Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! Each week we gather the best articles about pensions and retirement security. This is the news you need to know in the fight for a secure retirement.

Here are this week’s top stories:

• State retirees to see bump in pension checks with Governor Edwards’ COLA approval by Mark Ballard: retirees in Louisiana scored a victory this week when Governor Edwards signed the cost of living increase that was passed by the legislature last week. This increase will be especially valuable for retirees in Louisiana because public employees there do not participate in Social Security.
• Teresa Ghilarducci: 401(k) an ‘Immature, Underdeveloped Child’ by John Sullivan: Teresa Ghilarducci, a retirement expert at the New School, explains the failings of the 401(k) and why she thinks it will never be an adequate retirement system. As she said, whenever “…a defined benefit plan [is] replaced with a defined contribution plan for a middle-class person, it makes their situation more tenuous.”
• Public pensions hardly a rich lifestyle by Herb Bolton: a retired California public employee points out that the overwhelming majority of retirees receive modest pensions. Furthermore, California pensioners put $2 back into the economy for every $1 they receive in pensions.
• Teachers: State retirees deserve better by Rick Manheim: a retired North Carolina elementary school teacher warns about efforts by the General Assembly to eliminate the state’s successful defined benefit pension for teachers and other state employees.
• Palm Beach council adopts pension overhaul for police, firefighters by William Kelly: finally, good news out of Florida. Earlier this month the Palm Beach Town Council voted to move back to a defined benefit pension for its police officers and firefighters. This follows a failed experiment with a hybrid plan that was enacted in 2012.

Check back next week for the latest news in the fight to protect pensions!