State and Local Pension Plans: Coping with Funding Challenges

Strictly by the numbers, pension plans sponsored by state and local governments do not look to be in great shape. Many plan sponsors have not been making full annual contributions to the plans, and partly as a result the average funded ratio for those plans has fallen to 71 percent from 90 percent since 2004. […]

An Inside Look at How America Saves

It should not be that difficult. For a defined contribution plan to work for you, says Jean Young, senior research analyst at Vanguard Group and lead author of its periodic report on retirement plan participant behavior, How America Saves, you simply need to save enough and invest appropriately. Unfortunately, Young said at the 2014 SVIA […]

Roundtable: The Outlook for Retirement Income Security

One could argue that the private retirement system in the U.S. is improving. Average account balances in defined contribution plans have been rising lately, to somewhere around $90,000 to $100,000 depending upon which set of data you use. The growing trend of automatically enrolling workers in their plans is undoubtedly capturing some workers who in […]

Plan Litigation: When Stable Value Becomes a Target

For three decades following passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in 1974, defined contribution plans largely escaped the eye of class-action plaintiffs’ attorneys. That all changed in 2006, when an Illinois-based law firm began filing lawsuits against plan service providers, typically alleging some violation of ERISA based on the fees being charged to […]

Invesco Strategist Sees Continued Slow Growth, Low Rates in the U.S.

The Federal Reserve may have just ended its massive quantitative easing program aimed at keeping interest rates low, but don’t expect rates to spike significantly higher as a result, says Rob Waldner, chief strategist and head of multi-sector for Invesco Fixed Income. Opening the second day of the 2014 SVIA Fall Forum on October 14, […]

Stable Value – The Safe Investment Choice in Your 401k Plan

Many of you have an investment option available in your 401k plan that you have never considered using – but you should. It goes by many names: Stable Value, Fixed Income Fund, GIC (Guaranteed Investment Contract), Capital Preservation Fund, Principal Protection Fund, Fixed Interest Fund, Guaranteed Fund, Stable Interest Fund.  All of these types of […]

Money Market Fund Rule Amendments: Implications and Options

Download PDF The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted to approve changes to Rule 2a-7 and other provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that govern money market funds. These changes present a prime opportunity to review principal preservation options to ensure they are providing participants the optimum balance of safety of principal, […]

Stable Value vs. Fixed Income: There is a Difference

Morgan Stanley Plan Perspectives If you invest in a money market fund outside of your 401(k) plan, you’ve no doubt noticed that your returns have been negligible over the past several years. In fact, money market fund yields continue to be at record lows, providing investors with returns that average 0.1 – 0.2% Read the full article here