Welcome to the latest edition of This Week in Pensions! As we do most weeks, we have gathered the best stories about pensions and retirement security from the previous week. This is the news you need to know in the fight for a secure retirement.
Here are this week’s top stories:
- Don’t let misconceptions about pensions drive decision-making by Bailey Childers: in a letter to the editor to the Washington Post, NPPC’s Executive Director corrects the record about pension changes that were just passed in Pennsylvania. Contrary to what’s been reported in the media, Pennsylvania legislators did not abandon the defined benefit model in creating three new retirement plans for future state and public school employees. Rather, they preserved the defined benefit model in two of the three plans, knowing that retirement security matters and that defined benefit pensions provide the most reliable form of retirement security.
- Public Pensions Provide a Secure Retirement by Tyler Bond: writing on the Huffington Post, NPPC’s Program Manager defends the performance of public pension funds from critics who falsely describe pension plans as being unsustainable. Despite the devastating financial impact of the Great Recession, most pension funds are recovering and have achieved strong returns, despite a still-challenging investing environment.
- Let’s not be as shortsighted on pensions as on drought by Yvonne Walker: pension critics continue to attack CalPERS and other public pension funds in California. Walker argues these critics are being short-sighted and are ignoring the historical evidence that pension funds are likely to once again achieve strong investment returns after the current difficult investment period ends.
- Colorado Public Employees returns 7.3% for fiscal year by Meaghan Kilroy: good news on the investments front: Colorado PERA achieved its investment return goals for 2016. Not only that, but it also achieved or surpassed its three year, five year, and ten year return goals. This provides further evidence against the false narrative being pushed by pension critics that pension funds are unsustainable.
- Kentucky’s Hedge Funder Governor Keeps State Money In Secretive Hedge Funds by Ben Walsh and Travis Waldron: two reports for the Huffington Post wrote a lengthy article examining the complex relationship between hedge funds and public pensions in Kentucky. We’ve written before about how hedge funds may not be a worthwhile investment for public pension funds. Walsh and Waldron’s article raises a lot of questions about the role of Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and the management of public pensions in the Bluegrass State.
Be sure to check back next week for the latest news in the fight for a secure retirement!
