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Management consulting firm McKinsey reports that organizations that appear on “best places to work” lists often make the cut because their business strategy is premised on a long-term relationship with their employees. McKinsey credits companies for both the large and small signals sent to employees that an organization cares about its people.

Valued by employers as a workforce management tool to recruit and retain talent, offering defined benefit (DB) pension benefits is one way that employers send a loud signal to employees that they are committed to a long-term relationship. The structure of a pension increases the financial value of a DB pension benefit over an employee’s career. This provides a meaningful incentive for employees to stay in their jobs. Research indicates that employees value pensions as a path economic security in retirement, especially as compared to individual defined contribution (DC) accounts.

Firefighters have been saving the lives of Americans since 1678. Although their techniques have changed since then, firefighters are still saving thousands of lives each year.

This week is National Retirement Security Week! Proclaimed by an official declaration from Congress, each year supporters of 401(k)-style defined contribution plans use this week to promote their products. We’ve decided to take back retirement security from the salesmen of the financial industry and focus on the most reliable source of retirement security: defined benefit pensions. Today’s blog post will discuss the true state of retirement security in the United States. On Wednesday, we’ll highlight how defined contribution plans contribute to the retirement savings crisis. On Friday, we’ll wrap up by focusing on the strengths of defined benefit pensions.

Baby Boomers nearing retirement face a stark reality when it comes to leaving the workforce. Almost 20 million working Americans between ages 55 and 64 have no money in 401(k) retirement accounts and do not have a pension. Will they be able to pay their bills and maintain their standard of living on just Social Security?

These near-retirees face little time to reap the benefit of compound interest to help grow their nest eggs at a time when interest rates are at an all-time low. With these factors working against them, financial advisors often suggest that pre-retirees keep working and avoid drawing on Social Security until their full retirement age or later.

Last year, the full retirement age started to move up, making retiring early more costly. For those born in 1956, the age at which Americans can receive full Social Security benefits is age 66 and four months. This full retirement age will continue to increase until 2022 when it reaches age 67.

The cost of funding fire fighter pensions in municipalities is growing faster than inflation. The president of the Illinois Fire Fighters Association, the Peoria fire fighters union president and an actuary discuss the funding issue for the 297 fire fighter pensions in Illinois. They offer potential changes that could relieve some of the financial pressure on municipal governments.

The American Academy of Actuaries last week suspended Timothy W. Sharpe from membership for a period of two years for materially failing to comply with parts of its Code of Professional Conduct in connection with valuations he performed for several municipal police and fire pension plans in Illinois. The Notice is linked here.

Suspension is important because the Illinois Pension Code requires certain pension services to be performed by an “enrolled actuary,” which means membership in either the Academy or the Society of Actuaries (40 ILCS 5/4-118). Not being a member of the Society, Sharpe’s services in Illinois now presumably will end. He had continued to work for some Illinois pensions prior to the suspension while complaints pended against him.

The suspension is rare. Only 21 actuaries have been suspended or expelled from the Academy in the last 43 years.

The consequences of poor financial capability at older ages are serious and include making mistakes with credit, spending retirement assets too quickly, and being defrauded by financial predators. Because older persons are at or past the peak of their wealth accumulation, they are often the targets of fraud. Our project analyzes a module we developed and fielded in the 2016. Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Using this dataset, we evaluate the incidence and risk factors for investment fraud, prize/lottery scams, and account misuse, using regression analysis. Relatively few HRS respondents mentioned any single form of fraud over the prior five years, but nearly 5% reported at least one form of investment fraud, 4% recounted prize/lottery fraud, and 30% indicated that others had used/attempted to use their accounts without permission. There were few risk factors consistently associated with such victimization in the older population. Fraud is a complex phenomenon and no single factor uniquely predicts victimization. The incidence of fraud could be reduced by educating consumers about various types of fraud and by increasing awareness among financial service professionals.