Investing | December 8th, 2020 Several Forces Will Drive Portfolio Positions for Institutional Investors The pandemic, monetary policy and politics converge to drive changes to equity and fixed income allocations.
Data and Research | December 2nd, 2020 Reducing the Number of External Asset Managers Could Cut Costs for Public Pensions However, researchers find that to maintain the best after-fee returns, pensions should carefully consider which managers to eliminate.
Administration | September 9th, 2020 DB Plans Can Expect Continued Funded Status Issues The solutions to manage funded status differ for public and corporate plans.
Administration | August 20th, 2020 Lessons From Well-Funded Public Retirement Plans for Managing Crises Representatives of three well-funded pension plans shared information about their contribution rate, assumed return rate and COLA strategies.
Data and Research | May 15th, 2020 Public DBs May Lose Ground on Funding Progress However, all but the worst-funded plans will maintain sufficient assets from which to pay benefits, a study finds.
Data and Research | May 4th, 2020 State Pensions at Lowest Funded Level in 30 Years Negative returns for most asset classes caused by COVID-19’s stress on the financial markets caused an estimated 12.2 percentage point...
Investing | April 28th, 2020 Fixed Income Allocations Suppressed Potential Losses for ERISA Pension Plans Of the three institutional segments tracked by Northern Trust, corporate ERISA pension plans performed the best during 1Q 2020.
Administration | April 15th, 2020 Retirees Returning to the Public Sector Face Limitations The growing need for public-sector employees has retirees willing to return to work, but limitations on public pensions and Social...
Investing | February 28th, 2020 Fees Significantly Vary Performance for Public DB Private Equity Investors A report from Stanford University and Harvard Business School researchers provides food for thought about fee negotiations with private equity...
Data and Research | February 19th, 2020 Public-Sector Employers Have Incentive to Keep Retiree Benefits Viable The value public-sector employees place on retiree health and pension benefits is worth the effort of finding solutions to keep...
Administration | January 10th, 2020 What States Are Doing to Offset Lower Assumed Returns Shifts in investments and changes to employer contributions are being used to mitigate the funded status effects of lower return...
Investing | October 31st, 2019 Fixed Income Played Role in Increasing Institutional Investor Returns Corporate ERISA pension plans reported the highest median return of the three segments tracked, and had the highest allocation to...
Administration | October 10th, 2019 States Have Made Progress in Partly Mitigating Funding Risk An S&P Global Ratings report says states’ policy decisions, not market volatility, are likely the greatest future financial risk.
Data and Research | September 26th, 2019 Municipal DB Plans Face Increased Cost Pressures While this is in part due to expected market performance and changing demographics, S&P Global Ratings points to plan sponsor...
Data and Research | September 23rd, 2019 Variable Arrangements Can Introduce Stability to Public DB Plans A report presents case studies that show variable benefit and/or variable contribution arrangements “enable all stakeholders to understand how, when,...
Data and Research | September 12th, 2019 Public-Sector Employees Shouldering More Risk in Retirement Plans NASRA says since 2009, more than 35 states increased required employee contribution rates, and more states maintain plans in which...
Administration | August 30th, 2019 New York State Public Retirement Fund Assumed Rate of Return Lowered “As in years past, we’re taking the responsible action of lowering our assumed rate of return now so we can...
Data and Research | August 8th, 2019 Case Studies Suggest Move From Public Pensions Hurts Taxpayers Experiences of four states that moved from traditional defined benefit (DB) plans to cash balance or defined contribution (DC) plans...
Data and Research | July 8th, 2019 Decline in Assumed Returns Increased Public Pension Plan Costs Researchers found a decline in assumed rates of return due to lower assumed inflation combined with a change in asset...
Opinions | June 25th, 2019 State and Local Governments Eye ESG Investing Strategies for Returns and Impact US SIF’s Lisa Woll provides examples of strategies public pension funds are using to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG)...