Today’s Federal Register is here.
“Pensions in peril: With 77% of Canadian plans in a deficit position, sponsoring companies are being asked to cover the shortfall. They can’t afford to be too generous”: the National Post has this excellent article by Paul Purcell which discusses the alternatives for plan sponsors with big pension deficits.
The Washington Post has this article by Albert B. Crenshaw: “401(k)s: Remember Them?” The article reports how employees are ignoring the risks of investing too heavily in company stock, i.e. putting all of their eggs in one basket, even though many companies have eliminated restrictions on participants’ ability to shift out of company stock.
Business Week Online provides this good news for the economy: “A Hidden Stash? New research says taxes on boomer retirement savings could bring in trillions.” This great article discusses a new, as-yet-unpublished paper by Stanford University economist Michael J. Boskin which estimates that the value of ordinary income tax baby boomers will pay on their retirement accounts as they begin to retire through 2040 is roughly $12 trillion in today’s dollars. The article reports that Mr. Boskin has zeroed in on an “issue that has escaped the notice of the vast majority of economists, politicians, and investment experts.”
“Lawyers see complex provisions in Bush’s $350-billion tax plan”: Mike Colias for Providence Business News reports on the legal intricacies of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act.