Retirement insights from a Colorado PERA perspective

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Retirement Roundup: a future without pensions

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A digest of timely information and insight about finance, investing, and retirement.

A preview of the U.S. without pensions The Washington Post
The way major U.S. companies provide for retiring workers has been shifting for about three decades, with more dropping traditional pensions every year. The first full generation of workers to retire since this turn offers a sobering preview of a labor force more and more dependent on their own savings for retirement.

A secure retirement may be in jeopardy for millions of Americans | MSN Money
In an opinion piece from Dec. 10 on retirement issues, Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, criticized two reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and argued that there is no impending retirement crisis. The GAO authors stand by their findings in the two reports – one issued in 2015 on the potential retirement security of near retirees and the other issued in 2017 on the status of the nation’s retirement system.

Projected Retirement Health Expenses Rise – Again | National Association of Plan Advisors
A year ago, the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimated that individuals might need as much as $350,000 to cover health expenses in retirement. Readers might want to sit down for the update. The headline in a new report from EBRI says that when it comes to health expenses in retirement, “Some Couples Could Need as Much as $370,000, Up from $350,000 in 2016.” But the real answer depends on some key assumptions and variables, not the least of which is how sure retirees want to be of covering those expenses.

New Yorker Cartoon Considers 401(k)s | Squared Away Blog
A New Yorker cartoon by Trevor Spaulding is cute, but – spoiler alert – it’s not quite right. A company offering a 401(k) retirement savings plan to its workers is a good thing, but it’s no “favor,” according to Steve Sass, an economist with a hawk eye for inaccurate retirement information. Setting up and funding a 401(k) is a big expense for employers. But many think it is worthwhile, because 401(k)s – and, more so, employers’ matching contributions – help them attract and retain the sharpest, most productive, or most-skilled workers.

Four ways to change 401(k) plans for the better | MarketWatch
Over the past few months, 401(k) plans have been in the news a lot. At one point, Republicans floated the idea of drastically lowering the maximum that employees could contribute. And this week, President Trump asked once again how everyone’s 401(k) plans are doing as a result of the rising stock market. But what these plans need even more than a bull market is a way to get more people to participate in them, some experts suggest. Yes – 401(k) account balances and stock market performance are tied to one another, but not everyone has access to these defined contribution plans, and few who do invest in them.

A Kentucky pension bill has yet to be filed, but there are a few hints on its contents | Louisville Courier-Journal
A month ago as it became apparent that Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to pass pension reforms at a special session in 2017 would not be possible, legislative leaders aimed to pass a pension bill during the first two weeks of this year’s regular session. But with the first week of the session now over and no pension bill filed, it’s apparent that will not happen.

Defined contributionA type of individual retirement plan in which an employee saves a portion of each paycheck (along with a potential employer match) and invests that money. The employee’s retirement benefit is based on their account balance at retirement. A 401(k) is a type of defined contribution plan.

Comments

  1. Stan Hesting says:

    Because pera earnings far exceeded expectations during the 2017 year I think it is appropriate to award the 2% annual increase prior to a freeze of the cola – those of us who are retired have already earned that cola based upon the 17 pera earnings and it should not be taken away – if there is an imposed freeze it should start during the 2018 or sometime there after year

  2. Maria Cristina Aguilera says:

    Please don’t deny those of us who are retired the 2% Cola increase this fiscal year. Older retirees are already facing increasing health costs, potentially higher income taxes due to the Trump administration recent tax legislation, and higher prices on everything from food to utility bills and consumer goods. Something nerds to be done about the state not meeting their fiduciary responsabillity to the PERA pension fund!

  3. Steve Kuehster says:

    I agree with Stan Hesting’s point about PERA’s 2017 earnings. These earnings could easily justify another year of cola.
    Additionally PERA should provide a conservative estimate of these earnings to the legilslature so they have up to date information to make their decsions.
    All the items of legislative concern like “unfunded liability”, “projected years until full funding”, “PERA’s asset value”, have all changed. Things look much much better today than they did at the end of 2016.

  4. Colorado PERA says:

    Maria, Stan, and Steve,

    Thank you for your comments. While we realize 2017 was a good investment year, the long-term economic outlook for the global financial investment markets is not optimistic. The Board was not able to achieve their goal of a 30-year amortization period without suspending and reducing the Annual Increase or COLA as proposed.

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