Posted on 10/22/2018 12:48:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We have detailed this problem over the past 3-4 years warning people about how bad the pensions around the nation have become nothing more than another ponzi scheme. Most, if not all, state, local and federal pension programs are underfunded by 40% or more.
What we stated a mere two months ago, in September 2018!
The steam that is building began in earnest in 2012 and has been picking up speed ever since. Look no further than some of the recent events we have documented time and again – Detroit, CALPers, Jeremy Stein, Teamsters and Dallas Pension Fund. All of these events have taken place in less than five years. What will the next four-plus years bring? How much longer should one sit on their hands and watch as thousands upon thousands of people either have retirement stolen or placed on lock-down as is the case with the Dallas Police Pension fund?
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We have studied, researched and written about this for well over four years. Harry Markopolous, in 2011, tried to warn us about the ongoing theft, within the pension funds, on a daily basis by the banking cabal – link. CALPers pension program is north of 50% underfunded and losing a little more each and every quarter. – link. These are merely two of the articles that paint a picture of a tsunami of pension bankruptcies in the near future.
That’s a lot of people around the country that are directly impacted by unfunded, underfunded or otherwise completely insolvent pension funds.
It appears either the Forbes writer Elizabeth Bauer or SEC Commissioner Kara Stein read the article we published in September as they are now using the exact same language we used in September – ‘tsunami’ of pension failures.
SEC Commissioner Warns: A Retirement Crisis ‘Tsunami’ Is Approaching
Commissioner Kara M. Stein spoke to the Brookings Institution on Tuesday, giving a talk titled “The New American Dream: Retirement Security.” Here’s what she had to say:
Since World War II, Americans have planned their retirements around the expectation of combining a pension, Social Security benefits, and personal savings to provide sufficient income for their golden years. . . .
Due to a number of factors, the financial health of the Social Security trust fund has been declining. According to the 2018 Trustees Report on Social Security, the fund will be depleted by 2034.That is only 16 years away. At the same time, the availability of employer-provided pension plans has also been declining. Few private sector workers today have access to a pension, and many public sector pension plans are facing severe financial problems. . . .
We’ve moved from a collective retirement system to one in which each person is expected to go it alone. . . .
The retirement crisis is a tsunami that is rapidly approaching. We can already see it and, indeed, we are starting to feel its effects. Americans are having to work past traditional retirement age. And the number of bankruptcies for those over the age of 65 has increased dramatically. The size and speed of the tsunami is likely to increase as it gets closer and closer to us. Our population is aging and the cost of medical care—an important factor for retirees—is increasing. We must address this problem before we are collectively underwater. . . .
As an SEC Commissioner, I’m here to talk about solutions specifically related to the third leg of the stool—investments. Stashing away money in a savings account only gets retirees so far. To have a safe and secure retirement, Americans must invest their savings to allow them to grow. . . . Given the importance of investment to Americans’ ability to retire, what can the SEC do to help?
Stein’s talk continues by addressing the need for improved financial education, and suggests the SEC might create a model curriculum for schools, create spelling bee-like contests, and create an app, for instance. They might also work to improve the readability of disclosures in an investment prospectus, with key information up-front, or require that 401(k) disclosures include information on projected retirement income. She revisits the question of the now-discarded plan of holding investment advisors to a fiduciary standard (that is, prohibiting them from steering clients to investments which pay higher commissions) and suggests that a (less-desirable) alternative might be educating investors to ask whether their advisors have conflicts of interest. In addition, because of the impact that severe market downturns can have on retirement-savers, the Commission should, while recognizing that downturns are a fact of life, look at actions to mitigate the likelihood of the most severe market crashes. Source
I am not a financial advisor so I’m not offering financial advice I just have a simple question – does it really take a “professional advisor” to see the writing on the wall? If you are not at least thinking about this problem, then it may be time. At least look at what is going on within your retirement account, especially if it is with a large corporate or state entity. We made our decision in 2009 and still have zero regrets. As a matter-of-fact I am extremely happy I got out when I did. Sorry I missed out on the gains, but I don’t regret the decision for one second. Got physical; we sure do!
Oh dear. Left-wing government employees got conned by politicians. There’s a new one.
Is it only a crisis in the SEC or also in the Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, Ivy League and other conferences?
They didn’t get conned. They demand and expect that the taxpayers will be made to pony up whatever it takes, no matter how unaffordable. The taxpaying public is there to service its so-called servants.
Less illegals = more Americans providing for Americans that have already paid INTO the system.
President Trump is just getting started and the full benefit(s) may take another year or two.
But they're coming !
Not all left wing.
I have a nice pension coming in about 4 months. But, it’s funded by my paycheck.
If I get anything out of SS, it’s gravy.
What do you think the percentage of conservative government employees is?
Did you have a lot of conservative acquaintances at work?
We worked for our feathers. Why can't they?
Breaking the public employee unions if the first step toward real meaningful social security reform. Yeah, I know it sounds harsh. But is there really any other way?
All we need to do is raise taxes to pay for the pensions!
Problem solved!
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But, it’s funded by my paycheck.
And at the school I taught at, there weren’t many left wingers at all.
Most pension funds invest the money they receive from future pensioners in the stock market.
If the Democrats win the upcoming election, the stock market will fall, further endangering the already shaky pension funds and their future pensioners’ prospects of receiving any money when they retire.
So the last thing prospective pensioners — almost all of them Democrats — should do is vote Democratic.
But if any of them were intelligent enough to understand this, they’d be Republicans by now.
This was the RAT plan from the beginning
I think they should ban pensions for states and municipalities and instead go with fully funded 401ks. If there is matching with delayed vesting the matching amount has to be funded from the start.
And they should allow health savings accounts for anyone whether they have alternatives through work or not.
I think they should ban pensions for states and municipalities and instead go with fully funded 401ks. If there is matching with delayed vesting the matching amount has to be funded from the start.
And they should allow health savings accounts for anyone whether they have alternatives through work or not.
I think they should ban pensions for states and municipalities and instead go with fully funded 401ks. If there is matching with delayed vesting the matching amount has to be funded from the start.
And they should allow health savings accounts for anyone whether they have alternatives through work or not.
We avoid talking about it, but, I suspect that there are NOT that many conservatives. :(
But, you can tell the ones who are. They tend to be much happier with their work than the leftist.
For the most part, I am glad to be getting out soon. (mainly because I work to live, not, live to work and we are heading out to sea as soon as we can after)
Nobody could see this coming. 15 years ago.
Agreed. They should be funding their own pensions. I could see kicking in something from the state or muni’s or schools like 10% of the salary per year as a cap and that’s only after being vested. Even that’s being generous in the real world.
I don’t really have a problem with where the funding comes from, just the timing. In other words, it’s okay for state and municipalities to fund retirements, but they have to do it immediately, not make it an unfunded burden in the future.
And maybe there should be a law ob timing as well that increases in retirement funding can’t go into effect until one year after then next election. Have to be public noticed. And are repealable by the incoming legislature.
I don’t really have a problem with where the funding comes from, just the timing. In other words, it’s okay for state and municipalities to fund retirements, but they have to do it immediately, not make it an unfunded burden in the future.
And maybe there should be a law ob timing as well that increases in retirement funding can’t go into effect until one year after then next election. Have to be public noticed. And are repealable by the incoming legislature.
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