Posts Tagged ‘MS PERS’
PERS of Mississippi in for Tough Decisions According to Latest PEER Report
The Mississippi Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review issues an annual report on the state’s defined benefit pension system. Normally, the PEER report tends to be moderate in its analysis of PERS, but this one released on May 11 admits that demographics, lower than expected wage inflation by contributing members and lower than expected investment returns are combining to scuttle the plan’s bottom line.
Read MorePERS — Retirees vs. Workers?
The time for can-kicking is past when it comes to fixing Mississippi’s defined benefit pension system. The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi could soon ask taxpayers to increase their contribution to the pensions of state and local employees for the second time in two years.
Read MoreThe Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi Has Taken a Hard Hit
Mississippi’s defined benefit pension fund was hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi released its annual comprehensive annual financial report on December 15, 2020 for fiscal 2020, which ended June 30 and the plan continues to take on water.
Read MorePERS Management Fees Could Be Capped With Senate Bill 2115
A much-needed bill in the Mississippi Legislature could reduce the amount that the state’s defined benefit pension system pays to outside money managers.
Read MoreTime for Reform of Mississippi’s Defined Benefit Pension System
A cost of living adjustment should be related to the real world inflation rate. Mississippi PERS’ COLA at 3 percent is not. In 2005, the plan’s COLA payout to retirees was $211 million or about 18.9 percent of total benefits paid out. This year, it grew to almost $700 million, an increase of 7.6 percent from 2018 ($650 million). The COLA payouts are now 25.4 percent of all benefits paid to retirees.
Read MorePERS Part 3: Is PERS Slip SLRPing Away?
Mississippi is the only state with a supplemental pension fund for its legislators (SLRP), seven states provide no pension benefits for legislators, most notably Alabama and Louisiana. The SLRP chug-a-lugs along with a funding ratio of 84.7%, while PERS and the pension fund for state troopers languish with funding ratios of 62.5% and 67.2% respectively.
Read MoreIs PERS Fair to Current State Employees? Part 2
A critical question for current and future PERS retirees and the state of Mississippi is this: Can PERS continue to pay its retiree obligations, its generous and growing COLA (13thcheck) and also rebuild its corpus to be there for the current employees who will be retiring in the decades to come?
Read MorePERS Investment Manager Fees Part 1
Like most pension funds, the PERS plan pays a fee to investment managers to help the plan realize maximum earnings potential. Since 2009, PERS has paid more than $647 million in fees to outside money managers. Comparing PERS of Mississippi with three of its neighbors, the amount paid to the plan’s money managers has been on the increase over the decade.
Read MoreReport of Recommended Changes to Economic Assumptions for PERS
Every two years, the actuaries for Mississippi’s defined benefit pension system release a report that examines the economic and demographic outlooks that underpin the financial planning. The newest one was released last month and the actuaries make some interesting recommendations for the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS).
Read MorePERS Regulation Change on AG’s Opinion
Imagine being able to vote yourself better retirement benefits while you’re a beneficiary of a retirement plan. That’s the scenario in Mississippi if the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi follows an opinion from the office of Attorney General Jim Hood and changes its present regulation. This would allow legislators and other statewide officials who are also PERS retirees to keep collecting their benefits while in office.
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