The “Third Rail” of Pensions: Politics, Problems, and Solutions

Published on
February 14th, 2020
Duration
35 minutes

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15

The “Third Rail” of Pensions: Politics, Problems, and Solutions

The Expert View ·
Featuring Jim Leech

Published on: February 14th, 2020 • Duration: 35 minutes

Jim Leech, the former CEO of the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan – the third largest pension system in the world with nearly $200 billion in AUM – and author of, "The Third Rail: Confronting Pension Failures," joins Real Vision to discuss the two major problems facing pensions in North America. Those problems are the incorrect assumption most pension planners made about human longevity and the sub-par returns that they have actually realized. Leech outlines the specific funding issues in both American and Canadian pension systems and details the daunting problem unfunded pensions represents for policymakers and taxpayers alike. He also supplies a few success stories from his experience as CEO of OTPP that serve as a potential roadmap to get unfunded pensions back in the black. Filmed on January 29, 2020 in Toronto.

Comments

Transcript

Chapters

  1. 00:02:32
    How did you get your start in the pension industry?
  2. 00:03:44
    What is the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan and How Large is it?
  3. 00:04:51
    Do you think there is a retirement crisis and if so, why?
  4. 00:06:59
    Why did you write "The Third Rail: Confronting Our Pension Failures"?
  5. 00:08:54
    Why did you choose the title "The Third Rail"?
  6. 00:10:07
    Why did you choose the three jurisdictions you identified in your book?
  7. 00:11:18
    What do pension augmentation and defined benefit pension solutions look like?
  8. 00:15:14
    Defined Benefit vs. Defined Contribution
  9. 00:20:00
    What is the difference between Canadian Pensions and Pensions in the United States?
  10. 00:24:45
    Are Pensions still "Dumb Money"?
  11. 00:30:37
    Do you think elections are won and lost on pensions?
  12. 00:31:30
    What happens if the underfunded pension problem is not addressed?

Mark Yusko

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Mark Yusko is the Founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management. He is also the Managing Partner of Morgan Creek Digital Assets.

Morgan Creek Capital Management was founded in 2004 and currently manages close to $2 billion in discretionary and non-discretionary assets. Prior to founding Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was CIO and Founder of UNC Management Company (UNCMC), the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, he was Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office. Mr. Yusko has been at the forefront of institutional investing throughout his career. An early investor in alternative asset classes at Notre Dame, he brought the Endowment Model of investing to UNC, which contributed to significant performance gains for the Endowment. The Endowment Model is the cornerstone philosophy of Morgan Creek, as is the mandate to Invest in Innovation.

Mr. Yusko is again at the forefront of investing through Morgan Creek Digital Assets, which was formed in 2018. Morgan Creek Digital is an early stage investor in blockchain technology, digital currency and digital assets through the firm’s Venture Capital and Digital Asset Index Fund.

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Other stop-off points on the way were NatWest Markets and HSBC, although he began his career by training traders in technical analysis.

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