"Corporate pension plans in North America continued making large lump-sum payouts last year, helping push the total assets of the world's largest 300 pension plans down 3.4% in 2015, according to research by Willis Towers Watson. The decrease was the first in five years for the 300 plans, whose assets had steadily grown since the recession. The drop compares to an increase of the same amount -- 3.4% -- in 2014. The 300 private, public and sovereign pension funds hold a total of $14.8 trillion in assets, with about $6.5 trillion of that in North America."  MORE >>