Utah’s pension funds had a 50 percent chance of becoming insolvent by 2028 prior to the state’s reform plan. The chance dropped to 10 percent after the state greatly improved the solvency of its pension funds with 401(k)-style reforms.
With a mere 39 cents on hand for every dollar needed to pay for future benefits, the state would need a three-year government shutdown just to break even.
The Peach State has been keen to modernize their public pension system.
Illinois’ municipal pension shortfall, excluding Chicago, has spiked to more than $12 billion from $1 billion just a decade ago.
A federal judge approved Detroit’s historic Chapter 9 bankruptcy, allowing the city to shave off $7 billion in liabilities from a total debt of $18 billion.
At the rate pension costs are expected to increase, by 2029 the state will spend more on retirement costs than on aid to schools.
In 2005, Alaska froze the state’s traditional defined-benefit pension plan and created a self-managed 401(k)-style retirement plan for new public employees and teachers.
More than 70 cents out of every new education dollar already goes to teacher retirement costs.
Michigan was a trailblazer when it comes to 401(k)-style reform plans for government workers. In 1997, Michigan froze the state employees’ defined-benefit pension plan and created a self-managed 401(k)-style retirement plan for new state workers. It was the first state in the nation to enact bold reforms like these. Michigan state employees who started working...
401(k)-style retirement plans are becoming the new normal in state and local pension reform efforts. Six states have passed 401(k)-style reforms since 2008 – with Oklahoma passing a 401(k)-style reform plan for new workers earlier this year. Memphis, Tennessee, is the most recent example of a city pushing to take politicians out of the retirement...
Here are the top 10 facts you need to know about Illinois’ pension crisis: 1) Illinois’ state pension funds have only 41 cents for every dollar they need to pay out future benefits. 2) Illinois has the nation’s worst pension crisis. Taxpayers are officially on the hook for more than $100 billion in unfunded Illinois pension debt,...
Illinois politicians have looted and mismanaged government-worker pensions for decades. Now the retirement security of government workers is at risk. It’s time to take politicians out of the retirement business and give workers control over their own retirement futures. Here are the top 10 facts you need to know about 401(k)-style retirement plans: 1) 401(k)s...
Missing from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s recent 2015 budget proposal is a plan to prepare for a massive increase in the city’s pension costs. The city’s required pension payment is slated to more than double next year. The increased cost wasn’t included the 2015 proposal because the city won’t have to pay for the full...
Government workers across Illinois believe they have no viable alternative to the politician-controlled pension system. They’re stuck holding on to the false hope that politicians will make good on their next set of promises, and that somehow the pension crisis will solve itself in the future. That’s why the Illinois Policy Institute launched workerfreedom.com, an...