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)

This monograph reports on an inquiry into the likely distributional effects of recent reductions in the payment of unemployment insurance to recipients of pension and social security benefits and its potential effects on labor market and consumption behavior of older people. An introductory chapter provides facts about unemployment insurance and…

The Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 provides vesting requirements for private pension plans but not transfer of vested monies to the new employer when an employee changes jobs. Unless problems of increased employer costs and possible employee benefit losses are resolved, a mandatory portable pension concept is unlikely. (MF)

A study was done of the savings patterns and financial resources of households receiving teacher's retirement insurance benefits. For the survey a mail questionnaire was sent in fall 1988 to a statistically drawn sample of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund annuitants. Over 900 questionnaires were completed…

This paper presents a method for higher education faculty and staff to assess pension plan objectives by determining a retirement income replacement ratio to maintain the salary-based preretirement standard of living. The paper describes the RETIRE Project which researches income replacement using the federal government's annual "Consumer…

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…

Reviews the historical development of the federal regulation of retirement plans (including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), analyzes and evaluates the current regulatory scheme (justifiable and unjustifiable distinctions including those among types of plans), and suggests appropriate changes in the continuing quest for…

Congress enacted the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to help assure economic security in retirement. This analysis includes description of the growth, operation, and inequities within the private pension system and analysis of ERISA: (1) participation, vesting and joint and survivor annuities; (2) funding and plan…

A senior research officer of Teacher Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) and College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) discusses the issue of different life annuity benefits to men and women concluding that age and sex are two objective and statistically reliable factors used in determining life expectancy and thus the expected duration of…

The benefits of and restrictions imposed on qualified pension and profit-sharing plans are discussed in terms of Excess Benefit Plans (EPB), a type of deferred compensation plan. EPBs and unfunded deferred compensation plans offer flexible methods of providing additional benefits for executives and key employees. (LBH)

Complexities in managing TIAA-CREF contracts are reviewed. Attention is directed toward participation, period considerations, selection of retirement age, retirement income transition, estate considerations and beneficiaries, voluntary additional contributions, and supplemental retirement annuity contracts. (LBH)

This study estimates the effects on pension benefits received by women that would result from some of the changes recommended in 1981 by the President's Commission on Pension Policy. The author argues that the private pension system now presents several barriers to the attainment of benefits by women. (SSH)

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)

Consideration of errors and omissions insurance under ERISA demands a brief review of pre-ERISA trustee liability insurance law in this symposium report for historical and practical perspective. Specific problems are discussed, and it is concluded that the purchase of insurance should not lull a fiduciary into a false sense of security.…

The statutory reporting requirements of ERISA and some of the regulations recently promulgated are discussed. All type of employee benefit plans are covered. For journal availability see HE 508 741. (LBH)