Swiss society is ageing. At the same time, life expectancy is increasing. With most workers retiring around age 65, time in retirement is growing and the ratio of retirees to employees is set to soar. These developments bring a range of opportunities but will likely weigh on growth in GDP per capita and increase public spending. They may also…

In 2011 Rhode Island replaced the stand-alone defined benefit pension plan it provided to state employees with a hybrid plan that reduced the defined benefit component and added a 401(k)-type, defined contribution component. Although controversial, the new hybrid plan will boost retirement incomes for most of the states public school teachers. Our…

This instructional tool presents pension accounting using a worksheet approach where debits equal credits for both the employer and for the plan. Transactions associated with the initiation of the plan through the end of the second year of the plan are presented, including their impact on accumulated other comprehensive income and deferred taxes.…

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 158 "Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans" (SFAS #158). Their intent is to comprehensively reconsider the accounting for postretirement benefit plans in phases. The first phase was to provide…

This year's "Quality Counts" report, the 15th edition of this annual report produced through the joint efforts of the "Education Week" newsroom and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, arrives at a time of continued fiscal anxiety and education policy ferment in the wake of what has been widely described as the…

As many teachers near their retirement years, they discover that their retirement plans are insufficient and their financial planning was inappropriate. This paper describes some of the problems with the 403(b) plan (an investment plan for public school employees and certain tax-exempt organizations), explaining how teachers are beginning to…

A bridge benefit plan designed to provide an adequate income at age 65 so that faculty and senior administrators at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, can choose to retire at an early age, while deferring receipt of their TIAA-CREF annuity benefits during the bridge period, is described. (MLW)

The benefits of the new Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association graded-benefit method and traditional level-benefit program are compared. Several possible typical situations are analyzed for both plans, showing net yearly incomes projected through retirement and considering tax rates. (MSE)

Declining enrollments in the 1980s, increasing financial pressures, and declining faculty vigor (publications) are publicized, but long-range planning to combat these problems is encountered less frequently. Early retirement is suggested as one response to meeting these challenges. (Author/MLW)

A national survey of over 19,000 higher education retirees and 125 colleges and universities investigated the availability of retirement counseling and services, relationship between retiree and institution, timing and reasons for retiring, institutional financial health, sources of retirement income, and retiree insights into important retirement…

Faculty members of America's universities and colleges, it is suggested, are finding the real world of academic life increasingly out of tune with the careers they prepared for. Seven faculty members are profiled whose careers illustrate difficulties academics may face at several stages of their lives. (MLW)

By 1976-77 almost four million teachers and other school personnel belonged to teacher retirement systems or public employee retirement systems. To help laypersons better understand these systems, this report describes the institutional characteristics of public pension funds whose members include teachers and explains the concepts behind such…

Faculty salary and fringe benefit data for 1985-1986 and 1986-1987 at California State University and the University of California are examined, along with data for comparison institutions. University of California medical faculty salary comparisons from 1984-1985 are also provided. Statistics on salary and fringe benefits are provided by faculty…

Changes in retirement patterns at colleges and universities can be expected because of demographic reasons and because of federal and state legislation uncapping mandatory retirement. Institutional policies that will encourage reluctant older faculty to retire need to address the three fundamental components of successful employee retirement: (1)…

This document, examining transition to retirement from a sociological perspective, consists of four sections and a 14-item bibliography. The first section traces the evolution of West German retirement from what was considered a new phenomenon into what is now commonly assumed to be a normal or even natural life stage. The second section discusses…