News and Commentary

Oregon's Public Pension Fund Loses Billions

10.30.2008 | Oregon Live | Oregon's public pension system has been the fully funded envy of other states since 2003 legislative reforms and a bull market helped turn a projected $17 billion system deficit into a substantial surplus. No more. | Read

Pension agency loses almost $5 billion on stocks

10.24.2008 | Seattle Times | The federal agency charged with backstopping pension benefits for 44 million Americans lost almost $5 billion from investments in stocks in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, the agency head acknowledged Friday. | Read

CalPERS' portfolio value rocked by market volatility

10.23.2008 | LA Times | The California pension fund's value has fallen 20% since July 1. The loss could lead to increased contributions from state and local government and school district employers. Volatile stock and commodities markets have slashed the portfolio value at the nation's largest public pension fund by about 20% since July 1, the California Public Employees' Retirement System reported Wednesday. | Read

Retirement security now a misnomer for many

10.22.2008 | The News Tribune | Americans’ retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months – about 20 percent of their value – Congress’ top budget analyst estimated Tuesday as lawmakers began investigating how turmoil in the financial industry is whittling away workers’ nest eggs. | Read

Looting 401(k)s To Fix the Economy

10.16.2008 | Tax Policy Center | Talk about a bad idea. Barack Obama and John McCain both want to give people tax incentives to empty their retirement savings accounts. They’d help contribute to a disastrous old age for many middle-class seniors, even as they provide a windfall to wealthy savers. | Read

Investment board: Pension fund is down

10.13.2008 | The Olympian | Events of the past few weeks have rocked the financial world, including retirement funds, which have sustained more than $2 trillion in losses nationwide over 15 months, according to a congressional estimate. | Read

Retirement assets down $2 trillion, official says

10.07.2008 | The Everett Herald | The top congressional budget analyst says pension plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months. | Read

Dear: 'This is not a false alarm'

09.26.2008 | The Olympian | I talked to State Investment Board Director Joe Dear about the $47-million loss in the state pension fund over the latest corporate collapse, and he said the big bailout needs to happen, quickly. | Read

The golden years have lost their glow

09.21.2008 | L.A. Times | With home values down, costs up and their 401(k)s declining, some seniors have had to rethink retirement. | Read

Retirement account rules catch many by surprise

09.02.2008 | Seattle Times | There's some sentiment that a government rule that forces retirees to withdraw money from their IRA and 401(k) accounts when they turn 70 1/2 may need to be changed. That's because people are living longer and need to keep as much of their retirement money for as long as possible, said several financial advisers and a leader of the Senate Finance Committee. | Read

Laboring longer is a growing trend for Americans

09.01.2008 | Weantchee World | Americans are changing the game plan for retirement, with millions laboring right past the traditional retirement age and working into their late 60s and beyond. | Read

Planning for Retirement

08.20.2008 | NY Times Op-Ed | According to the Congressional Research Service, fewer than one in four of those now over age 65 receive any income from a private-sector-employer retirement plan. The lucky few who do have an average lump-sum equivalent of $90,000. | Read

Less Than Golden Years

08.14.2008 | NY Times | Americans are saving too little for retirement. The sooner lawmakers and employers respond to this crisis — with legislation and education — the better the chances for limiting the damage. | Read

How Wall Street Wrecked Your Retirement

07.25.2008 | AlterNet | People are discovering they have been forced into a system in which others have gambled with their retirement savings and lost it. | Read

Pension costs to dip for PERS members

07.22.2008 | The Olympian | In a short but decisive meeting today, the Pension Funding Council accepted State Actuary Matt Smith's recommended changes to funding the state's retirement systems. | Read

Retirement planning: Women face distinct challenges

07.10.2008 | The Olympian | In the ubiquitous relationship guide "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," author John Gray highlights numerous differences between the genders by examining subjects such as communication styles and stress management. | Read

Are you saving enough for retirement? Many aren't

07.02.2008 | Everett Herald | A study finds that only 19 percent of employees are saving the 10 percent to 12 percent they'll need. | Read

