Retirement Security Law Commons^™

Social Security Reform: Risks, Returns, And Race, Dorothy A. Brown, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

The debate over social security reform has far-reaching implications for the economic well-being of blacks and other minority groups. In this article, we examine how blacks have fared under the existing system, and then consider the likely consequences of moving toward a privatized system. Specifically, we consider the claim, recently advanced by some privatizers, that blacks receive an especially "bad deal" under the existing system and would be better off under a privatized system. We find that, for blacks as a group, this claim tends to overstate both the shortcomings of the existing system and the advantages of privatization. Furthermore, …

Privitizing Social Security: Administration And Implementation, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

This article considers administrative issues that bear on the structure and implementation of any universal, mandatory system of personal accounts within the Social Security system. The central issues involve tradeoffs between relatively standardized, low-cost options with constrained individual choice and limited risk, on the one hand, and more flexible, higher-cost options with enhanced opportunities for individual control and greater risk, on the other hand. A centralized system modeled on the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees could balance these goals by offering participants a relatively narrow range of investment and withdrawal options, with correspondingly low administrative costs and limited risks. …

Hidden In Plain View: The Pension Shield Against Creditors, Patricia E. Dilley

Patricia E Dilley

This Article examines the virtually unquestioned protection of retirement assets from creditors, in both state and federal law, with a view to determining whether tax qualification or even retirement itself is a sufficient rationale for preserving debtor assets in the face of creditors' claims, and if so, what the limits of such protection should be. The problems of current law stem in large part from the use of tax qualified status as a convenient shortcut for determining the appropriate bankruptcy treatment of retirement accounts. The result is a wide disparity in the treatment of debtors epitomized by the cases of …

Supreme Court’S Decision In Fifth Third Bancorp V. Dudenhoeffer Introduces New Standards For Erisa Fiduciaries, Barry R. Temkin, Kate E. Digeronimo

Barry R. Temkin

In its 2014 decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer et al., the U.S. Supreme Court held that fiduciaries of plans that hold publicly traded company stock are subject to the same duty of prudence that applies to fiduciaries in general under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). In doing so, the Supreme Court effectively rejected decades of law applied by nearly all the Courts of Appeals affording fiduciaries of company stock plans a special “presumption of prudence” not available to the fiduciaries of other varieties of ERISA plans. In place of the presumption of prudence, the …

A Tax Lawyer's Observations On Scary Numbers, Politics, And Irresponsibility: A Commentary On Shaviro's Reckless Disregard, Lawrence Lokken

Lawrence Lokken

The fiscal gap is filled by the issuance of government debt, au increasing portion of which is held by foreigners. Although foreigners still seem willing to absorb large amounts of U.S. debt, international organizations express concern over U.S. budgetary deficits. A significant source of the fiscal gap is the Social Security system. Two changes that might resolve Social Security funding issues include raising the minimum age to receive full retirement benefits to seventy years old and raising the taxable wage base. Politically, however, adopting either of these changes soon seems impossible. In addition, current Medicare costs will exceed current tax …

The 11th Annual Employee Benefits Symposium: America's Retirement Crisis: What Can Be Done, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. Xxiii (2013), Kathryn J. Kennedy

Kathryn J. Kennedy

No abstract provided.

The Ephemeral Promise Of Annuitization For A Secure Retirement

Patricia A. McCoy

No abstract provided.

Retirement Security In The Age Of Devolution, Law & Society Annual Meeting, Natalya Shnitser

Natalya Shnitser

No abstract provided.

Degrees Of Intermediation

Patricia A. McCoy

No abstract provided.

Pension De-Risking, Paul Secunda, Brendan Maher

Paul M. Secunda

The United States is facing a retirement crisis, in significant part because defined benefit pension plans have been replaced by defined contribution retirement plans that, whatever their theoretical merit, have left significant numbers of workers unprepared for retirement. A troubling example of the continuing movement away from defined benefit plans is a new phenomenon euphemistically called “pension de-risking.”

Recent years have been marked by high-profile companies engaging in various actions designed to reduce the company’s exposure to pension funding risk (hence the term “pension de-risking”). Some de-risking strategies convert a federally-guaranteed pension into a more risky private annuity. Other approaches …

Funding Discipline For U.S. Public Pension Plans: An Empirical Analysis Of Institutional Design, Natalya Shnitser

Natalya Shnitser