Free Republic

<p>Tales of small investors losing their shirts after throwing money into exotic investments they don't understand are a dime a dozen. Pension funds responsible for providing safe, dependable retirement income for workers and retirees are supposed to know better. A dispute between Massachusetts' third-largest pension fund and Mellon Financial Corp. demonstrates that's not always the case.</p>

<p>The new owner of U.S. Airways Group, Inc., which exited from bankruptcy proceedings two weeks ago, isn't a multi-billion dollar leveraged buyout firm or a fellow airline.</p> <p>It's the state of Alabama's retirees.</p> <p>Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) this past week completed a $315 million financing structure with the nation's No. 7 carrier to become its majority owner - the first time a pension fund has taken a controlling interest in a blue-chip company, according to Carl Hess, global director of asset allocation at the pension consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.</p>

<p>Asset managers getting booted for poor public pension fund performance.</p> <p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. state pension fund managers have decided to cut their ties with Wall Street asset managers whom they blame for allowing already-bad stock market losses to grow even bigger.</p>

<p>Your own portfolio isn't alone in taking a hit. The stock-market swoon of recent years has taken a hefty toll on the investments made by company-run pension plans as well.</p> <p>That's why investors are paying a lot closer attention these days to whether companies have sufficient money in their pension plans.</p>