Press Release

The PensionInspector™ Announces New 'Inflation Eraser' App

Issued by The PensionInspector

May 31, 2022

New York, NY -- PensionInspector™ (www.pensioninspector.com), the brainchild of long-time Enrolled Actuary David Tananbaum, has a new app. The PensionInspector™ is an extensive, user-friendly program for the general public that simplifies research and reduces it to minutes instead of hours.

And now Tananbaum has introduced an app to the PensionInspector’s™ website – the “Retirement Plan Inflation Eraser.”

The Inflation Eraser separates a retirement plan’s Form 5500 accumulated average earnings and an inflation factor to show the plan’s net intrinsic value for that year. The Inflation Eraser not only seprates the retirement plan’s inflation component from its average investment results, but defines for that plan its estimated real inflation average yearly dollar plus reserve or real net asset loss for the years tested.

Not only does this calculation work for the current year, but it goes back for 15 years, and is available for all ERISA retirement plans that file Form 5500 and 5500-SF with the IRS and DOL.

The Inflation Eraser has come at an opportune time.

In April 2022, inflation increased to 8.9% over last year’s April monthly result – its largest 12-month increase since January 1982 – using the same Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) that Social Security uses for its annual Cost of Living (COLA) update (https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/04/12/2023-social-security-cola-estimate-rises-to-8-9-as-inflation-climbs/

IInflation has spooked the stock market where millions of dollars of 401(k) and defined pension plan assets reside. CNN reported on May 12, 2022, that more than $7 trillion had been wiped from the stock market so far just this year – 2022 (https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/investing/stocks-bear-market/index.html#:~:text=The%20meltdown%20of%202022%20has,following%20a%200.1%25%20drop%20Thursday).

Inflation has also spooked retirement plan participants. A survey by Voya Financial on March 29-30, 2022, found that 66% of respondents are worried about how inflation would affect their ability to save for retirement (reported in https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/high-inflation-disrupts-retirement-savings-strategies.aspx), and an April 19, 2022, article by 401(k) Investments online said that more than 71% of Americans worry about inflation’s impact on their current lifestyle and retirement (https://401kspecialistmag.com/inflation-still-greatest-threat-to-retirement/).

The Inflation Eraser enables plan sponsors and participants to adust the reported investment earnings on a plan’s Form 5500 by inflation to determine what the plan’s net value really is for that year.

Every retirement plan that files a Form 5500 with the IRS or DOL should know its inflation status.

Editor's note: This press release has been issued by the company named above, not BenefitsLink. Reliance on information in this press release might be prudent only after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by BenefitsLink.