State and Local Pension Fund Management

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Author :
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 0849305519
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (493 download)

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Book Synopsis State and Local Pension Fund Management by : Jun Peng

Download or read book State and Local Pension Fund Management written by Jun Peng and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2008-08-21 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intense media coverage of the public pension funding crisis continues to fuel heightened awareness in and debate over public pension benefits. With over $3 trillion in assets currently under management, the ramifications of poor oversight are severe. It is important that practitioners, researchers, and taxpayers be well-advised regarding any concer

Frontiers in Pension Finance

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Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1847209920
Total Pages : 355 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (472 download)

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Book Synopsis Frontiers in Pension Finance by : Dirk Broeders

Download or read book Frontiers in Pension Finance written by Dirk Broeders and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fresh and valuable volume, experts from across the world provide guidance on pension design, risk management, and governance that is urgently needed in this rapidly changing pension environment. Aging populations are putting pressure on pay-as-you-go pension systems and spurring a shift to prefunded plans. Greater prefunding requires efficient risk management and judicious regulation and supervision. This book provides state-of-the-art analyses of these issues and should be required reading for scholars, practitioners, and anyone interested in the future of pensions. Alicia H. Munnell, Boston College Carroll School of Management and Center for Retirement Research, US How to deliver adequate pension benefits at reasonable costs is a huge challenge confronting our ageing societies. This book delivers a comprehensive overview of the latest insights into pension finance, pension system design, pension governance and risk based supervision. It combines state-of-the-art analyses with innovative policy proposals to increase the efficiency and resilience of pension systems and to advance these systems contribution to global financial stability. Renowned pension experts offer cutting-edge guidance for future decision making and the development of best practices. This exciting exploration of the frontiers in pension finance highlights key aspects of securing long term retirement provisions. Frontiers in Pension Finance will be of interest to a wide-ranging audience, especially academic researchers, pension practitioners, supervisors and public sector policymakers.

Private Pensions and Public Policies

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780815796428
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (964 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Pensions and Public Policies by : William G. Gale

Download or read book Private Pensions and Public Policies written by William G. Gale and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-04-21 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The private pension system, together with Social Security, has provided millions of Americans with income security in retirement. But over the past thirty years, pension coverage has stagnated, leaving behind some vulnerable groups. Defined contribution plans have exposed workers to greater investment risk, while cash balance and other hybrid plans may have adverse effects on older workers caught in the transition. Pension regulations, infamous for their complexity, can be bewildering to policy analysts and policymakers. Private Pensions and Public Policies sheds timely and much-needed light on specific issues within the broader context and framework of pension reform. Contributors focus on topics that must be addressed in any reform effort, including the effects of the shift in emphasis toward defined contribution plans (after the 1974 Employee Retirement Income and Security Act) and hybrid plans (from the 1990s); regulatory issues such as nondiscrimination rules and contribution limits; how to increase the information available to participants and improve financial education; how participants in defined contribution plans make choices on questions such as asset allocation, back-loaded versus front-loaded saving, and annuities versus lump sum distributions; and the interaction of the private pension system with Social Security. Contributors include Robert L. Clark (North Carolina State University), Sylvester J. Schieber (Watson Wyatt Worldwide), Richard A. Ippolito (George Mason University School of Law), Alan L. Gustman (Dartmouth College), Thomas L. Steinmeier (Texas Tech University), John Karl Scholz (University of Wisconsin), Dean M. Maki, (JPMorgan Chase), William Even (Miami University of Ohio), Jagadeesh Gokhale (American Enterprise Institute), Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Boston University), Mark J. Warshawsky (TIAA-CREF Institute), Annika Sunden (Boston College), Andrew A. Samwick (Dartmouth College), David A. Wise (Harvard University), Joel Dickson (T

Pension Fund Risk Management

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Author :
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1439817545
Total Pages : 766 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (398 download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Fund Risk Management by : Marco Micocci

Download or read book Pension Fund Risk Management written by Marco Micocci and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2010-01-25 with total page 766 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As pension fund systems decrease and dependency ratios increase, risk management is becoming more complex in public and private pension plans. Pension Fund Risk Management: Financial and Actuarial Modeling sheds new light on the current state of pension fund risk management and provides new technical tools for addressing pension risk from an integr

Pension Fund Investment Policy

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 54 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Fund Investment Policy by : Zvi Bodie

