Defined Contribution

Total U.S. retirement assets climbed to a record $21.7 trillion in the third quarter.

Collections to the general revenue fund, the state's main operating account, are dwindling as a result of legislation over recent years to divert money directly to pay for things like transportation, education, pensions, and various tax credits and incentives.

Congress has sent President Barack Obama bipartisan legislation scaling back across-the-board spending cuts on programs ranging from the Pentagon to the national park system.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says cities face a serious threat: public worker pension and health care costs and the politics around them.

Larger plans lead the continued transformation of defined contribution plans, but the survey did find that changes are taking place at a modest rate among smaller ones.

Morningstar Investment Management last week announced after taking a good, hard look at the price tags we all put on estimating costs in retirement, the numbers were maybe a little, well, over-zealous.