NCPERS News Clips

11/3/2009

New Kind of Low

In today's edition, a new study shows that nearly half of workers who change jobs each year cash out their 401(k) plans. And highlighting the disconnect between what retirement benefits rank-and-file employees and executives receive (otherwise known as "what's good for the goose isn't necessarily good for the gander"), our second story details the rise in value of pensions that top executives in the private sector can expect to see.

• US: Half of workers changing jobs cash out 401k
  Millions of workers take a huge chance with their retirement savings every year: They cash out their 401(k) accounts when they lose their jobs or move to new employers.
• US: Pensions for Executives on Rise (subscription may be req'd)
  Pensions for top executives rose an average of 19% in 2008, with more than 200 executives seeing pensions increase more than 50%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
• US: Big Investors Grow Wary of Hedge Funds and Private Equity
  Less than two years ago, anything considered an alternative investment seemed to have an automatic cachet. Investors were shoving one another aside to get into the top hedge funds and private equity offerings.
• US: Pension Funds for Public Employees Lost $600 Billion Last Year
  Retirement accounts for states and local government employees lost $600 billion in value in the year that ended June 30, a decline of 21 percent, a U.S. Census Bureaureport shows.
• CA: High court to hear San Diego pension case
  More than seven years after a fateful vote that ended a long session of the San Diego city pension board, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday will take up an unresolved question about that meeting: Was a crime committed?
• IA: Iowa employees retirement board to consider changes
  An advisory panel for the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System will meet today to decide whether to recommend changes to the system's contribution or benefit plans.
• KY: New estimate cuts pension shortfall by $1.1 billion
  A recently released report on the Kentucky Retirement Systems contains a speck of good news: the multi-billion dollar shortfall facing the state employee pension plan is $1.1 billion less than originally forecast.
• IL: Teacher Fund Confronts $35 Billion Unfunded Liability
  The pension system that provides benefits for 365,000 Illinois teachers, the 68th-largest such system in the U.S., has barely one-third of what it needs to pay promised benefits, a new actuarial report shows.
• MT: Wall Street losses hurt Montana state pensions
  Montana's state pensions systems reeling from big losses in the stock market face a projected shortfall of more than $2 billion three decades from now.