The U S Pension Crisis

America faces its greatest financial challenge since the Great Depression: The U.S. Pension Crisis! A devastating pension crisis looms as spiking contribution costs and promised benefit payments threaten the solvency of many corporations, cities, and states. This book details how improper accounting rules misled pension managers to follow the wrong objectives, leading to a financial crisis of epic proportions. Award-winning author Ronald J. Ryan details just how the pension crisis developed and what pension decision makers need to do now to solve this dilemma. He offers a compelling strategy to reduce pension costs and reach a fully funded status.

America faces its greatest financial challenge since the Great Depression: The U.S. Pension Crisis! A devastating pension crisis looms as spiking contribution costs and promised benefit payments threaten the solvency of many corporations, cities, and states. This book details how improper accounting rules misled pension managers to follow the wrong objectives, leading to a financial crisis of epic proportions. Award-winning author Ronald J. Ryan details just how the pension crisis developed and what pension decision makers need to do now to solve this dilemma. He offers a compelling strategy to reduce pension costs and reach a fully funded status.

A comprehensive look at the crisis of unfunded pension liabilities and what must be done to avoid the same problem in the future As the generational bubble of the Baby Boomers begins to retire, it is increasingly evident that governments, corporations, and individuals have failed to adequately prepare for the obligations and needs of this giant cohort. Retirees are outliving actuarial life expectancies, pension liabilities are skyrocketing, pension plans are underfunded, and medical costs rise, the United States alone can expect unfunded liabilities to exceed $4 trillion. Even while the American economy shows signs of sustained recovery, states and local governments will still experience sharp increases in pension fund payments through the next year or longer. Global Pension Crisis looks at this situation and offers practical advice for retirement plan managers and financial advisors, while also explaining how to strengthen pensions and prevent similar crises in the future. Offers a clear and comprehensive explanation of the current pension crisis for retirement fund managers, financial advisors, and economists Includes prescriptive guidance on how to strengthen the pension fund system and prevent another similar crisis Written by venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and former senior Wall Street executive Rich Marin

Telling readers what they need to know now to protect their pensions, two pension experts and reform advocates reveal the pitfalls in the system, ask disturbing questions, and offer valuable advice to protect retirement income.

We use a calibrated multi-sector DSGE model to analyze the likely impact of oil windfalls on the Ghanaian economy, under alternative fiscal and monetary policy responses. We distinguish between the short-run impact, associated with demand-related pressures, and the medium run impact on competitiveness and growth. The impact on inflation and the real exchange rate could be moderate, especially if the fiscal authorities smooth oil-related spending or increase public spending's import content. However, a policy mix that results in both a fiscal expansion and the simultaneous accumulation of the foreign currency proceeds from oil as international reserves to offset the real appreciation would raise demand pressures and crowd-out the private sector. In the medium term, the negative impact on competitiveness resulting from "Dutch Disease" effects could be small, provided public spending increases the stock of productive public capital. These findings highlight the role of different policy responses, and their interaction, for the macroeconomic impact of oil proceeds.

Many quantitative empirical studies of retirement preparedness find that a substantial number of US households face a potential financial crisis at some point in the future. This monograph provides a critical survey of the most important and best-known of these studies, and it also examines the prospects for other countries. Studies of retirement preparedness vary in complexity and sophistication, and as a result, researchers offer a wide range of forecasts, with some warning of a severe crisis and others being more skeptical about the likely scale of the problem. This monograph appraises the quality of surveyed studies by determining how well each deals with key conceptual issues and how adequately each addresses principal risks. Going beyond the circumstances in the United States, the monograph also provides international perspective by comparing the “macro” and institutional aspects of pension and health systems in a group of eight industrialized countries, including the United States.

Praise for Pension Revolution "When Keith Ambachtsheer puts his keen mind to work on a problem, watch out! Here he exposes today's fragile arrangements for the most serious social dilemma of our times--financing retirement. Then he provides a compelling and powerful set of solutions. His writings are essential reading for all who care about the future of American living standards." --Peter Bernstein, founder and President, Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., and author of Capital Ideas and Against the Gods "This book describes one of the most ingenious inventions in the history of mankind: pension funds offering credible promises about old-age income. It reads like a thriller: how can well-governed pension funds be created in an imperfect world in which mortals wrestle with foibles and moral shortcomings? One of the world's leading experts on pensions searches for the answer--and finds it." --Lans Bovenberg, Scientific Director, Network for Studies on Pensions, Aging, and Retirement, Tilburg University, The Netherlands "Pension Revolution exposes the inadequacies of current pension systems and persuasively makes the case for the fundamental changes that are needed. It is essential reading for both the pension industry and policymakers." --Elizabeth Bryan, Chair, Investment Committee, Unisuper Management PM Ltd, Australia "Most analyses of complicated issues deal with complexity by simplifying or only looking at one piece-part, and, in doing so, provide limited value. In stark contrast, Keith Ambachtsheer boldly wades into the complexity in Pension Revolution to come up with a valuable integrative solution. He is a most welcome revolutionary!" --Roger Martin, Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Canada "We have known Keith for over ten years, and consistently over that time, he has constructively and comprehensively challenged conventional wisdom. He has done this so effectively that many of his initial thoughts have now become universally accepted norms. Such is his energy however that he continues to push the boundaries of pension and investment thinking." --Peter Moon, Chief Investment Officer, Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd, UK "Pension Revolution not only explains the shortcomings of the existing pension system and the underlying design features that have resulted in the current pension upheaval. It also offers thoughtful and creative suggestions for prospective pension design. A must-read for anyone interested in the future of retirement finance." --James Poterba, Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the TIAA-CREF Board of Trustees