DOL to increase DB audits
Following a successful pilot program, employers can expect to see an uptick in Department of Labor audits to ensure they are paying out benefits to fully vested participants.
DB plans
General Mills to freeze U.S. pension plans
Changes in interest rates, healthcare costs and investment returns have spurred the company to make the move beginning in 2028.
Benefits Think How advisers can rescue an underfunded DB plan
They can help clients benefit from reduced risk and longer bond durations if the employers prepare for shifts in market direction.
Mike Clark
Principal Financial Group
Benefits Think Why do employees remain in high-priced health plans?
The 'endowment effect' is causing workers to stick with plans that aren't in their best financial interest. But employers and advisers can help change that behavior.
Zack Pace
CBIZ
Calpers board to vote on slashing pension benefits by 63%
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is set to vote next week on cutting benefits for a small group of retirees in what would be the second such move in the last four months.
Benefits Think Why it is time to rethink DB retirement plans
‘Obsolete and overly restrictive limitations’ are holding back pension plan design, says Principal’s Mike Clark.
Mike Clark
Principal Financial Group
Benefits Think It’s time to rethink DB retirement plans
‘Obsolete and overly restrictive limitations’ are holding back pension plan design, says Principal’s Mike Clark.
Mike Clark
Principal Financial Group
Number of DB plan closures could increase in 2017
Plan sponsors must watch out for tax law changes and rising interest rates, experts say.
Number of DB plan closures could increase in 2017
Plan sponsors must watch out for tax law changes and rising interest rates, experts say.
Benefits Think U.S. courts clarify the definition of “trade or business”
Attorney John Martini explains who is liable for the withdrawal of multi-employer benefit plans and the termination of single-employer plans.
John D. Martini
Reed Smith LLP
Benefits Think Why defined benefit sponsors should diminish return expectations
Expected investment returns in DB plans aren’t what they used to be, says The Principal’s Mike Clark.
Mike Clark
Principal Financial Group
Hedge-fund secrecy spurned by ABN Amro’s $27B pension pot
The funds lack transparency and offer a “questionable” balance of risk and reward, according to the head of ABN Amro Group NV’s 26.2 billion-euro pension pot, which hasn’t invested in the industry for at least 12 years.
By
Joe Mayes
Benefits Think Pension funds should look north for inspiration
When it comes to at least one type of investing, U.S. pension funds should take a (maple) leaf out of their Canadian counterparts' playbook, says Bloomberg Gadfly columnist Gillian Tan.
Gillian Tan
Bloomberg Gadfly
How (and why) employers are reinventing DC plans
Is the next big retirement push to make defined contribution plans more like defined benefit plans? Industry insiders think so.
More firms freezing, closing DB plans
Plan sponsors are taking on more risk to boost assets and lower plan liabilities.
More firms freezing, closing DB plans
Plan sponsors are taking on more risk to boost assets and lower plan liabilities.
Pension battle pushes precedent in distressed California town
California Public Employees’ Retirement System votes to cut retirement benefits of Loyalton retirees.
Benefits Think Liability-driven investing déjà vu
Sponsors and investment advisers tasked with managing interest rate risk in DB plans may be experiencing a familiar replay when it comes to their funding ratios, writes Mike Clark
Mike Clark
Principal Financial Group
Prudential wins $2.5B pension deal with WestRock
Insurer wins pension-risk transfer deal with paper and packaging company, cementing status as the biggest player in the business of taking on retirement obligations for employers.
Once-celebrated Dallas Pension Fund runs risk of going broke
The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, once applauded for a diverse investment portfolio that included Hawaiian villas, Uruguayan timber and undeveloped land in Arizona, finds itself needing to dig out of a deep hole.