Download or read book Pension Fund Investment Policy written by Zvi Bodie and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this paper is to survey what is known about the investment policy of pension funds. Pension fund investment policy depends critically on the type of plan: defined contribution versus defined benefit. For defined contribution plans investment policy is not much different than it is for an individual deciding how to invest the money in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). The guiding principle is efficient diversification, that is, achieving the maximum expected return for any given level of risk exposure. The special feature is the fact that investment earnings are not taxed as long as the money is held in the pension fund. This consideration should cause the investor to tilt the asset mix of the pension fund towards the least tax-advantaged securities such as corporate bonds. For defined benefit plans the practitioner literature seems to advocate immunization strategies to hedge benefits owed to retired employees and portfolio insurance strategies to hedge benefits accruing to active employees. Academic research into the theory of optimal funding and asset allocation rules for corporate defined benefit plans concludes that if their objective is shareholder wealth maximization then these plans should pursue extreme policies. For healthy plans, the optimum is full funding and investment exclusively in taxable fixed-income securities. For very underfunded plans, the optimum is minimum funding and investment in the riskiest assets. Empirical research so far has failed to decisively confirm or reject the predictions of this theory of corporate pension policy. Recent rule changes adopted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board regarding corporate reporting of defined benefit plan assets and liabilities may lead to a significant shift into fixed-income securities. The recent introduction of price-level indexed securities in u.s. financial markets may lead to significant changes in pension fund asset allocation. By giving plan sponsors a simple way to hedge inflation risk, these securities make it possible to offer plan participants inflation protection both before and after retirement.

Issues in Pension Economics

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226062902
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis Issues in Pension Economics by : Zvi Bodie

Download or read book Issues in Pension Economics written by Zvi Bodie and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past several decades, pension plans have become one of the most significant institutional influences on labor and financial markets in the U.S. In an effort to understand the economic effects of this growth, the National Bureau of Economic Research embarked on a major research project in 1980. Issues in Pension Economics, the third in a series of four projected volumes to result from thsi study, covers a broad range of pension issues and utilizes new and richer data sources than have been previously available. The papers in this volume cover such issues as the interaction of pension-funding decisions and corporate finances; the role of pensions in providing adequate and secure retirement income, including the integration of pension plans with social security and significant drops in the U.S. saving rate; and the incentive effects of pension plans on labor market behavior and the implications of plans on labor market behavior and the implications of plans for different demographic groups. Issues in Pension Economics offers important empirical studies and makes valuable theoretical contributions to current thinking in an area that will most likely continue to be a source of controversy and debate for some time to come. The volume should prove useful to academics and policymakers, as well as to members of the business and labor communities.

Pension Plan Valuation

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781457858727
Total Pages : 95 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (587 download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Plan Valuation by : Charles Jeszeck

Download or read book Pension Plan Valuation written by Charles Jeszeck and published by . This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditional defined benefit (DB) plans remain an essential source of retirement income, with tens of millions of Americans relying on them for retirement security. As of 2011, state and local government sector DB plans covered over 28 million participants, many of whom were not eligible for Social Security, and private sector DB plans covered more than 40 million Americans. DB plans use interest rates to "discount," or determine the current value, of estimated future benefits. Experts in the U.S. have disagreed on both the approach that should be taken by plans to determine a discount rate and the appropriate rate to be used. Different discount rates can create large differences in the valuation of a plan's obligations, which in turn can lead various stakeholders to draw different conclusions about a plan's health, the value of a plan's benefits, and the contributions required to fund them. This report addresses (1) the significance of differences in approaches used to determine discount rates among public and private plans; (2) purposes for measuring the value of a plan's future benefits and key considerations for determining discount rate policy; and (3) approaches selected countries have taken to choose discount rates. Tables and figures. This is a print on demand report.

Pension Finance

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Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118106369
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (181 download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Finance by : M. Barton Waring

Download or read book Pension Finance written by M. Barton Waring and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pension plans around the world are in a state of crisis. U.S. plans alone are facing a total accrued liability funding deficit of almost $4 trillion (of the same order of magnitude as the federal debt), a potential financial catastrophe that ranks among the largest ever seen. It has become clear that many government, corporate, and multi-employer pension sponsors will not be able to cope with this crippling debt and may default on promised benefits. And many of those sponsors that might be able to cope are exasperated by continuous, ongoing negative surprises-large unexpected deficits and higher-than-expected required contributions and pension expense-and are choosing to terminate their plans. But it need not be so. Pension Finance: Putting the Risks and Costs of Defined Benefit Plans Back under Your Control walks the reader through the conventional actuarial and accounting approaches to financing pension benefits and investing plan assets, showing that the problems described happen as a natural consequence of the dated methods still in use. It shows in detail how modern methods based on market value will easily minimize these risks: Pension plans can in fact be comfortable for employers to sponsor and safe for employees to contribute todepend on for their retirement needs. This book is must-read for defined benefit pension plan sponsors and employee representatives, plan executives, board members, accountants, fund managers, consultants, and regulators., Research sponsored by the CFA Institute, this book demystifies pension finance, previously accessible only to actuaries. It teaches the topic in lay terms by drawing complete analogies to ordinary transactions such as paying off a mortgage or saving for college. Armed with this book, anyone comfortable with finance and investments in any other context can be comfortable with pension finance and pension investment policy. And further armed with a handheld financial calculator, any layperson can quickly estimate the contributions needed to keep a given plan comfortably solvent, giving them a powerful tool for oversight.

