Defined Benefits

General employees pensions would shrink by 4.5 percent while police and fire employees would see no reduction in their monthly pensions and have their cost-of-living adjustments capped at 1 percent.

The deal struck last week is a sign of progress in negotiations to exit bankruptcy and would shift 26 percent of $388 million in claimed liabilities to pensions and to overdue payments on debt.

Public pension plans now have just $3 trillion to invest to be able to pay out future benefits of $10 trillion over the next decades.

A report by the Government Accountability Office found that while the most severely distressed multiemployer plans have taken steps to address their funding problems, some did not.

Even though California teacher pensions - and therefore that debt - are guaranteed by the state, for accounting purposes the state treats that obligation as off its balance sheet, as if its not on the hook.

Memphis has underfunded its city- run pension plan since 2009, putting the cash toward its budget. Tennessee lawmakers want to attach a cost to that kind of scrimping on retirement expenses.