Efforts by states and municipalities to address the crisis in public pension plans was judged the biggest story of the year by our friends at Pensions&Investments, edging out “dysfunction in Washington” and Detroit’s ongoing bankruptcy saga. Rounding out PI’s top 10 stories of the year:
• the funded status of corporate DB plans
• the Supreme Court and company stock
• the impact of the Fed’s quantitative easing
• the growing popularity of alternative investments among Asian investors
• the growth of variable DB plans, which tie pension benefits to pension fund returns
• a buyout deal that took Dell Computer private, dividing big pension fund investors
• an insider trading scandal that rocked S.A.C. Capital Advisors
