Pension fund

“ The National Pension Fund should be managed by the Federal Treasury, which has adequate facilities for investment and accordingly the rate of pension contribution should be fixed by the Federal Government. On the other hand, each State would have power to determine the number of pensionable posts and the salaries attached to them, fully realising, of course, that every increase in the number of pensionable posts or in pensionable emoluments should increase the liability to pay pension contributions. ”

“ In the ordinary sense of the word, pensions in the United States are confined to federal judges and officers of the army and navy, but the United States “Pension Fund” is so singular a feature of the national budget, that it is desirable to give an account of the different classes of allowances which are granted. ”

“ In addition to all these arrangements for promoting a real community of interests between the company and its employees, there is a pension fund out of which retiring pensions, varying from one-fifth to one-fourth of the wages earned by the pensioner, are granted to employees who have served the company for a certain number of years, or who find themselves disabled from further service by age or by disease. ”

“ Paragraph 10 Much of the money in this country is in pension plans, most of them now "qualified plans" under the federal pension laws known as "ERISA." That money isn't tied up, out of circulation, though — it's invested in everything from real estate and mutual funds to race horses and precious gems. Managing those investments and doing the paperwork for both pay-ins and pay-outs is also big business, because the fees for management and administration are usually a percentage of the amount in the fund, and even a small percent of a billion dollars is a lot of money. ”

“ The Gillett bill, however, goes further and provides that the Government shall contribute to the pension fund of those employees who are now so advanced in age that their personal contributions will not be sufficient to create their annuities before reaching the retirement age. ”

“ In the event of changes to the law governing pension funds which prejudice a member of a fund, the real value of the accrued benefits of such member of a fund, and his or her beneficiary, as represented by the fund’s actuarial liability towards the member or his or her beneficiary, shall be maintained. ”

“ If it were possible to tabulate any statistics as to the extent to which this spontaneous and honourable sense of obligation operates as a repairing force in society, I think it would surprise some of those who talk glibly about a "cash nexus." The old age pension fund alone, for instance, which is the natural outcome of this feeling, must be of enormous proportions. ”

“ The civil servants of the departments, communes or public establishments which have a special pension fund will benefit, with immediate effect, from the seniority pension or the proportional pension fixed by their pension regulations, if they fulfil the conditions of length of service required for to have the right to one of these pensions ”

“ It is one of the functions of the pension system to reduce the turnover and to secure continuity of service and avoid migrations. Many systems do not provide for the return of the employee’s contributions in the cases of withdrawal or dismissal, or for the use of such contributions for other purposes, so that the fund accumulated would soon, in some cases, run into millions. ”

“ Why the socialistic principles at the bottom of the National Retiring Fund for workmen should not be extended to others than working-men it is not easy to see. The French pension-list is now very heavy. It figures in this year's budget at nearly a hundred millions of francs, exclusive of the military and naval pensions, which amount to about one hundred and twenty-five millions more, and without counting the débits de tabac, which are in fact a kind of pensions used freely by deputies and other functionaries of influence to reward services of all sorts. ”

“ It rests entirely with the Court, but George thinks they will give him leave to go home, as the idea of his paying that large debt out of his wretched income is absurd, and he is, in fact, a mere expense to them. But about the pension—there again no authority, not even the Court, can help him. I see constantly in the Calcutta papers that when anything the least unusual, or even doubtful, with regard to the Pension Fund is contemplated, then it is put to the vote of the whole Army, and always carried economically. ”

“ As the pension is reduced one-fifteenth for each year the annuitant lacks of 65 at the date of retirement, his separation, it is said, will impose no greater burden on the fund than if he had waited until 65; the reduction in the amount payable will discourage early retirement, and so tend to counteract the loss of skilled workers ”

“ A pension and assistance fund for the officers and men employed is provided for, to be kept up, half by the contributing members and half by appropriations from the management fund; its statutes to be established by the federal council. The existing pension and assistance funds may be continued if thought best, but their members can not at the same time be members of the general fund. ”

“ This is exceedingly to be doubted; and although it would be unjust to deprive of pensions those who have entered Government employment under present conditions, the question ought very seriously to be considered whether it would not be wise for the State to pay, as private firms do, for the services actually rendered, and for individual thrift to be allowed to provide for illness or old age. Or, if it be thought desirable to maintain the pension system, the Government servants should be called upon, like [Pg 147] the police, to contribute out of their wages to a superannuation fund. ”

“ A contributor to the Fund is protected in case of incapacity to work, his children and widow receive an allowance upon his death, and on reaching the age of sixty he receives for the rest of his life a pension of from two dollars and a half to ten dollars a week, according to the scale of his contributions. Married women contributing to the Fund get a bonus of thirty dollars on the birth of each child. The applicant joins by filling in a form at a postal money-order office or local office of the Fund and paying his first weekly contribution. ”

“ We passed pension reform legislation to protect the pensions of 40 million workers, and we're working to get money that is owed to pension funds paid in. We're also proposing to simplify rules so that small businesses can provide pensions for their workers and the owners of the businesses more easily. ”

“ One of our leading universities with five hundred officers has a pension system, and we believe that there is at present only one professor on the retired list, whereas twenty years hence there may be a dozen. Still if the income were distributed among the institutions as a trust fund on condition that they establish a pension system, things would come out even in the long run. ”

