Sorted Recent Tweets
Trying a new format here, I think readers will like it better. Most things are better after additional effort. Think of this as a news links by subject post. Economics If you look in the back, it seems that there were 58 respondents. From page 13: Methodology & Panel Selection Invi… http://t.co/p8sVZl9g Feb 06, 2012...
[SFTW] No more Shelling out for pensions
So even Royal Dutch Shell has decided that the oil business is hard enough, without running a life assurance scheme for employees on the side. There is now not a single company...
Defining Benefits Down
I have long thought that Defined Benefit plans are the best retirement plans for workers. They are also the worst for employers. Why? Employees are incapable of making intelligent investment decisions in aggregate, much as they like the feeling of “control.” Far better to have professionals choose investments where they don’t give in (as much)...
Defining Benefits Down
I have long thought that Defined Benefit plans are the best retirement plans for workers. They are also the worst for employers. Why? Employees are incapable of making intelligent investment decisions in aggregate, much as they like the feeling of “control.” Far better to have professionals choose investments where they don’t give in (as much)...
Piling on the government gurantees
Government guarantees for financial institutions are a financial crisis thing, right?Wrong.As the above chart from a new OECD paper (by Sebastian Schich and Byoung Hwan Kim) shows,...
On Longevity Derivatives
I am a firm believer in “you can’t get something for nothing.” So it is when a new derivative is proposed. Either there are natural counterparties to take up the exposure (reducing their risk), or speculators must be encouraged to take the risk (more likely). So, with longevity derivatives, the risk is people living too...
The United States of pension shortfalls
From Pew’s report on public sector pensions, out Tuesday.These calculations assume an eight per cent return on investment, the median achieved from 1990 to 2009. However,...
Book Review: Financial Jiu-Jitsu
The genre of personal finance books is crowded. I have read my share of good and bad books in this area, and the book that I am reviewing this evening falls in the good column. It covers all of the main areas of personal finance adequately, and makes analogies from the world of martial arts. ...
Why it is Difficult to Improve Matters with Defined Benefit Plans
A few notes before I begin for the evening. First, I have two piles of books sitting next to me — one pile of mediocre books, and one pile of lousy books. Should I review them, at least in summary form, or should I leave them unreviewed? It’s ten books in all. I never know...
Illinois pension bond sale – not a disaster
From the WSJ on Wednesday afternoon, provisional details of Illinois’ delayed $3.7bn pension bond sale:Initial indications on the deal Tuesday showed $6.1 billion in orders,...
Problems with Constant Compound Interest (5)
This is a continuation of an irregular series which you can find here. Maybe if I were more scientific, I would have called it “All Exponential Growth Processes Run Into Constraints and Threats,” or if I were more poetic, “Nothing Lasts Forever — Nothing Grows to the Sky.” Regardless, simple modeling is the bane of...
Charts du jour, muni edition
Worried about public pensions liabilities? Well, look away now.In a report out Wednesday, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College tried to isloate the factors that...
