With the elections behind us and the end of 2024 just a few weeks away, new risks of political interference in public pension investing and retirement security are coming into focus. Some newly elected state officials are redoubling their efforts to blacklist investment advisers they accuse of injecting non-financial factors into their decisions about pensions…
According to Gallup, only 29 percent of retirees say a 401(k) or an IRA is a major source of their income. Most – 58 percent – say Social Security is a major source. And 34 percent said pensions are a major source of retirement income. That Gallup survey found the actual sources of retirement income…
“We have a mission to protect public pension funds and the trustees…from the interference of politics in some decision making.” Tim Hill’s opening statement at the recent NCPERS’ Public Safety Conference is timely given today’s political environment. Hill, president of the Alliance for Prosperity and a Secure Retirement (APSR), was joined by Greg Markley, Secretary…
Steady savings and investments over a long period of time are a proven strategy for financial security in retirement. Many public-sector employees, along with some private-sector employees, can participate in pension plans offered by their employers. Many of them, particularly those who work in the private sector, can also count on Social Security for some…
Credit to Oklahoma’s state constitution for protecting the state’s retirees from lawmakers trying to inject political wishes into public investments. The Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act (EDEA) prevented state entities (including pension funds and municipalities) from doing business with banks and financial advisers allegedly discriminating against the fossil fuel industry. It was passed in 2022,…
Blacklisting financial firms can be expensive, as a number of states have discovered after penalizing those who don’t invest according to lawmakers’ political preferences. And while most of the attention has been on how those laws affect future and current retirees and individual taxpayers, those higher costs can weigh heavily on businesses and state economies….
State elected officials are relearning an old, old rule: If you divert and distract from an investor’s primary objectives, then the investments will surely suffer. The real-world results are pouring in. Laws blacklisting investment advisers and financial institutions accused of putting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in front of financial considerations in public investments…
Workers whose employers offer defined contribution (DC) plans — and who stick with those plans — have a better chance at avoiding shortfalls in retirement savings, according to a report from Planadviser. People regularly and consistently saving money through such plans for at least 20 years were much less likely to come up short, according…
As Oklahoma waits for a state judge to decide whether its anti-ESG (environmental, social and governance) law violates that state’s constitution, a similar challenge to Texas’ laws is moving forward in federal court. Meanwhile, just this week, Missouri’s attorney general has dropped its appeal of a federal ruling that its’ anti-ESG law violates the U.S….
The Alliance for Prosperity and a Secure Retirement (APSR) is growing, and we’re happy to welcome 20 new members who have joined our coalition over the past several weeks. APSR is delighted to add to the ranks of groups representing state employees across the U.S. who depend on public pensions for their retirements. They are…
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