Regarding the battle over disclosure of performance returns of private-equity investments by public funds, the Wall Street Journal today reports: “University Loses
Battle to Stop Data Disclosure: California Court Lets Stand Ruling Requiring Release Of Investment Information.” Quote of Note: “The California Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that required the data be released. The ruling is a setback for public pension funds and venture capitalists that have resisted increasing demands to release the data under public-records requests; they have argued that doing so would put them at a competitive disadvantage.” Also from the Mercury News: “UC appeal rejected by court: Investment Data Must Be Disclosed.” The latter article reports California Judge James Richman as also ruling that “minutes of UC Regents investment meetings should be disclosed.”
Also, from the Wall Street Journal: “Fees Jump on College-Savings Plans Commissions for Brokers Are Raised by Fund Firms As Record Amounts Pour In.” The article discusses how fees incurred for 529 college-savings plans have increased sharply and notes that “sales commissions on broker-sold plans are often waived or reduced when you buy them through your employer.”
Other articles of importance from the Wall Street Journal:
- “Lucent’s Former CEO To Defend Cuts to Retirees.”
- “Wal-Mart Cost-Cutting Finds Big Target in Health Benefits Restrictions, Tough Stance on Basic Claims Keep Its Outlays Below the U.S. Average”
A press release has been issued by Watson Wyatt regarding a report entitled “Pensions in Crises“: “Pension Underfunding Remains Widespread But Represents Just 4 Percent of Corporate Assets: Corporate Pension Fund Contributions Set to Double Without Regulatory Fix.” Quote of Note: “Relative to total corporate assets, the unfunded pension liabilities of most large companies are not excessive,” says Sylvester Schieber, director of research at Watson Wyatt. “Unfunded liabilities should always be monitored. But the real problem with the pension system is a regulatory environment that actively discourages not only the full funding of future liabilities but the very idea of pension plan sponsorship at all.”
Scott Burns for the Houston Chronicle has this: “Switching 401(k) to index funds OK for big balances.”