defined-benefit

The Denver Post is reporting that negotiators are nearing a deal on PERA, the generous defined-benefit plan that most state workers have benefited from over the years:

PERA Nears A Deal – UPDATED « View From a Height

Maintaining a defined-benefit for incoming and even current employees is not realistic (promises made to those already retired must be honored).

PERA Nears A Deal – UPDATED « View From a Height

But while defined-benefit pensions sound good in theory — retirees should have security for their later years — they actually create incentives that impede hiring and keeping the best teachers.

Why Teacher Pensions Don't Work

Which means that the solvency of any defined-benefit plan is mostly guesswork.

PERA Nears A Deal – UPDATED « View From a Height

Whether the investment returns are there or not, defined-benefit pensions require the government to pay retirees a predetermined amount for life.

Why Teacher Pensions Don't Work

Some fiscal watchdogs say the plan masks the long-term problem of pension costs that could be more prudently managed by tightening wages and overhauling the defined-benefit system.

Schools Look to Delay Pain

The big questions are what long-term share of its productivity should be devoted to tax payments, and whether Medicare can remain the defined-benefit system it is now, or should be turned into a defined-contribution system whose costs are easier to control—questions that both sides think will get a full airing in a national campaign.

Deficit Fix Is Elusive Amid Clashing Narratives

"As long as you have a traditional defined-benefit pension, you've got taxpayers on a financial roller coaster," said E.J. McMahon , who directs the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative fiscal group.

Cuomo Seeks New Pension Tier

Premium support is easily as important an advance as the shift from defined-benefit pensions to 401ks, and the transition could be as smooth.

Medicare for a New Century

For example, states and districts must shift new employees from defined-benefit pension programs to portable, defined-contribution plans where employees can contribute a proportionate amount to their own retirement savings.

In Budget Crises, an Opening for School Reform