Less Travel, More Work for Retired Americans

06.30.2008 | USA Today | Many older Americans had long envisioned retirement as a period of adventure, a time to indulge in leisurely lifestyles, with frequent trips out of town to see relatives and explore places they'd never seen. That was then. Now, with food and health care costs surging and fuel prices soaring, many retirees have been forced to downsize their dreams of travel. | Read

Pension Funds Take Oil Gamble

06.29.2008 | Seattle PI | All those speculators getting the blame for driving up the price of oil these days -- just who are they? For part of the answer, look in the mirror. The retirement savings of workers across the country, entrusted to pension fund managers, are being plowed into one of the few investments that has delivered phenomenal returns in recent years. | Read

Accounting methods threaten public pensions

06.27.2008 | Wenatchee World | The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars. | Read

Study: Defined contribution plans quickly changing

06.26.2008 | Seattle Times | Once just a supplement to the pension system, defined-contribution plans such as 401(k)s are growing and changing fast as they evolve into a linchpin of Americans' retirement savings and offer increasingly innovative investment options, a new study indicates. | Read

Boeing alters retirement plan for new employees

06.25.2008 | Seattle PI | The Boeing Co. said it's changing its retirement program for new, nonunion workers, replacing its traditional pension plan with one that's similar to a 401(k) plan. | Read

Court to rule on pension credit for old maternity leaves

06.23.2008 | Seattle Times| The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether decades-old maternity leaves should count in determining pensions. | Read

Senior SOS

06.02.2008 | Yakima Herald | Baby boomers and their parents are changing their lifestyles because of the faltering economy, including delaying retirement, postponing bills and forgoing medications. | Read

Retirement Plans Shrink as Economy Falters

05.05.2008 | National Public Radio Morning Edition | More and more older workers are opting to stay on the job rather than retire. For some, it's a matter of choice. For others, the uncertain housing market and shrinking returns on retirement funds make retiring a difficult prospect. | Read | Listen

Plan to open up CalPERS reflects worry about inadequate saving for retirement

04.25.2008 | Sacramento Bee | Investing for retirement is the financial equivalent of eating your vegetables: It's good for you, but sometimes downright distasteful. Now a proposal making its way through the California Legislature has people talking about whether the state can make putting aside retirement money more palatable. | Read

Retirement confidence plummets

04.09.2008 | Employee Benefits Research Institute | Reflecting the growing concern over health care costs and economic issues, American workers’ confidence in being able to afford a comfortable retirement decreased over the past year by a rate unmatched in the 18 years of the Retirement Confidence Survey® (RCS), according to results released today. | Read

State can play valuable role in helping to build nest eggs

02.21.2007 | Everett Herald | Recently, the Legislature's House Appropriations Committee grappled with the government's role in helping to get people to save for their own retirement. It is a big and growing problem. We are on the road to reversing all the progress we have made over the past 50 years in enabling retirees to avoid poverty. | Read

Legislators tackle retirement savings with some common sense

04.19.2006 | Tacoma News Tribune, Everett Herald | Washington Voluntary Accounts would enable every worker in the state to save pre-tax money into a retirement plan, choose from a portfolio of safe investments, and be completely portable from workplace to workplace... | Read (Tribune) | Read (Herald)

More companies ending promises for retirement

01.09.2006 | New York Times | The death knell for the traditional company pension has been tolling for some time now. Companies in ailing industries like steel, airlines and auto parts have thrown themselves into bankruptcy and turned over their ruined pension plans to the federal government. Now, with the recent announcements of pension freezes by some of the cream of corporate America - Verizon, Lockheed Martin, Motorola and, just last week, I.B.M. - the bell is tolling even louder. | Read

House and Senate Bills Provide for Easy Way to Save for Retirement

01.27.2005 | EOI | Washington Voluntary Accounts give workers the chance to participate in a defined-contribution retirement savings plan at their workplace. | Read