Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

Massachusetts MBTA Pension Problems

By

The $1.5 billion pension fund has 5,786 bus and train divers, track workers, and other employee members, reports the Boston Globe. And there are 6,685 retirees participating in the fund. Those numbers aren’t sustainable. Apart from numbers that look hard to reconcile, the fund is now embroiled in a bit of a scandal. Beth Healy reports at the Globe:

Michael Mulhern took home $2.2 million in compensation as chief of the MBTA Retirement Fund in the eight years after the financial crisis, including $216,329 in 2016, when he worked just seven months.

The compensation, released in response to a records request by the Globe, included pay for unused vacation time, representatives of the pension fund said. Based on his prior year’s pay rate, that would be about $50,000 for accrued vacation.

Mulhern stepped down as executive director of the $1.5 billion pension fund for transit workers at the beginning of August, after a tumultuous period during which the retirement board came under fire for its lack of transparency and for controversial accounting practices.

Mulhern was 57 when he resigned last summer, after a decade on the job. He retired in 2005 from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, where he had worked his way up from bus driver to general manager.

Read more here.

Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free.
The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

Recent Posts from YourSurvivalGuy.com

Investing Habits of the Fairly Wealthy: #10 Powerball

Your Survival Guy knows a lot about highly successful, fairly wealthy people because I talk to them. On the flip side, I know plenty about those who’ve won and lost a fortune. I know about the guy who can’t hold onto his money. He just spends every penny, afraid it might be gone tomorrow. And […]

Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While”

Are you up to speed with Your Survival Guy? Do you check in daily at www.yoursurvivalguy.com? I’m E.J. Smith, Your Survival Guy. I created www.yoursurvivalguy.com to give Main Street Americans a boots-on-the-ground look at how to protect their most valued assets from natural and manmade disasters. Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with […]

“Then One Day the Grandfather was Gone”

Your Survival Guy has a client whose grandfather left him some money. That was nice. But the real gift was how his grandfather would teach him about money when they were together. How to roll pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters sitting on the floor and talking. Adding up the pile and feeling the weight in […]

How Joe Biden Raised Oil Prices

You saw Joe Biden demonize fracking and the oil industry throughout his campaign until the debates when Donald Trump cornered him on it, at which point he denied it all. Then, once he moved into the White House, Biden began his war on oil and helped to drive up prices on everything Americans need. At […]

Is the Philadelphia Looting Spree the Wake-up Call America Needs?

Crime has ravaged businesses across America since 2020, when radical politicians gave looters the green light to turn America into a warzone. Since then, the nation has watched with horror as roving gangs have cleaned out popular locations like Nordstroms and Apple Stores and even little gas stations. For two days now, America has watched […]

“No Way I’m Spending That Much on Those”

Your Survival Guy and Gal were in Boston this weekend, visiting our daughter and son. If you want to know what stagflation feels like, have two kids in college at the same time. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Take, for instance, after breakfast, strolling down Newbury Street window shopping. The next […]

What Trade Policy Serves America’s National Interest Best?

In The American Conservative, Micah Meadowcroft examines the words of one of Your Survival Guy’s favorite presidents, “Silent Cal” Coolidge, who is known for saying, “The business of America is business,” but who actually said, “After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing […]

California Wants to Make the 2nd Amendment Unaffordable

California, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is doubling the tax it demands from law-abiding gun owners on sales of ammunition and guns. It appears Newsom and the California legislature have settled on a strategy of simply pricing the poor out of their Constitutional rights as enumerated in the Second Amendment. Adam Beam reports for the […]

“You Didn’t Eat That Again, Did You?”

As Your Survival Guy, I understand the immense pressure you’re under to “do something.” Everyone’s got a plan of what to do with your money. I know this not because you tell me what they’re telling you, but just from experience. I know, for example, when you’re asking me, “Why are we holding this position?” […]

Is McCarthy Up to the Task?

What’s wrong with a line-by-line approach to the budget? Here, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) explains to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo why he can’t support McCarthy’s approach to running the House of Representatives. The way to fund the government is not by doing it the same way Congress has since the mid-90s, where it’s one […]

Rising Costs Are Hammering Commercial Real Estate

The commercial real estate market is getting hammered by rising costs. Not only are higher interest rates scaring away potential buyers, but high insurance costs are also killing demand. Konrad Putzier reports in The Wall Street Journal: Commercial property owners, already struggling with high interest rates and rising vacancies, face exploding insurance costs that keep […]

Your Survival Guy Fishing with Dolphins

Your Survival Guy was fishing this summer and came into these pods of bottlenose dolphins. You can see some of the famed Newport mansions in the background. Best viewed on a mobile device. Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free. 

Judge Shatters California High Capacity Magazine Ban

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez shattered the state’s ban on high-capacity magazines, calling it unconstitutional. The ruling could set up a Supreme Court decision on the matter, potentially affecting similar bans throughout the country. Jonathan Stempel reports for Reuters: A federal judge in California on Friday declared that state’s ban on magazines that hold more […]

Is Your Water Safe to Drink? NOLA Residents Aren’t Sure

Residents of New Orleans are wondering whether or not they’ll have safe water to drink as forecasts for the Mississippi River levels decline, and the threat of a saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico becomes a reality. Nadine El-Bawab reports for ABC7, writing: New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has signed an emergency declaration over […]