Hard Lessons From the Coming Public Pension Plan Shortfall

Link: https://www.thestreet.com/investing/hard-lessons-from-the-coming-public-pension-plan-shortfall

Excerpt:

I predict that state and local government balance sheets, already reeling from the pandemic, will be devastated in coming years by the stock and bond markets’ disappointing returns.

That’s because these governments’ pension plans are based on unrealistic assumptions about how those markets will perform in the future, and are therefore woefully underfunded. In fact, even with their optimistic assumptions, those funds are already underfunded. Their “actuarial funded ratio” (the ratio of the actuarial value of their assets to the actuarial value of their liabilities) is just 71.5% currently.

These plans are hoping to make up their actuarial deficits by earning outsized investment returns. I’m willing to bet their earnings instead will fall far short of historical averages, and they will have to make up the shortfall either by raising taxes, cutting services, or declaring bankruptcy.

Author(s): Mark Hulbert

Publication Date: 25 May 2021

Publication Site: The Street