NEW YORK (Reuters) – Corporate America is finally ready to deal with a monkey on its back: massive pension obligations.

AT&T Inc on Friday said it plans to contribute a $9.5 billion stake in its wireless business to its underfunded pension plan. Earlier this week, Verizon Communications Inc moved to unload $7.5 billion in pension obligations to insurer Prudential Financial Inc.

But by far the most common trend in corporate America is to offer lump-sum payouts to thousands of retirees now – these voluntary buyouts could cost companies millions of dollars upfront, but they eliminate the risk of obligations soaring out of control in the future.

Oct 15 (Reuters) – As cash-strapped U.S. cities and states struggle to address gaping budget holes, a long-honored benefit for public-sector workers has come into the cross-hairs of budget cutters: retiree health insurance.

A growing number of states and cities are eliminating or reducing health coverage for retirees, a benefit that has long fallen by the wayside for most private-sector workers.

But the coverage, which has meant that most retired public workers have all their medical bills fully paid, is expensive and hugely underfunded. And because health coverage does not typically have the strong legal protections that hamstring changes to public pension benefits, it is easier for governments to scale back.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks have more than doubled since the financial crisis and are closing in on a five-year high, but many Main Street investors have been absent from the party – especially those with the least saved.

Those who missed much of the rally did so because they reduced equity exposure after the benchmark S&P 500 index plummeted 57 percent between late 2007 and March 2009, according to an analysis by Reuters of mutual fund flows and changes in assets held in retirement accounts. Investors with the smallest savings typically saw the lowest percentage recovery in returns.

And while some have returned to the stock market during the subsequent rally, plenty of small investors remain on the sidelines.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks have more than doubled since the financial crisis and are closing in on a five-year high, but many Main Street investors have been absent from the party – especially those with the least saved.

Those who missed much of the rally did so because they reduced equity exposure after the benchmark S&P 500 index plummeted 57 percent between late 2007 and March 2009, according to an analysis by Reuters of mutual fund flows and changes in assets held in retirement accounts. Investors with the smallest savings typically saw the lowest percentage recovery in returns.

And while some have returned to the stock market during the subsequent rally, plenty of small investors remain on the sidelines.

NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks have more than doubled since the financial crisis and are closing in on a five-year high, but many Main Street investors have been absent from the party – especially those with the least saved.

Those who missed much of the rally did so because they reduced equity exposure after the benchmark S&P 500 index plummeted 57 percent between late 2007 and March 2009, according to an analysis by Reuters of mutual fund flows and changes in assets held in retirement accounts. Investors with the smallest savings typically saw the lowest percentage recovery in returns.

And while some have returned to the stock market during the subsequent rally, plenty of small investors remain on the sidelines.

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) – U.S. public pension funds are expected to report poor annual returns in the coming weeks, results that are likely to increase calls for more realistic retirement promises for teachers, police officers and other public workers.

At least three of the nation’s largest U.S. public pension funds have already announced returns o f b etween 1 p ercent and 1. 8 p e rcent, fa r below the 8 percent that large funds have typically targeted.

The fund’s targets have been “unrealistic,” said Michael Lewitt, a portfolio manager at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida. “They’ve been fooling themselves because there is no realistic case they can make that.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – For generations, most college-bound Americans paid reasonable fees to attend publicly financed state universities.

But the bedrock of that system is fracturing as cash-strapped states slash funding to these schools just as attendance has soared. Places like Ohio State, Penn State and the University of Michigan now receive less than 7 percent of their budgets from state appropriations.

As a result, public universities — which historically have graduated the majority of U.S. college students — are eliminating programs, raising tuition and accepting more out-of-state students, who typically pay significantly higher rates.

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) – Kate Carpenter and her husband waited for two years before sensing the time was right to look to buy a home in the suburbs of New York.

“This is the first time homes are at an affordable point,” said the freelance writer, 35.

She hopes to move her two young daughters out of their rented New York City apartment soon, taking advantage of record low mortgage rates and signs the slump is over.

NEW YORK May 24 (Reuters) – It’s been less than a week since Facebook went public, and while the IPO made CEO Mark Zuckerberg and many others very wealthy, the botched way in which the offering was done has sparked investigations, lawsuits and regulatory threats. It has also sparked a lot of anger toward the social media company, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley and the Nasdaq stock market.

Here is a list of eight things that went wrong with the Facebook IPO – a “what not to do list” for the next big technology company considering a public listing, compiled from interviews with investors, traders, analysts, attorneys and regulators.

1. Charge too much. Facebook raised the price of its shares above a reasonable valuation given its earnings and revenue. The $38 price tag was 100 times historical earnings. By comparison, Apple Inc trades at 14 times historical earnings, while Google Inc is at 19 times. Facebook set the higher price despite a slowdown in recent months in its online advertising business and its concerns about the growing use of mobile devices, an area in which its advertising revenue is still weak.

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) – When Jennifer Anderson’s family could no longer afford their mortgage and lost their home, she expected many years to pass before they would again become property owners.

But less than two years later, in March, they purchased a $297,000 house outside Phoenix, Arizona, after qualifying for a loan backed by the U.S. government.

They joined a small but growing number of Americans who are making a surprisingly quick return to homeownership after defaulting on their loans or being forced into short sales that cost their banks money.