Month: December 2022

News You Should Know: Colorado Lists Drugs It Aims to Import From Canada

Posted on by planeteria

Colorado Just Released the List of Prescription Drugs It Wants to Import From Canada | The Colorado Sun

The State of Colorado is seeking to save residents money on prescription drugs by importing more than 100 medications from Canada. The state submitted a formal application to the federal government that lists 112 drugs with an average cost savings of 64 percent over the U.S. retail price. If approved, that could result in savings of $53 million to $88 million per year.

Bicameral, Bipartisan Retirement Bill Introduced | National Association of Plan Advisors

While the fate of the major retirement legislation package known as SECURE Act 2.0 remains uncertain, lawmakers continue to introduce new retirement-related bills. U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado is one the legislators behind the recently introduced Retirement Savings for Americans Act, which aims to increase access to retirement savings accounts for those who don’t currently have them.

7 Financial Steps to Take at the End of the Year | Kiplinger

With the year winding down, it’s a good time to do a financial checkup and make sure all your accounts are in order. Here are some helpful steps to consider, from taxes and investments to retirement planning and emergency savings.

Middle-Aged Americans Aren’t Planning Their Estates. Here’s How to Fix That. | SmartAsset

While you’re doing a year-end financial check-up, you may consider doing some estate planning, if you haven’t already. A recent survey found the number of middle-aged adults with a will dropped to an all-time low in 2021. While estate planning can be daunting, there are a few common documents that will be a big help to your loved ones.

News You Should Know is a digest of news from publications around the nation about finance, investing, and retirement.

Year in Review: Top Articles of 2022

Posted on by planeteria

2022 is winding down and a new year approaches. As we look ahead to 2023, we’re also taking a look back at the topics that resonated with PERA On The Issues readers this year. We saw a sizeable increase in readers in 2022, with articles related to policy and legislation receiving the most views.

Here are the most-read articles of 2022:

News You Should Know: Medicare Part B Premium Reduction Scheduled For 2023

In today’s environment of rising health care costs, the announcement of a reduction in Medicare Part B premiums for 2023 was welcome news for retirees. The reduction is due to a previous overestimate of the cost of covering an expensive new Alzheimer’s drug.

2022 Proposed Legislation Status

Colorado lawmakers introduced four PERA-related bills during the 2022 legislative session, all of which were signed into law. The bills pertained to working after retirement limits, special district directors, and making up the state’s missed 2020 direct payment to PERA.

What’s the Latest on Federal WEP/GPO Legislation?

Social Security reform is a perennial issue in Washington, DC, and 2022 was no different. There were several bills making their way through Congress that would either modify or repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO), which can reduce Social Security benefits for public employees. While one of those bills, the Social Security Fairness Act, gained support in Congress and earned the approval of a key committee, lawmakers haven’t taken any further action.

IRS to Begin Using Updated Form W-4P and New Form W-4R in 2023

In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has been making changes to tax policy in an effort to ensure workers have a more accurate amount of tax taken out of their paychecks. Those changes also apply to retirees who receive income from retirement plans like Colorado PERA. For 2023, there is a new version of the W-4P form for pension and annuity accounts and a new form, W-4R, for one-time distributions.

PERA’s Investment Stewardship Report Turns Five Years Old

2022 marked the fifth year that PERA has published its annual Investment Stewardship Report, which provides important information about how PERA staff invest funds on behalf of our members. In this article, we covered how the Report has evolved over the years to provide additional transparency and emphasize PERA’s focus on financial sustainability.

Thank you to everyone who read PERA On The Issues and subscribed to our newsletter this year. We’ll continue following and unpacking the issues that matter to PERA’s many stakeholders in 2023. See you then!

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