In the News • September 19, 2015
“Teacher pensions are in trouble. The latest figures show that states and districts are half a trillion dollars behind in their commitments to fully fund the retirement benefits they promised teachers. That’s a huge sum affecting some 3.5 million current educators. But not all pension payouts are equal. In fact, just 20 percent of teachers […]
In the News • September 17, 2015
“The retirement security problems facing so many Americans are much more acute among minority groups. Income disparity is an important cause, but recent research also shows that some of the gap could be due to differences in investing patterns. A growing number of advocates feel that having more African-Americans involved in financial planning could help. “We’re […]
In the News • September 9, 2015
“The 2008 financial crisis hurt retirement savings, but we found public defined benefit pensions in red states and blue states that survived the market’s free-fall in reasonable shape. Surprisingly, one of those well-funded plans is the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. What distinguishes financially sound pensions from others? It’s simple: mandated, adequate contributions. “Adequate” means contributions from both employees […]