Juneteenth, commemorated annually since 2021 as a federal observance, marks a pivotal moment in American history—the end of slavery. It also serves as a stark reminder of the continuous struggle for justice and equality in the United States. In the context of public pensions, Juneteenth underscores the importance of secure retirement plans in promoting economic equity for all Texans.

In the wake of persistent economic uncertainties, the latest Retirement Confidence Survey released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research reveals a mixed sentiment among American workers and retirees.

A recently released report from Ortec Finance has some interesting findings about the U.S. public pension plan sector. According to the Ortec Finance report, 90% of public sector pension plan managers expect to increase spending on scenario modeling and stress testing in the next two years to manage market shocks. For TEXPERS System Members, scenario modeling and stress testing are familiar tools they use to better understand how market volatility may affect their pensions. We'll look at the report's key findings and provide context. 

The author of a new brief from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College finds that state and local pension plans should focus on stabilizing their pension debt as a share of the economy rather than full funding. The alternative of fully prefunding state and local pensions to maintain fiscal sustainability will mean big contribution hikes. 

People 65 and older experienced an increase in poverty in 2021, according to the official poverty measure from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Bureau recently highlighted data from its Poverty in the United States: 2021 report originally released in September 2022 as the nation prepares to observe Poverty Awareness Month in the United States this January 2023.

There's a lot of research out there, especially regarding retirement, pensions, and investment management. And it seems everyone conducts and publishes it in some form - books, briefs, multi-page reports.

Emerging markets endured a challenging 2021, dragged down mostly by China and South Korea, which represent close to half the index. But the developing world is diverse, and many individual countries did well. We expect improvement on several fronts in 2022, and the outperformance of EM over developed markets in January—despite turbulent market performance—is also encouraging.