“ Of particular importance to our older citizens is the integrity of their pension funds. The recent rise in business confidence and the resulting surge in the net worth of investments have significantly increased the value of America's pension funds. These developments remind us that the most important step we can take for all Americans, but especially our senior citizens, is to follow economic policies that will create noninflationary growth. ”

“ We were told that old age pensions would empty our workhouses and save an enormous expenditure upon Poor Law relief. Mr Charles Booth assured us that it would be possible to do away with out-relief altogether. We were told, moreover, that the grant of a pension at seventy would be a strong incentive to self-maintenance until that age was reached; and now we find our workhouses nearly as full as ever, whilst the places of those transferred from outdoor relief to the pension list are being filled by those under seventy. ”

“ The employer, the employee, or both, make a contribution each year toward the pension to fall due on the retirement of the employee,” who receives a bond each year that assures him a pension when he retires, each bond being complete in itself. This scheme costs little to administer and it meets the objection against a non-contributory system, that although pensions defer pay only the employee who survives in the same service until retirement receives the benefit promised, by the provision that this bond is given each year and becomes his property, to be realized at a fixed age in later years. ”

“ However, it is henceforth to be the policy of this Government, so far as I may be able to shape it, that only those in actual need of financial aid shall receive pensions and to them it shall be given, whether they have or have not been disabled in consequence of their services to the nation. But to offer financial aid to the rich and well to do, is to offer an insult, for it questions their patriotism. Although the first civil war was ended over sixty years ago, yet that pension roll still draws heavily upon the revenue of the Nation. ”

“ The addition to the expenditure in payment of pensions by reason of increase of rates, the including of so large a proportion of the pensioners among those entitled to the higher rates, and the extension of the benefits of the pension laws to so many classes of pensioners, have been so great as to warrant consideration in connection with any proposition for further increase. ”

“ That such is the case, and moreover that it is usual to define such pensions as being given in consideration of past services, has led to the putting forward very generally the argument that pensions, whether given by a government or by private employers, are in the nature of deferred pay, and that holders of posts which carry pensions must therefore be rewarded by a remuneration less than the full market rate, by the difference of the value of the pension. ”

“ The Government has imposed upon the taxpayers an enormous financial burden by an uncommonly generous pension system. I do not feel that I can, consistently with my well settled opinions, seek to increase that burden for my own benefit beyond the understood conditions under which I entered the service. ”

“ Of the 1,981,208 individuals in the United States over 70, according to the census of 1898, a great majority would welcome a pension; and of all legislation this is most irreversible. On the contrary, old beneficiaries constantly agitate for more. State pension systems, too, do not materially reduce the cost of charitable relief, whether indoor or outdoor. Only in a last resort should the state attempt to do what can be done by private institutions or by private individual foresight and nothing should discourage voluntary thrift of any kind. ”

“ As you are perhaps aware, a small percentage of our earnings is always appropriated by the State, and a proportionate pension becomes our due as soon as we wish to claim it. If we claim our pension at the age of seventy or eighty, it is relatively smaller than if we wait until our hundredth year or thereabouts. We are usually not in a hurry to place ourselves upon the pension list, for our active period of labour ceases then, and this source of income is lost. ”

“ From the larger economic as well as from the larger moral standpoint the plan of a contributory pension seems to promise least danger to society and the greatest result. I am inclined to believe from such evidence as the pension systems which now exist can furnish that a justly regulated compulsory contributory pension system, on the whole, promises most both for the individual and for the social organization. ”

“ Since the first pension law was enacted, the amount of the annual allowance has been several times increased. Already the government has paid out more than forty-five million dollars in doles to the aged, and there are, I am told, about twenty thousand people now receiving these pensions. This is considerably more than one pensioner to every hundred persons in the country. ”

“ A pensioner, not classed as incompetent, may direct that all or any portion of his pension money be sent to his wife, minor child or dependent relative; the governor of a branch may prevent hurtful, wasteful, or extravagant use of the pension money by retaining a sufficient amount until the danger has passed; pension money standing to the credit of a member sick in hospital will be paid directly to him in such amounts only as are necessary for his personal use ”

“ The cost of the old-age pension system has greatly increased, as might have been expected, for the reason that an increasing number of old persons who previously would have come under the poor-relief system are now receiving old-age pensions. ”

“ The insurance pensions are continually increasing; and it is stated that the invalidity pensions will eventually reach a maximum in the lowest wages class of £9 5s., and in the highest one of £22 10s. The funds accumulated in the hands of the Invalidity Pension Offices amounted at the end of 1907 to about 70 million pounds, and the workmen maintain that the time has now arrived when either the pensions paid should be increased, or the contributions levied decreased, as provided for by law. ”

“ It is apparent, therefore, that if the roll of invalid pensioners continues to increase in equal proportion to the number added thereto during the last fiscal year, with a proportional advance in the average yearly pension, there will be no immediate reduction in the annual expenditure for pensions, for, as I have before stated, the gain to said roll during the last fiscal year exceeded the losses to the other rolls. ”

“ The Commissioner of Pensions believes that if the present legislation and methods are maintained and further additions to the pension laws are not made the maximum expenditure for pensions will be reached June 30, 1894, and will be at the highest point $188,000,000 per annum. ”