Ryan ALM
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Questionable Analysis
Critique of MEPSIM By Ronald J. Ryan, CFA, and Russell D. Kamp The paper has several misleading, if not erroneous assumptions and facts. You do NOT want to fund the deficit at a discount rate of 7% for several reasons:...
And The Answer Is?
The Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans has been meeting since April. They were tasked with producing bi-partisan legislation to help protect and preserve the defined benefit plans for the 114 (now 121) "critical and declining" multiemployer...
It's Time to Put the Fiddle Down!
Nero may not have actually fiddled while Rome burned, but I certainly get the feeling that Congress's "august" Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans (JSC) is jamming with every stringed instrument that they can get their hands...
IRS Indexed Limits for 2019
We are happy to share with you the recently announced Indexed Limits for 2019. Item IRC Reference 2018 Limit 2019 Limit 401(k) and 403(b) Employee Deferral Limit 1 402(g)(1) $18,500 $19,000 457 Employee Deferral Limit 457(e)(15) $18,500 $19,000 Catch-up Contribution...
No Place To Go, But up?
If a picture paints a 1,000 words then how many words does the above chart produce? There are quite a few public systems that are in decent to good shape on an actuarial basis, and they should be de-risking as...
When Common Sense Fails!!
When KCS was established in August 2011, the mission of the firm was pretty simple. We set out to "help plan sponsors and their participants address today’s retirement plan challenges." I can't think of a greater challenge than the one...
Going in Opposite Directions
The Center For Retirement Research at Boston College is out with a new brief highlighting the growing divide among well-funded and poorly-funded state and local defined benefit plans (the universe is 180 plans). The funded status of this cohort in...
Are We There, Yet?
The above chart is from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York publication that was last updated for the second-quarter 2018. As the picture clearly reveals, non-housing debt is becoming a bigger chunk of overall household debt, as auto loans,...
Slight Improvement, But Much To Do!
According to a PlanSponsor article the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI), which is now in its 10th year, shows that the U.S. retirement system enjoyed a slight improvement this year scoring a 58.8, up from 57.8 in 2017. The...
Not Sustainable!
I happened to see this comment in an email earlier today (thanks, Rob): About 83% of U.S.-listed IPOs in 2018’s first three quarters involve companies that lost money in the 12 months leading up to their debut, according to data...