Retirement Plan Administrator (TPA) Retirement Plan Consultants
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401k & Defined Contribution Plan Consultant Planned Retirement Consultant & Administrators, LLC
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Administrator, Retirement Plan Compliance RiversEdge Advanced Retirement Solutions
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PCS Retirement, LLC
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MAP Retirement USA LLC
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Defined Benefit Plan Consultant Planned Retirement Consultants & Administrators, LLC
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Blue Ridge ESOP Associates
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Retirement Plan Administrator/Plan Compliance Analyst Retirement Planners & Administrators
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Retirement Plan Compliance Consultant TriStar Pension Consulting
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Defined Contribution Account Manager Nova 401(k) Associates
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Pentegra
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MAP Retirement USA, LLC
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Nova 401(k) Associates
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Defined Contribution Consultant AimPoint Pension Group
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Text of Enrolled Actuaries Pension Examination EA-2, Segment F, Fall 2023 (PDF)
American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA]; Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries [JBEA]; Society of Actuaries ![]() Nov. 30, 2023 61 pages. Full text of Nov. 9, 2023 exam with answers, published online by IRS. |
Most Corporate Pensions Can Achieve Full Funding
Russell Investments ![]() Nov. 29, 2023 "[M]ost (97%) corporate pension plans can achieve full funding without a significant draw on corporate cash, based on the respective firms' latest disclosures as well as market and interest rate movement so far in 2023.... 62% of companies' pension plans would be fully funded in less than 10 years with a contribution rate of only 1% of corporate cash flow, while an additional 35% of companies' pension plans could be fully funded in less than 10 years at a 3-5% contribution rate." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
Text of PBGC Final Regs: Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans: Valuation of Benefits and Assets; Expected Retirement Age
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] ![]() [Official Guidance] Nov. 28, 2023 "This rule amends the [PBGC's] regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2024. This table is needed to compute the value of early retirement benefits and, thus, the total value of benefits under a plan.... This rule is effective January 1, 2024." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • PBGC |
October's Pension Risk Transfer Costs Climb to Highest Levels in Over Three Years
Milliman ![]() Nov. 20, 2023 "During October, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process increased from 101.1% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO) to 101.9% of those liabilities.... During the same period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers in our index rose 90 basis points, from 103.5% to 104.4%." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Retirement Plan Investment Costs |
Notes from Meeting of Actuaries 'Intersector Group' with Treasury and IRS, September 2023 (PDF)
American Academy of Actuaries, Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, and ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries [ACOPA] ![]() Nov. 17, 2023 9 pages. Topics include: [1] Full yield curve; [2] SECURE 2.0 correction provisions; [3] JBEA rules; [4] Ways to streamline funding method changes for spinoffs; [5] Proposed mortality regulations; [6] Section 420 transfers; [7] Allocation of prior year contributions to plans involved in a spinoff. Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Multiemployer Plans • Retirement Plan Administration • Retirement Plan Design |
Suddenly Funded DB Plans: What's a Plan Sponsor to Do?
