[retiredguy]

It's official. The Wisconsin Retirement System will be reducing the Core Fund pensions of retirees 2.1% beginning May 1.

Those pensioners who have money in the variable fund will see a 42% reduction in payout from that fund.

Glad I kept all my money in the Core Fund.

[Cog]

Link please?

[retiredguy]

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/441883

[vision-master]

MERF (Mpls Employee Retirement Fund) will merge with PERA by June 2010. Otherwise they will be broke within 6 years. Most ppl with this fund have No Social Security benefits due to this being a 'basic plan'. This plan has been closed to new members since 1978.

PERA Active and Retirement funds MERGED this year and cola is fixed at 2.5% year now.

Under current law PERA must be covered by the tax payer if underfunded. Well, guess what, the tax payer will be paying.

Faced with going broke in as few as six years, a closed Minneapolis pension fund with thousands of retired city employees is seeking a merger with a statewide public employees pension fund -- and soon.
The merger proposal won endorsement from a City Council committee on Tuesday, which said it wants other closed funds for city cops and firefighters to merge with their state plan too.
The 90-year-old Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund (MERF) is paying retirees about $155 million annually, with assets of just under $800 million, plus any investment gain, to finance those benefits.

PERA

Post Retirement Investment Fund Funding Ratio Announced
The Legislative Auditor certified the composite funding ratio of the Post Fund today. Legislation passed in 2008 called for the merger of the Post Fund assets with our Active Fund assets if the Post Fund fell below 80%. As of June 30, 2008 the Post Fund was 79.7% funded, triggering the merger. On June 30, 2009, PERA's portion of the Post Fund will be merged back into our Active Funds, providing a larger pool of assets from which to pay benefits. Merging the Post Fund allows us to amortize the unfunded liability in the Post Fund over 23 years in the General Plan and 30 years in the Police & Fire Plan, giving us time for assets to grow and pay off the liability. Future benefit increases will be a fixed 2.5%, regardless of inflation.

[retiredguy]

Could happen here, too. By state law, our pension payout can never be less than the original settlement.

This, however, is not particularly good news for people who have been retired for many years.

[vision-master]

Could happen here, too. By state law, our pension payout can never be less than the original settlement.

This, however, is not particularly good news for people who have been retired for many years.

True, but many seen 8% to 12% yearly increases during the 90's.

[frankthetank]

Yup. I know some former cops that had bigger pay raises then the guys working. Their pension still has a ton of money in it, and the only big problem i could see is if there is a complete collapse or if Gov. McMoron Doyle decides he needs some of it to pay for welfare benefits for newly arrived ghetto rats from Chicago.

I have two siblings that will start drawing from this fund in a few years, not to mention a few extended family members.

Do teachers draw from this fund?

[retiredguy]

Yup, teachers and most municipal workers in the state.

Doyle won't be raiding the fund. Tommy tried that in the 90s and the State Supreme Court ruled that the fund didn't belong to the state.