3 Top Public Pension Plans Show How to Navigate Fiscal Uncertainty

Managers discuss priorities and planning behind success of consistently high-funded systems

Navigate to:

3 Top Public Pension Plans Show How to Navigate Fiscal Uncertainty
Top Pensions Detail Priorities, Planning Behind Success in Q&A Series

For 20 years, the state pension systems in South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin have achieved high funding rates and predictable costs. But they came to their success for different reasons, using a range of plan designs and pursuing various priorities.

Yet, in a series of conversations with The Pew Charitable Trusts, managers from these top-performing pension systems flagged three common elements—a plan for managing risk, a pathway for workers to achieve retirement security, and intentional and transparent pension system designs and investment selections—as central to their stories and their success.

And these lessons are especially critical in today’s volatile economy. Even as, during the 2020 fiscal year, the nation’s state pension systems collectively met an important benchmark for minimum pension contributions for the first time since 2001 and demonstrated impressive discipline in doing so, they continue to face economic uncertainty and other formidable challenges.

Through the discussions collected here, Pew examines how these three standout systems approach and surmount fiscal hurdles to help other pension systems identify options and opportunities to navigate uncertainty and build sustainable pension plans for the future.

OUR WORK

America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Article

37 Scientists Pioneering the Future of Biomedical Research

Quick View
Article

Biomedical researchers are at the heart of nearly every medical advancement. From cutting-edge cancer treatments to breakthrough discoveries about emerging viruses, these scientists use creativity and ingenuity to explore new horizons in human health and medicine. And for nearly 40 years, The Pew Charitable Trusts has supported more than 1,000 early-career researchers committed to this work.

Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics

Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?