August 22, 2019

PERSONAL FINANCE, FINANCIAL WELLNESS, ANNUITIES, TAXES, CHARITY & FINANCIAL LITERACY

• How to get rid of property taxes? Lawmaker looks to retirement income.
• Recession fears should prompt you to revisit your investment strategies
• Before You Claim Social Security, Do a Savings Checkup
• Deferred Income Annuities: Loved by Economists, Ignored by Investors ; What is Annuitization and When Should You Do It? ; Two insurers to pay $117000 to Pennsylvanians after major investment scam
• Acquisitions and Closings Mean Fewer Robo-Advisors
• Back on campus, students confront a challenging housing market
• Poor People Are Already Financially Literate. They Just Need More Money
• Nonprofits Face Collateral Damage from Sometimes Unsavory Benefactors

HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS

• Employers’ Health Plan Costs Could Rise 6% in 2020 ; Consumers Have Positive View of Healthcare, Concerns Over Price
• Close to one-third of healthcare employees have never received cybersecurity training, report shows
• Could next year be the beginning of the end of traditional employer-sponsored health insurance?
• Medicaid Enrollment and Capitation Rates

TECH, MEDIA & SOCIAL MEDIA

• Cyberthreats Against Financial Services Up 56% ; What Cybersecurity Trends Should We Expect From The Rest Of 2019?  ; Cybersecurity incidents down at federal agencies, no ‘major’ ones
• Georgia Supreme Court: Are data breach victims entitled to damages?
• Facebook unveils tool that allows users to curb targeted advertising
• Square just had its best month ever for Cash App downloads, analyst says
• Uber’s own numbers show why investors shouldn’t believe in its vision

401k, 403b, 457b, NONQUALIFIED, STATE-RUN PLANS & LITIGATION

• Fidelity Says Number of 401(k) Millionaires Hits Record High ; These 4 factors explain why 401(k) balances are so far below their potential
• States moving to DC pension saw higher taxpayer costs, less retirement security: report
• Charles Schwab Wins Significant Pro-Arbitration ERISA Decision ; Schlichter Settlement Highlights the Costs of Litigation 
• White House reviewing DOL proposal on 401(k) plan electronic document disclosures

PENSIONS

• Should a Pension Fund Try to Change the World?
• Ballot measures would make PERS problem worse
• California pension fund wants to join Facebook lawsuit
• Nearly 40% of education spending consumed by pension costs
• Pouring pensions into potholes is too great a risk
• Joplin council appoints residents to stump for sales tax boost for pension fund
• Major Restructuring of CalPERS Investment Committee Could Become a Reality ; CalPERS shifts $150 billion as part new strategic asset allocation

INTERNATIONAL

• UK DB Plans’ Deficit Widens to £90.7 billion in July
• Increasing the state pension age to 75 is a terrible, divisive idea
• Nine million workers over 45 are sleep walking into retirement ‘baffled by pensions’
• Pension liabilities expected to rise as 2019 sees fewer deaths reported – LCP
• 40% of Canadians largely use TFSAs as simple savings accounts: Ipsos poll
• Super Fund hangs out its shingle

MARKETS

• Headed to Recession? Keep an Eye on Business Investment
• White House denies it’s considering payroll tax cut to stimulate economy ; Execs starting to worry about tariffs’ effects on consumers
• AAA says US gasoline prices dropping despite record demand ; Oil Steadies as US-China Trade Progress Allays Demand Concerns
• The radical plan for taming capitalism: Give everyone a share of Wall Street
• When multi-factor investing turns into an endurance test ; Knowledge, transparency cited as challenges to greater CIT adoption
• Switzerland Has a New Way to Impose World’s Lowest Interest Rate
• Central banks in Asia are cutting rates to prop up their economies — but that may not be enough ; How central banks might deal with the next downturn
• The real consequence of a no-deal Brexit is not short-term shock – it’s a long recession

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS

• Former Broker Charged In South Florida Alternative Investment Scheme
• Hedge fund performance forces prime brokers to rethink risk ; Hedge funds are making millions off Europe’s killer heat waves ; Yen Rally Catches Attention of Hedge-Fund Managers
• The Private Equity Tool Distorting Returns ; Policy Makers Should Take a Look at Private Equity
• Cryptocurrency salaries are a bad flashback to company scrip ; Dark web dealer made to forfeit millions in cryptocurrency gets 70 months in the slammer ; Facebook reportedly faces EU antitrust scrutiny over its Libra cryptocurrency
• Mortgage REITs were doing great — until the yield curve inverted