Buck ![]() Nov. 16, 2023 "For plan sponsors, having a fully funded plan, or ... one with a significant surplus, opens up a number of ... options. Without the need to outpace the interest rates incorporated in the calculation of liabilities, the plan may move to an investment strategy that trades higher returns for lower risk. Risk may also be transferred out of the plan through a lump sum offer to participants, an annuity purchase from an insurer, or a complete termination, which may involve both." |
PBGC 2023 Annual Report (PDF)
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] ![]() Nov. 16, 2023 157 pages. "The PBGC Single-Employer Program's financial status showed improvement and has been in a positive net financial position, which is projected to grow over the next 10 years. The PBGC Multiemployer Program improved during FY 2023 to a positive net position and is likely to remain solvent for more than 40 years.... As of the end of FY 2023, PBGC had received 135 SFA applications requesting a total of $71.0 billion in SFA and had approved 100 applications for $53.5 billion in SFA" Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Multiemployer Plans • PBGC |
Ranking Member Cassidy Seeks Commitment from Teamsters President to Return Taxpayer Funds Wrongfully Obtained in Pension Bailout
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senate ![]() Nov. 15, 2023 "Earlier this month, the [PBGC] Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report disclosing that the PBGC overpaid the Central States fund by $127 million after the plan included 3,479 dead participants in its bailout request ... In a letter sent to [Teamsters President Sean O'Brien], Cassidy urged the Central States Pension Fund to fulfill their commitment to return the $127 million overpayment to American taxpayers and requested information as to how the union will prevent this kind of poor mismanagement in the future." Tags: ARPA • Funding of DB Plans • Multiemployer Plans |
Public Pension Funding Index, November 2023
Milliman ![]() Nov. 15, 2023 "A third straight month of declines in financial markets during October 2023 lowered the estimated funded status of the 100 largest U.S. public pension plans from 73.2% as of September 30, 2023, to 71.4% as of October 31, 2023 ... During October 2023, the deficit between the estimated plan assets and liabilities increased from $1.636 trillion at the beginning of the month to $1.750 trillion at the end of the month." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • State and Local Government Plans |
Text of IRS Notice 2023-76: Weighted Average Interest Rates, Yield Curves, and Segment Rates for November 2023 (PDF)
Internal Revenue Service [IRS] ![]() [Official Guidance] Nov. 14, 2023 "This notice provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve, the corresponding spot segment rates ... and the 24-month average segment rates ... [as well as] the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities ... as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008 and the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate[.]" Tags: ARPA • Funding of DB Plans • Retirement Plan Administration |
Higher Bond Yields Mean Higher Corporate Pension Funding Levels
PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required ![]() Nov. 14, 2023 "The funding status of U.S. corporate pension plans increased in October, largely due to a reduction in liabilities stemming from an increase in discount rates, which were offset by negative investment returns. According to some trackers, pension funding status is at its highest point in decades." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
Public Pensions Frequently Change Their Private Equity Benchmarks: Why It Matters
Institutional Investor ![]() Nov. 14, 2023 "[T]he benchmarking approach a pension uses tends to change after they bring in new external consultants -- which public plans do often. ... [T]hese changes often lead to pensions choosing benchmarks that are easier to beat than the measures they had been using.... Beating or missing return expectations can affect how pension boards determine the plan's asset allocation. Consultants, meanwhile, gain more business when their pension clients beat the benchmarks." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Retirement Plan Investments • State and Local Government Plans |
Pension Risk Transfer Options and Considerations
Russell Investments ![]() Nov. 10, 2023 10 pages. "[T]he dollar value of deficits does not necessary decline after a risk transfer, and funded ratios commonly decline unless the plan contributes at the same time.... [L]iability duration may increase as a result of a risk transfer, reducing interest rate hedge ratios (unless adjustments to the asset allocation are made). Still, reducing future benefit payments typically means less overall risk in absolute terms." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Retirement Plan Design • Retirement Plan Investments |
U.S. Corporate Pension Plans Funding Status, October 2023
Wilshire Associates ![]() Nov. 10, 2023 "The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans increased by an estimated 0.6 percentage points in October, ending the month at 105.5% ... This month's change in funded ratio can be attributed to a 4.0% decrease in liability value, partially offset by a 3.4% decrease in asset value. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 6.8% and 6.4% year-to-date and over the trailing twelve-month periods, respectively." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
Washington Post Uses Its Rich Pension Fund to Shrink Staff
