Pensions & Investments Podcast Series

Although Washington is abuzz with activity as a new president and a new Congress attempt to craft a major economic stimulus package, many of the age-old rivalries and partisan squabbles continue to bog down progress, even as President Obama pushes for a change in the way things work. Still, changes will come as legislators attempt to get the U.S. economic train back on the tracks. What will that mean for defined contribution plan sponsors and their plan participants? In this podcast, John J. O'Neill, a partner in the Washington office of Venable, walks us through the election, the players - new and old - the number one priority of lawmakers and what's on President Obama's list of things to do over his first 100 days in office. The podcast is a recording from Mr. ONeill's speech at P&I's East Coast Defined contribution conference, held Feb. 8 through 10. Slides accompanying his talk are also available. With a mix of wit and humor, Mr. O'Neill points out that the legislative process remains slow as molasses but that an economic stimulus package will be on the president's desk sometime soon, with financial market reform the next likely subject that Congress will address. Despite the news in the fall of 2008 about the push that California Democrat George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor committee was pushing for dramatic changes in 401k plans, Mr. O'Neill says the election and the economy have pushed that effort into the background for the foreseeable future. Still, he says fee transparency is still an issue to keep an eye on and suggests that over the long term, regulatory changes and possible fundamental reform are distinct possibilities.

In this podcast, taken from Pensions & Investments' East Coast Defined Contribution Conference on Feb. 9, 2009, Darrell R. Spence, economist and vice president at Capital Strategy Research, a Capital Group Company subsidiary that provides macroeconomic research to CapGuardian, offers his assessment of the situation and provides keen insight into how the defined contribution industry and the investment industry can react. The powerpoint slides accompanying his presentation are available at www.pionline.com/dceast. A word of warning: Mr. Spence's assessment is not exactly rosy. He points out that the major sectors of the economy, housing, non-residential construction, consumer spending, trade and business investment are either all negative or turning negative. Nonetheless, Mr. Spence points out, in this very down-to-earth and valuable presentation, that a back-to-basics approach, with a focus on the long term, can soften the blow and prepare defined contribution plan sponsors and thus their participants for the recovery.

The P&I 1000: Pensions & Investments' annual in-depth look at the assets of the 1,000 largest retirement plans in the United States. Last year, assets of the top 1,000 retirement plans dropped nearly 25%, hit hard by plunging stock markets and weak bond markets. Go deeper into the numbers to find out what really happened, what pension plan sponsors are doing in reaction to the historical declines and when the situation may change.

Institutional investors - when it came to risk management - took their eye off the ball, even after the tech-stock bubble burst in the early part of the decade. That's according to a blue chip panel brought together by Pensions & Investments. Listen as the panel dishes about hedge funds, risk measurement tools and whether investors have learned any lessons from the crisis - or if they're even in a learning mood.

Robert L. Reynolds Robert L. Reynolds helped Fidelity Investments become the 800-pound gorilla of the retirement market. Now, the 56-year-old industry veteran has a new mission: revive Putnam Investments, another leading Boston name that had fallen on hard times.

Listen in as top institutional investment pros like TCW's Jeffrey Gundlach, Morgan Stanley's Martin Liebowitz and GMO's Jeremy Grantham give us their opinion on the credit crisis and their outlooks for stocks and bonds in the second half. Here's a hint: The crisis isn't over and investment returns are likely to be hard to come by.

Listen to our interview with the soon-to-be global head of investment consulting at Watson Wyatt as he talks about plotting a course through changing and volatile markets.

Last year, the top 100 U.S. corporate pension plans had a total funding surplus of $111 billion, a dramatic turnaround from just two years earlier, when they had an aggregate deficit of $51 billion. Rising discount rates, used to calculate liabilities helped, as did solid returns on their assets. In this podcast, Pensions & Investments' Rob Kozlowski takes us through the numbers and provides insight as to whether the good times will continue.

Hear the story behind the numbers in this year's edition of Pensions & Investments' annual ranking of the largest U.S. money managers. In this program, we not only uncovered the big trends in the industry but we also identified where institutional investors are moving their assets and what's driving them to do so.

Hear mathematician Robert Algren talk about the groundbreaking work he's done analyzing the cost of trading stocks and how a good execution strategy helps enhance a portfolio's overall performance.

For chief executives of investment firms, few relationships are as important to their personal success and that of their companies as those forged with independent advisors - the powers behind teh thrones. Hear directly from some of the power brokers identified by Pensions & Investments.

James Delaplane, a partner in the benefits group at Davis & Harman in Washington, gave the keynote speech at Pensions &Investments' DC East conference on March 3. Hear Mr. Delaplane address legislative and regulatory developments regarding defined contribution plan fee discolusre. He also gives a look forward to DC plan policy and the 2008 elections.