Your Retirement or Our Political Agenda

 

The current economic crisis has brought retirement security to the forefront of worker consciousness. Americans saw their retirement investments plummet in 2009. As in other economic downturns, the market is bound to rally back eventually, and most investors will recoup their losses. However, some workers may be surprised to learn that their pension fund managers sometimes pursue political goals that are ancillary to providing the best return on the investments they oversee and making sure the pensions they manage are fully funded. They pursue these goals in two ways. The first is by targeting investments or divesting, screening out certain investments. The second is by shareholder activism using the pension’s stocks in proxy campaigns.