By: Russ Kamp, Managing Director, Ryan ALM, Inc.

Football season has kicked off in earnest. If you are a NY Giants fan, as I’ve been for nearly 60-years, you are already looking forward to hockey! It wasn’t any better for fans of Notre Dame’s football team, which somehow lost to Northern Illinois.

Now on to the important “stuff”. With regard to the PBGC’s effort implementing the ARPA pension legislation, last week was quiet. There were no new applications filed or withdrawn. There were no new applications approved, but there was one fund that received payment on 9/3 for its approved application. Printing Local 72 Industry Pension Plan received $39.4 million in SFA including interest. In addition, there were no plans added to the waitlist at this time.

Carpenters Industrial Council of Eastern Pennsylvania Pension Fund repaid excess SFA as a result of incorrect census data. They forfeited $106,298.69 from the original grant payment of $14.1 million or 0.75% of the proceeds. At this time, 13 funds have repaid $139.3 million or 0.36% of the grants. Of course, most of the rebate was from Central States, as its repayment makes up 91% of the total funds recaptured.

Uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Presidential election and the potential impact on markets (bonds and stocks) from the candidates’ policies (taxes, capital gains, social safety net, geopolitics, etc.) should keep recipients of the SFA taking precautions before diving into an asset allocation decision at this time.