The Kentucky pension reform that was passed in the 11th hour of the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly has been officially and unanimously overturned by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

So, as of this moment, the Kentucky teachers’ pension will remain as it was before. Current teachers’ and retirees’ pensions are unchanged, and new teachers will NOT be placed into the proposed hybrid plan.

What does that mean for the pension moving forward?

The teachers’ pension “health” actually improved slightly from 2017 to 2018. Most of the improvement can be attributed to the State funding a higher percentage of their “required” portion of the contributions and, to a lesser extent, better-than-projected investment returns. The current state budget includes funds to fully fund the required contributions for 2018 and 2019 (which hasn’t happened in over a decade). This should continue to improve the pension’s health in the short-term.

Long-term, though, I think the biggest risk to the pension’s health will continue to be the state’s ability to fund their portion of required contributions. As long as the state continues to operate on a tight budget and pension funding continues to be one of the biggest expenses in the budget, pension reform will be a popular conversation in the state government.

As of yesterday, current pension reform is dead, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the debate get revived in 2019.

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Here’s what caught my eye this week:

MONEY: When Your Neighbors Move In To Your Investment Portfolio (The Wall Street Journal)

Recent data shows that our tolerance towards investment risk is influenced by where we live and who we associate with. It turns out that the geographic region that you live in actually influences how you may react to your investments…and, surprisingly, predicting which regions would be considered conservative vs. aggressive investors isn’t as simple as you’d think.

LIFE: What Straight-A Students Get Wrong (The New York Times)

Studies have revealed that academic success doesn’t necessarily translate to career success. The correlation between G.P.A. and career success diminishes over the first couple of years post-college and then almost completely disappears after a handful of years. Students that strive for the perfect G.P.A. may be missing out on the important skills that translate to career success, like creativity and social skills.

KENTUCKY PENSIONS: Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down pension reform law (The Courier-Journal)

This is a good resource if you’re looking for more detail and a recap of the pension reform timeline.

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