in two years, a report by the U.S. Census Bureau said on Wednesday. The value of the assets held by the state and local pension funds also rose 5.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, marking their fourth consecutive year-over- yea... Read more