Are the Pension Funds in Trouble?

People should begin to understand that there are few safe havens for your money. A friend of mine recently wanted to know what I thought of a guarantied rate from an annuity. I asked who was guaranteeing the rate and stated the name of the compnay selling him the annutiy. This is not a guarantee. Well, technically it is, but what if the company supplying the guarantee cannot meet their obligations, like AIG. What recourse do you have?

The same is true of penions. What guarantee do you have that the company can continue to meet its pension obligations. Would you want a pension right now from one of the big three auto makers? Now is a good time to understand the nature of your guarantee.

Text in bold is my emphasis. From USA Today:

As the volatile stock market eats away at the assets of public pension funds, states are moving aggressively to mitigate their losses.

Some states are raising the amount that employers and employees contribute to traditional pensions, which guarantee a set monthly payment — based on employees' salary and job tenure — in retirement. Others are freezing benefits or scaling back cost-of-living adjustments.

The moves come amid states' ballooning budget deficits. Pensions' poor investment performance threatens to aggravate states' fiscal woes.

"When revenue is down and pensions are suffering investment losses, the budgets of governments are squeezed," says Dave Slishinsky, a principal at Buck Consultants, which advises states on pension plans.

In the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, public pension plans lost 14.9%, according to Wilshire Associates, a consulting firm.

How states are shoring up plans:

•Wisconsin recently notified participants in its state and local employees' plan — which combines features of a traditional pension and a 401(k) — that it may have to reduce monthly payments for the first time ever if stock market losses continue.

"Our members share the risk and reward" of the market, says David Stella, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds.

Monthly payments, however, will not fall below the amount workers got upon retirement.

•The Arizona State Retirement System will likely raise contributions for employees and employers next year because of poor investment performance in the fiscal year ended June 30, says David Cannella, a spokesman for the system.

•The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension, says it may have to raise employers' contributions if investment performance doesn't improve by June 30, 2009, its fiscal year end.

•Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixonhas proposed axing a costly feature in firefighters' and police officers' pension plan that can give big, permanent benefit increases in years when the market is doing well. Dixon proposes an annual fixed increase of 1.5% in benefits, and an additional (but limited) bump up when stocks do well over time.

•The Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System has boosted its cash position to $200 million from $25 million by holding onto employer contributions and cash from maturing bonds. The cash cushion means the pension fund won't be forced to sell assets in a distressed market, CEO Donna Mueller says.