Today’s Federal Register.
“Flow from pension funds likely to slow: As retirement plans controlled by employers decline, venture capital cash expected to wane“: Arden Dale for the Dow Jones Newswire via the Austin-American Statesman.com reports. The article discusses how, as employers shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans to cut costs, venture capitalists might lose out since defined benefit pension funds are a major investor in venture capital. The article discusses how 401(k) plans are really not suited for such investments.
In a related article–“Tensions Escalate Between Venture Funds, Institutions“–the Wall Street Journal reports that “[t]ensions between generally close-mouthed venture funds and the public institutions and pension plans that often invest in them are heating up, as disgruntled investors, local newspapers and other interested individuals use state open-records laws to get more information about investment performance at the venture funds.” (Subscription required.)
On pension funding, Albert Crenshaw has this article for the Boston Globe entitled “Strained pension agency casts doubt on its future.”
This article by Gregory Cancelada for the St. Louis Post Dispatch–“National Steel’s retirees say goodbye to benefits”–shows how the Health Coverage Tax Credit (“HCTC”) is helping those retirees of National Steel who have lost their retiree health benefits due to the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. The HCTC pays 65 percent of the premium for a qualified health-insurance plan for eligible retirees at least age 55, whose pension was taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
Brian Tumulty for the Gannett News Service via the Cincinatti Enquirer reports: “IBM plaintiff asks for calm: Pension ruling’s impact may be big.”
Sonja Ryst for the Dow Jones Newswires via the Wall Street Journal today in their Encore report has this useful article: “A Guide to Fixing Your 401(k): If you’re like most people, you haven’t tuned up your nest egg in a long time. Here are the tools to get started.” How are people dealing with their 401(k) plan accounts after the long bear market?.” The article says 401(k) plan investors are not doing much when it comes to their 401(k) plan investments and that they are leaning too heavily on the message heard from experts about staying the course and investing for the long haul. The article provides useful information for choosing a financial planner and recommends some websites for obtaining the following information:
- the Financial Planning Association (www.fpanet.org): provides an overview of the different types of planners and questions you may want to ask them, such as how you’re paying for their services and whether they earn commissions.
- The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (www.cfp.net): provides information regarding whether a financial planner has passed an exam on financial planning and met other qualifications required for certification.
- National Association of Securities Dealers, or NASD (www.nasd.com): verifies an adviser’s employment history and registration and provides other information, such as whether the adviser has been convicted of a felony.
- National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (www.napfa.org) provides information about fee-only financial planners.
Finally, MSNBC.com provides this interesting article by Karen Lowry Miller for Newsweek: “Too Much Money: Sounds impossible, but it?s true. In a decade, the world has gone from money crunch to glut, and investors are desperate for ways to spend it all.” The article highlights how “pension managers are under pressure to return 7 to 10 percent, and with U.S. Treasury bonds paying less than 5 percent, they have no choice but to pursue” higher risk investments.