The Defined Benefit

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  • There is finally a pension bill in Kentucky and it’s bad
    pension cuts

    For months now, public employees and retirees in Kentucky have awaited the introduction of a pension bill. Republican legislators have been promising that the introduction of a pension bill is just days away, but they never ended up releasing anything-…

  • Exposing John Arnold’s Web of Connections
    John Arnold

    John Arnold is the chief funder of anti-pension activity across the nation. A former Enron energy trader and Wall Street hedge fund manager, Arnold retired in his thirties and has devoted a significant portion of his fortune to attacking public…

  • Congress Recognizes that Working Families Need Retirement Security
    retirement security

    We’ve written about the growing retirement security crisis many times. We’re not the only ones to warn about it either. Back in October, the Government Accountability Office issued a significant report on the lack of retirement security for many working…

  • The lack of pension plans diminishes public service in Alaska
    Utah pension changes

    On Tuesday, we wrote about a new case study examining the experiences of Palm Beach, FL after the town closed its defined benefit pension plan for police officers, firefighters, and other municipal employees. Palm Beach is certainly not the only…

  • Pension cuts hurt employee recruitment and retention
    pension cuts

    In 2012, Palm Beach, Florida decided to close all of its public pension plans and move current and future employees to a hybrid defined benefit-defined contribution plan. This move gutted retirement security for public employees. In response, Palm Beach experienced…

  • Public Pensions in Kentucky Still Need Full Funding
    Kentucky pensions

    By now, the story of public pensions in Kentucky has become a familiar one: after years of underfunding by the state government, the public pension plans in the Bluegrass State are among the most poorly funded in the nation. Last…

  • Public Pensions Strengthened Their Funding in 2017
    funding of public pensions

    Public pension plans continued to improve and strengthen their funded status last year. That is the takeaway from a new report by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS). With many plans earning double-digit investment returns, pension plans…

  • Watch What President Trump Says About Federal Pensions
    Trump federal pensions

    Tonight, President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to Congress. It is unlikely that he will mention pensions for federal employees in his speech, but in the weeks ahead, the president will propose his budget for…

  • The “Pension Crisis” is a Myth, Part Seven
    public pension plans

    Since the Great Recession in 2008, warnings of an impending pension crisis have been splashed across the business pages of newspapers across the country. Despite these boisterous decrees, America’s public pension funds are stable. We explore the roots behind the…

  • What is a Cost of Living Adjustment?
    cost of living adjustment

    A Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is an occasional increase in the amount of a retiree’s or beneficiary’s pension payment in order to account for inflation. COLAs have been much discussed recently, in part because it has been so long…

  • Older Workers Need Secure Pensions
    public pensions

    Many times on this blog we’ve discussed the shift from defined benefit pensions to 401(k)-style defined contribution plans. While this transition has been most dramatic in the private sector, it is also occurring in the public sector. We’ve detailed how…

  • So long, Chris Christie

    Today, Phil Murphy will be inaugurated as the new governor of New Jersey. That also means that Chris Christie’s two terms as governor are ending. Christie leaves office as the most unpopular governor in the history of New Jersey. Given…