The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems

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Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191610259
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems by : Gary Anderson

Download or read book The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems written by Gary Anderson and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-08-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People covered by public pensions are often the subject of 'pension envy:' that is, their benefits might seem more generous and their contributions lower than those offered by the private sector. Yet this book points out that such judgments are often inaccurate, since civil servants hold jobs with few counterparts in private industry, such as firefighters, police, judges, and teachers. Often these are riskier, dirtier, and demand more loyalty and discretion than would be required of a more mobile labor force in the private sector. The debate challenges traditional ideas about how the public employee labor contract is structured and raises questions about how such employees are attracted to the public sector, retained and motivated on the job, and retired, via an entire compensation package of wages and benefits. Authors explore aspects of these schemes, addressing the cost and valuation debate, along with the political economy of how public pension asset pools are perceived and managed, an increasingly important topic in times of global financial turmoil. The discussion also explores ways that public pensions can be strengthened in the US, Japan, Canada, and Germany. The volume captures a vigorous debate currently underway by academics, financial experts, regulators, and plan sponsors, all seeking to define a new future for public retirement systems. It will be of substantial interest to a wide range of readers, since public sector employees and their representatives will naturally find the comparisons and arguments over valuation of keen interest. Public pension administrators and policymakers seeking an explanation of what makes these plans so costly will gain a new understanding of how the arguments stack up. Private sector employers and plan sponsors can learn much from efforts to reform these retirement systems in states and countries around the world. Finally, investors and the taxpaying public more generally may be at risk to cover these long-term promises, so it behoves them to pay close attention to the financing and investment practices of these plans, along with their valuation. This volume represents an invaluable addition to the Pension Research Council / Oxford University Press series as it includes actuarial, economic, and financial perspectives making it useful for academics, retirement plan administrators, and public employees wishing to understand the challenges facing public pensions.

Strategic Asset Allocation

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Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 019160691X
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Strategic Asset Allocation by : John Y. Campbell

Download or read book Strategic Asset Allocation written by John Y. Campbell and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-01-03 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academic finance has had a remarkable impact on many financial services. Yet long-term investors have received curiously little guidance from academic financial economists. Mean-variance analysis, developed almost fifty years ago, has provided a basic paradigm for portfolio choice. This approach usefully emphasizes the ability of diversification to reduce risk, but it ignores several critically important factors. Most notably, the analysis is static; it assumes that investors care only about risks to wealth one period ahead. However, many investors—-both individuals and institutions such as charitable foundations or universities—-seek to finance a stream of consumption over a long lifetime. In addition, mean-variance analysis treats financial wealth in isolation from income. Long-term investors typically receive a stream of income and use it, along with financial wealth, to support their consumption. At the theoretical level, it is well understood that the solution to a long-term portfolio choice problem can be very different from the solution to a short-term problem. Long-term investors care about intertemporal shocks to investment opportunities and labor income as well as shocks to wealth itself, and they may use financial assets to hedge their intertemporal risks. This should be important in practice because there is a great deal of empirical evidence that investment opportunities—-both interest rates and risk premia on bonds and stocks—-vary through time. Yet this insight has had little influence on investment practice because it is hard to solve for optimal portfolios in intertemporal models. This book seeks to develop the intertemporal approach into an empirical paradigm that can compete with the standard mean-variance analysis. The book shows that long-term inflation-indexed bonds are the riskless asset for long-term investors, it explains the conditions under which stocks are safer assets for long-term than for short-term investors, and it shows how labor income influences portfolio choice. These results shed new light on the rules of thumb used by financial planners. The book explains recent advances in both analytical and numerical methods, and shows how they can be used to understand the portfolio choice problems of long-term investors.

Valuation, Optimal Asset Allocation and Retirement Incentives of Pension Plans

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 50 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Valuation, Optimal Asset Allocation and Retirement Incentives of Pension Plans by : Suresh M. Sundaresan

Download or read book Valuation, Optimal Asset Allocation and Retirement Incentives of Pension Plans written by Suresh M. Sundaresan and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds

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Author :
Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 : 9780821381601
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (816 download)

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Book Synopsis Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds by : Richard Hinz

Download or read book Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds written by Richard Hinz and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countries around the world are increasingly relying on individual pension savings accounts to provide income in old age for their citizens. Although these funds have now been in place for several decades, their performance is usually measured using methods that are not meaningful in relation to this long-term objective. The recent global financial crisis has highlighted the need to develop better performance evaluation methods that are consistent with the retirement income objective of pension funds. Compiling research derived from a partnership among the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and three private partners, 'Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds' discusses the theoretical basis and key implementation issues related to the design of performance benchmarks based on life-cycle savings and investment principles. The book begins with an evaluation of the financial performance of funded pension systems using the standard mean variance framework. It then provides a discussion of the limitations inherent to applying these methods to pension funds and outlines the many other issues that should be addressed in developing more useful and meaningful performance measures through the formulation of pension-specific benchmark portfolios. Practical implementation issues are addressed through empirical examples of how such benchmarks could be developed. The book concludes with commentary and observations from several noted pension experts about the need for a new approach to performance measurement and the impact of the recent global financial crisis on pension funds.

