Pension Action

November 28, 2007

Conversation on Coverage Proposals Featured at Congressional Hearing
At a hearing on “Securing Retirement Coverage for Future Generations” Professor Norman Stein testified about the four innovative proposals developed by the Conversation on Coverage, a Pension Rights Center initiative designed to increase pensions and retirement savings for low- and moderate-income workers. Professor Stein, a pension expert and Conversation on Coverage Co-Chair, discussed the features of the Guaranteed Account Plan, the Plain Old Pension Plan, the Retirement Investment Account, and the Model T Plan before a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. He noted that the “animating focus” of the Conversation on Coverage “was to put our creative shoulders to the wheel and create common ground proposals for the common good.”  Read the testimony and learn more about the proposals on the Conversation on Coverage web site.

Casey Foundation Awards Grant to Implement Conversation on Coverage Proposals
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has awarded the Pension Rights Center a grant to begin the implementation of the Conversation on Coverage recommendations. Karen Friedman, the Center’s Policy Director and the Conversation’s Director, is looking forward to working with Conversation on Coverage participants to move the proposals forward through public education, policy refinement and the exploration of demonstration projects to “road-test” the Conversation proposals. 

New Fact Sheet Helps Retirees Determine if Their Pension Plan Can Afford a COLA
Over time, inflation causes the value of a retiree’s pension to decrease in value.  As a result, retirees can experience a significant decline in their living standards during their retirement years.  To address the problem of inflation, some pension plans provide cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), but many do not. The PRC’s new fact sheet helps retirees figure out if their pension plans can afford to give retirees a COLA. The fact sheet can be found in the Publications section of our web site.

PRC Testifies on “The Appropriateness of Retirement Plan Fees”
The Pension Rights Center testified at a hearing held by the House Committee on Ways and Means about the effect the fees charged by 401(k) and other defined contribution plans can have on the overall retirement savings of the workers who participate in these plans.  The Center testified that these fees can represent a “significant loss in retirement savings” and suggested ways that they could be disclosed to help participants “plan realistically for retirement.”  The Center’s testimony can be found in the Policy Presentations section of our web site.

Pension Rights Center Files Friend-of-the-Court Brief in Supreme Court Case
The Pension Rights Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates Inc., a case heard on November 26 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court’s ruling will determine whether individuals can recover 401(k) losses resulting from improper actions by plan trustees. Read our brief and new summaries of this and other important recent cases in the Action in the Courts section of our web site.  Pension Rights Center staff attorney Rebecca Davis was quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article about the Supreme Court case.  This and other articles can be found in the PRC in the News section of our web site. 

Chart on Retirement Plan Contribution and Benefit Limits Updated
The PRC has updated its chart on the amounts pension plan participants can contribute to a variety of pension and retirement savings plans every year.  The chart includes information on contributions that can be made to Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, as well as the maximum monthly amount the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation will pay participants in defined benefit plans.  The chart can be found in the Fact Sheets section of our web site.

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