Five Questions: New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli

As comptroller of the State of New York, Thomas DiNapoli is the sole trustee of the $147.2 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, the state employees’ defined benefit pension fund. Since his appointment to the office in February 2007, in the wake of predecessor Alan Hevesi’sresignation amid a pay-to-play scandal, DiNapoli, who was elected comptroller in his own right in November 2010, has increasingly raised his voice in support of maintaining and strengthening defined benefit pensions within and outside of the state. He is now calling for the creation of a national commission to ensure retirement income security in the U.S.

1月份纽约州长安德鲁库米揭开了所谓的第6层养老金计划，将有效减少2013年雇用的新州雇员的养老金福利。总督及其支持者在立法机关中推动了州工人将州工人迁至一定数学的缴费计划，测量迪纳波利强烈反对。“在相对较短的31年历史中，401（k）S已被证明，对于那些依赖退休收入的人来说，”他在3月初的国家退休保证会议研究所陈述，增加了401（K.）计划旨在补充界定福利（DB）计划和社会保障。

DiNapoli won this round. Next year only nonunion employees including City and State University of New York professors who make more than $75,000 a year will be eligible for the 401(k) option with the adoption of Tier 6. DiNapoli recently invited亚博赞助欧冠高级作家弗兰斯丹麦对他的纽约市办事处谈养老金。

Institutional Investor: Why did you fight to keep a defined benefit for new state employees rather than permit the substitution of a defined contribution plan?

DiNapoli:With the Tier 6 debate, people ask me, why are you against 401(k)s? I always have to point out that I am in a 457 plan, which has the same structure.

Even if the proposed plan had been passed with an option to allow for a substitution of a 401(k) style plan for the defined benefit, it was structured so that there would be no requirement for an employee contribution at all. It would be too enticing for too many people to go into it and find out many years later that they made the wrong choice, especially if they hit the market in the wrong way. That isn’t to say that a 401(k) is not a good idea as a supplement to a defined benefit pension as part of your personal savings.

在纽约州维持养老金福利是如此重要的是什么？

mak有很多参数e about retirement security and people being able to retire with dignity and some sense of confidence. But there is a broader benefit to recycling those dollars within our state. I don’t think we do a good enough job of explaining the benefit to our economy of having people, firemen and police, receive a $19,000 annual payout from our plan. It makes a difference for many retirees between living in New York, with its higher cost of living, and moving to Florida. Close to 80 percent of our retirees continue to stay in New York. We paid out half a billion dollars in benefits last year. That’s 6.5 billion pension checks that stay in New York and don’t go somewhere else. That money gets recycled into our economy.

保护这些养老金的最大挑战是什么？

Part of the challenge is getting a balanced picture to the public. The mainstream press takes the worst examples of abuse on the benefit side or a plan that’s in free fall and tries to paint that as being typical and the norm. For every New Jersey, Illinois and Rhode Island, there actually are many more states that are in better shape and have a strong fund that is sustainable for the future. Yet that’s not the impression that’s created.

Tell me about your call for a national retirement security commission, and who you envision on it.

Part of our idea behind the call for a national commission is to look at best practices starting with pubic plans that are working well. What can we do to encourage that to happen in places where it might not be happening? That would include standards for training fiduciaries, imparting an understanding of and commitment to asset allocation and adherence to actuarial standards. Some states have gotten into trouble because they ignored sound actuarial judgment. Besides encouraging best behavior is there something that needs to be done perhaps on a national level in terms of a requirement or law to be sure those best practices are in place?

我认为你需要广泛的参与者。它可能包括来自政府，商业，学术界和劳动力的代表。它需要不仅仅是一个国家逐个讨论 - 现在是什么 - 因为有共同的主题。

这样的佣金可能会导致什么样的解决方案？

我认为解决方案取决于为那些没有拥有它的人提供退休保障的更具创意，是否是私营部门或公共部门退休的人。随着人们的生活更长，更改家庭关系，你可以看到在不太遥远的未来，将越来越多的较老的美国人不能为自己提供。最终，他们将回到政府以供食物或庇护，或者必要性是什么。

Also, to the extent that you’re going to change pension structures, you’re going to have to change federal law. That’s the kind of serious discussion we need to have.