The Washington Post; subscription may be required ![]() [Opinion] Nov. 10, 2023 "In 2009, The Post closed its pension plan to new employees -- and those who remained in the plan had their benefits frozen after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos acquired the newspaper. The pension fund itself, however, didn't freeze. As federal filings show, it has fattened to the point that it can finance 240 exit packages without breaking an actuarial sweat." |
Long-Awaited 2024 Mortality Table Updates Released
Buck ![]() [Guidance Overview] Nov. 9, 2023 "[L]iabilities will typically decrease one to two percent as a result of changing from the 2023 static mortality to the 2024 updated generational mortality.... The ability to pay benefits under certain payment options may be affected by the proposed changes.... For plans that might otherwise be under restrictions, a decrease triggered by the new mortality table could increase the plan's AFTAP above one of the thresholds that trigger a benefit payment restriction." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
State and Local Government Contributions to Statewide Pension Plans, FY 22 (PDF)
National Association of State Retirement Administrators [NASRA] ![]() Nov. 8, 2023 "[On] a national basis, contributions made by employers -- states and local governments -- in 2022 accounted for 78 percent of all contributions received by public pension plans. The remaining contributions were paid by public employees.... [Of] the $10+ trillion in public pension revenue received during the 30-year period since 1993, 37 percent, or more than $3.8 trillion, came from contributions paid by employers and employees." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • State and Local Government Plans |
Mitigating Pension Plan Risks with LDI
CAPTRUST ![]() Nov. 7, 2023 "LDI can significantly reduce interest rate risk and help moderate market volatility ... LDI can also help provide stable cash flows, making it easier for plan sponsors to meet pension obligations.... But LDI also poses potential challenges, the most significant of which may be the ability to actively manage the LDI portfolio vs. the plan's liabilities to avoid underperformance, downgrades, and defaults." |
Pension Finance Update, October 2023
October Three Consulting ![]() Nov. 7, 2023 "Pension finances were tricked by falling stock markets but treated by higher interest rates in October, a pattern repeated for three straight months now, producing modest declines for pension sponsors." |
Pension Funding Index, November 2023
Milliman ![]() Nov. 7, 2023 "The funded status of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit pension plans increased by $5 billion during October ... As of October 31, the funded ratio climbed to 104.2%, from 103.6% at the end of September, reaching a new high for the year. The funded status surplus increased to $50 billion." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
Text of PBGC Technical Amendments: Special Financial Assistance Withdrawal Liability Condition; SECURE 2.0 Act; and Other Updates
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] ![]() [Official Guidance] Nov. 6, 2023 18 pages. "The major provisions of this regulatory action amend PBGC's regulations on: [1] Special Financial Assistance by PBGC to clarify the calculation methodology for the condition requiring a phased recognition of SFA in a plan's determination of withdrawal liability for plans that receive SFA; and [2] Termination of Multiemployer Plans to update the reference to the dollar limit for lump-sum distributions in the closeout of sufficient multiemployer plans. In addition, this regulatory action makes other clarifications, corrections, and updates." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Multiemployer Plans • PBGC |
How Much Capacity Does Your Public Pension Plan Have for Illiquid Assets?
National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems [NCPERS] ![]() Nov. 6, 2023 "There are several factors affecting a public pension plan's ability to invest in illiquid assets: plan demographics and maturity, funded ratio, and funding policy, to name a few.... [Of] all the plan characteristics [NCPERS] analyzed, a plan's funding policy had the largest impact on a plan's ability to invest in illiquid assets." Tags: Funding of DB Plans • Retirement Plan Investments • State and Local Government Plans |
FAS87 ASC715 Discount Rates and Moody's Rates, October 31, 2023
BenefitsLink Message Boards ![]() Nov. 1, 2023 An unofficial monthly report of the Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages and Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages (used as benchmarks by some corporate pension plans). Tags: Funding of DB Plans |
2024 Present Values of PBGC Maximum Guarantee
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] ![]() [Official Guidance] Oct. 31, 2023 PBGC [has] posted a table showing the applicable present values for 2024 plan years. A two-column spreadsheet version of the table is also available. Tags: Funding of DB Plans • PBGC |
IRS Issues Eagerly Awaited 2024 Defined Benefit Mortality Tables
Mercer ![]() [Guidance Overview] Oct. 30, 2023 "The regulation reflects the first update to the base mortality rates since 2018 and has a surprise adjustment to the mortality projection scale to reflect the impact of COVID-19 for 2020 through 2023. The final rule lets most sponsors using plan-specific mortality tables continue relying on them for 2024, but another IRS proposal addresses substitute mortality tables for 2025 and later valuation years." Tags: Funding of DB Plans |