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June 1997

Editorial

Foul Ball

Black ballplayers' pensions
(k)Plans

Cost Shift 401(k)

Sponsors are charging more expenses to the plan and participants. When is this okay, and when not?
Rules/Regs

Pension Counseling Projects Threatened

Volunteers want Congress to revive funding for a program that has helped plan participants and retirees recover millions in pension benefits.
Rules/Regs

Permanent Moratorium

Public pensions want Congress to exempt them permanently from ERISA nondiscrimination rules
Portrait of Retiree

Sam Jethroe

Former professional baseball player, 75
Table of Contents

Mandate to Index Louisiana’s Funds

A Louisiana bill would mandate indexing of 10% of state retirement systems' stock portfolios. Some observers worry about the precedent this sets.
Table of Contents

From Hip-Hop to Human Rights

Social investment is again inspiring lawmakers to peruse public pension portfolios. New targets range from gangsta rap to repressive governments.
Table of Contents

New Rules for the Bean Counters

FASB wants to simplify pension footnotes. But it also wants preparers to supply more detail in some areas, to make them more useful to investors.
Table of Contents

Barbara Searls

Chief financial officer, Sealaska Corporation
Table of Contents

What Price Portability?

Converting traditional public pension plans to the defined contribution model is suddenly a hot issue. Labor and conservative legislators are squaring off, with many billions in pension assets at stake
Table of Contents

John Engler’s Christmas Rush

The Michigan governor pushed through a sweeping conversion to a defined contribution system in just one month. His success shows how public employee unions' opposition to conversions can be diffused
Table of Contents

Style Fixation

Some providers are addressing concerns that their mutual funds do not follow a consistent style. But some plan sponsors, already fed up, are looking to funds-of-funds as the ultimate solution.
Table of Contents

Does Manager Tenure Matter?

More years at the helm of a mutual fund means better performance, says an academic study. Plan sponsors and consultants, too, tend to prefer the veterans.
Table of Contents

The Deal Is Getting Better

Price cuts by the biggest funds, and the impact of less costly index funds, are combining to drive down the price of investing through mutual funds.
Table of Contents

Millennium Meltdown

Pension plans and their vendors prepare for the coming D-Day for computer systems
Table of Contents

Private Equity Dust-Up

A new study by plan sponsors, critical of fees and controls, raises fund managers' hackles
Table of Contents

Cost Cutters

How competitive pressures on providers, and plan reengineering, can help sponsors to negotiate lower fees
Table of Contents

Eye on the Horizon

The recipe for success in corporate governance in the 21st century's global markets