Restructuring Retirement Risks

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Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 0199204659
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis Restructuring Retirement Risks by : David Blitzstein

Download or read book Restructuring Retirement Risks written by David Blitzstein and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2006-08-03 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Highlighting retirement security as a major policy concern, this book addresses the question 'What are the risks & rewards in pensions, & what paths can stakeholders chose to solve these problems?'. It deals with employees' needs & expectations, employers' intentions & realizations, & policymakers' efforts to resolve the many challenges.

Pension Fund Excellence

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 9780471246558
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (465 download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Fund Excellence by : Keith P. Ambachtsheer

Download or read book Pension Fund Excellence written by Keith P. Ambachtsheer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1998-04-23 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neue Ideen für mehr Erfolg! Alles, was ein Manager über Rentenfonds wissen muß - die Zusammenstellung effektiver Fonds, ihr Management, die optimale Wertsteigerung - wird hier anhand in- und ausländischer Fallbeispiele eingängig erklärt. Nutzerfreundlich werden die wichtigsten Schritte in Übersichten zusammengestellt. Verschiedene moderne Ansätze zum Rentenfondsmanagement werden kritisch bewertet.

Pension Mathematics with Numerical Illustrations

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Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 9780812231960
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (319 download)

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Book Synopsis Pension Mathematics with Numerical Illustrations by : Howard E. Winklevoss

Download or read book Pension Mathematics with Numerical Illustrations written by Howard E. Winklevoss and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 1993-03-29 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A text that quantifies and provides new or improved actuarial notation for long recognized pension cost concepts and procedures and, in certain areas, develops new insights and techniques. With the exception of the first few chapters, the text is a virtual rewrite of the first edition of 1977. Among the major additions are chapters on statutory funding requirements, pension accounting, funding policy analysis, asset allocation, and retiree health benefits.

The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty

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Author :
Publisher : Crown Currency
ISBN 13 : 0804137374
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty by : Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz

Download or read book The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty written by Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here at last are the hard-to-find answers to the dizzying array of financial questions plaguing those who are age fifty and older. The financial world is more complex than ever, and people are struggling to make sense of it all. If you’re like most people moving into the phase of life where protecting—as well as growing-- assets is paramount, you’re faced with a number of financial puzzles. Maybe you’re struggling to get your kids through college without drawing down your life’s savings. Perhaps you sense your nest egg is at risk and want to move into safer investments. Maybe you’re contemplating downsizing to a smaller home, but aren’t sure of the financial implications. Possibly, medical expenses have become a bigger drain than you expected and you need help assessing options. Perhaps you’ll shortly be eligible for social security but want to optimize when and how to take it. Whatever your specific financial issue, one thing is certain—your range of choices is vast. As the financial world becomes increasingly complex, what you need is deeply researched advice from professionals whose credentials are impeccable and who prize clarity and straightforwardness over financial mumbo-jumbo. Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and the Schwab team have been helping clients tackle their toughest money issues for decades. Through Carrie’s popular “Ask Carrie” columns, her leadership of the Charles Schwab Foundation, and her work across party lines through two White House administrations and with the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, she has become one of America’s most trusted sources for financial advice. Here, Carrie will not only answer all the questions that keep you up at night, she’ll provide answers to many questions you haven’t considered but should.

Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226062899
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System by : Zvi Bodie

Download or read book Financial Aspects of the United States Pension System written by Zvi Bodie and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides valuable information and analysis to managers, policymakers, and investment counselors in the rapidly expanding field of pension funding. American workers, too, need answers and insights on how to invest their money and plan for their retirement. fifteen of America's leading financial analysts address such pressing questions as -What is the current financial status of the elderly, and how vulnerable are they to inflation? -What is the impact of inflation on the private pension system, and what are the effects of alternative indexing schemes? -What roles can the social security system play in the provision of retirement income? -What is the effect of the tax code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) on corporate pension policy? -How well funded are corporate pension plans, and is a firm's unfunded pension liability fully reflected in the market value of its common stock? Many of the conclusions these experts reach contradict and challenge popular views, thus providing fertile ground for innovation in pension planning.