Pivot 2020: Challenge & Change Agenda

PIVOT 2020: Challenge & Change will be comprised of eight 90-minute modules. Each module will consist of a combination of presentations and panel discussions featuring experts and thought leaders in their areas of expertise. Attendees earning their CEU credits must attend six out of the eight modules to receive the 10 CEU credits awarded for this summit. Below are brief descriptions of each module to give you an idea of what to expect and what will be covered in each.

A more detailed program agenda with speakers, individual presentation titles, and times will be available in the coming weeks.

Download Program Agenda in PDF

Shakespeare wrote: Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. We would be hard pressed to find a more apt statement to describe the current situation because in a pandemic recession, plan sponsors and employees may have more in common than that which divides them.

Will retirement change for the thousands of local government employees in Florida? The state’s economy hinges heavily on travel and tourism, two industries devastated by the pandemic. The resulting loss of jobs and tax revenues will leave a big mark on the state and local economies. Meanwhile, pension plans are often judged by their funded ratios alone, but when is fully funded not enough and when are unfunded liabilities too much?  

A changing economic environment because of the pandemic will affect investment decisions about Domestic Equity in the post-COVID world. Are Value and Small Cap investing dead? And how should trustees assess strategies like Active vs. Passive investing?

Assessing a pension plan’s asset classes and assumed rate of return will never be more important than during and beyond the pandemic recession. The job of a plan’s consultant in planning the best strategy just got tougher. Past experience may offer some lessons, but other economic consequences may be as novel as the coronavirus.

International investments traditionally have had two appeals: opportunities not found domestically, and diversity of foreign investments that can hedge against domestic recession. Will the global nature of the coronavirus pandemic impact American appetites for these asset classes?

Conflicts of interest, privacy issues, records-keeping and reporting all can be quicksand for pension trustees. Being unaware is a poor excuse, but willful disregard is a crime.

Interest rates may very well remain low for the foreseeable future. Many of the old standbys aren’t keeping pace, so where do investors find returns within Fixed Income that will staunch the need for higher contributions?

This is no time to be complacent. Pension plan sponsors and trustees will benefit from this presentation about legal protections for the plan, ‘passed’ & present bills on the hill, and a Q & A legal panel that will set you straight.