"[The] 2025 study found the funded ratio of the PPFS plans is 77.7% at the most recent measurement date, rising from 75.1% in [the] prior study. With generally strong asset performance since their most recent measurement dates, the funded ratio is projected to have reached 84.7% as of November 30, 2025.... The aggregate plan-reported funded status of [the] 2025 study shows an underfunding of $1.45 trillion at the most recent measurement date ... This gap has narrowed compared to the prior study, and is projected to have narrowed even further, to $1.04 trillion at November 30, 2025." MORE >>
"Allowing sophisticated investors to direct the investment of their own accounts into alternative investments may be the wave of the future in some profit-sharing plans. But investing for a defined benefit plan is a whole other animal. A fiduciary needs to be informed about how a defined benefit plan works so as to understand how investment return can affect the funding obligations.... Investing in alternative investments, like cryptocurrency and private equity alternatives, may not always be appropriate for all plans." MORE >>
"The dispute arose after Mar-Can’s employees voted in 2020 to change union representation, triggering the company’s withdrawal from a Teamsters-affiliated pension fund and requiring the transfer of employee-related assets and liabilities to a new union’s plan. The original plan transferred roughly $5.5 million in liabilities and $3.7 million in assets, then assessed about $1.8 million in withdrawal liability." [Mar-Can Transportation Co., Inc. v. Loc. 854 Pension Fund, No. 24-1431 (2d Cir. Feb. 18, 2026)] MORE >>
"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[.]" MORE >>
"[T]he Second Circuit resolved a significant statutory interpretation dispute under ERISA's Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), holding that a pension fund may not 'double count' transferred assets when calculating withdrawal liability following a certified change in collective bargaining representative.... [T]he Court concluded that the employer's withdrawal liability must be reduced by the full amount of liabilities transferred to the new plan minus the assets transferred -- not by a formula that effectively subtracts assets twice." [Mar-Can Transportation Co., Inc. v. Loc. 854 Pension Fund, No. 24-1431 (2d Cir. Feb. 18, 2026)] MORE >>
"Automation and workflow technologies have long enhanced actuarial processes, delivering measurable benefits.... AI represents a transformative accelerator: Modern applications can be deployed rapidly, at lower marginal cost, and with markedly greater analytical precision. Early adopters are already reporting substantial efficiency gains and deeper insights, underscoring the urgency for organizations to embrace these advances or risk falling behind." MORE >>
"The aggregate funded percentage for all multiemployer plans was 103% as of December 31, 2025, up from 97% at the end of 2024. The funded percentage has surpassed 100% and sits at its highest level in [Milliman's] nearly 20-year study period." MORE >>
"Annuity purchases for retirees with small benefit amounts can be an easy and highly effective way to reduce PBGC premiums and save money at no cost to plan participants. For plan sponsors not subject to the PBGC Variable Rate Premium Cap, purchasing annuities for retirees receiving less than $380 monthly will save the plan money. For plan sponsors subject to the cap, purchasing annuities for retirees receiving less than $1,070 monthly will save the plan money." MORE >>
"[P]ublic pension liabilities are not legally treated as general obligation-type debt and are not subject to the safeguards restricting GO debt undertakings. In some states, these pension obligations have even stronger claims on the full-faith and credit of the state than GO debt. The lack of general obligation debt type safeguards constraining public pension liabilities has significant implications on the financial risk position of state and local governments" MORE >>
"While a surplus signals strong funding health, it also raises questions about how best to deploy excess assets within regulatory constraints. To make informed choices, plan sponsors need clear insight into what drives pension surpluses, how excess assets can be applied effectively and the compliance requirements that protect both organizational financial goals and employees' long‑term retirement security." MORE >>
"The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans increased by $10 billion during January ... The funding surplus improved to $109 billion during the month ... Pension liabilities fell during the period due to a small increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value those liabilities. As of January 31, the funded ratio climbed to 109.0%, up from 108.2% at the beginning of the year." MORE >>
"The net financial position of the single-employer insurance program is projected to increase significantly over the next 10 years ... The net financial position of the multiemployer insurance program is likely to remain positive for more than 40 years." MORE >>
"[T]he court held that the plaintiff had Article III standing to seek plan reformation under Section 502(a)(2). The court emphasized that the plaintiff plausibly alleged a concrete injury -- reduced monthly benefits -- and that reformation of the plan's actuarial assumptions could redress that injury.... The court reaffirmed that Section 502(a)(2) claims are inherently representative and must be brought on behalf of the plan. Enforcing an individual-only arbitration clause would therefore operate as a prospective waiver of a statutory remedy[.]" [Duke v. Luxottica U.S. Holdings Corp., No. 24-3207 (2d Cir. Feb. 5, 2026)] MORE >>
"Delphi Technologies ... was spun off from General Motors (GM) in 1999. In May 2009, Delphi's pension plans were terminated, and responsibility for the payment of plan participants' benefits was turned over to the [PBGC]... Some participants in Delphi pension plans whose benefits were reduced by PBGC claimed that their pension plans were wrongly terminated and have sought relief via both judicial and legislative processes." [IF12171 updated Feb. 5, 2026] MORE >>
"[T]wo former DOL officials have now weighed in supporting the plaintiffs in an ERISA litigation suit.... [T]he brief hearkens back to the environment pre-ERISA, and the history with the Studebaker-Packard Corporation's bankruptcy, and subsequent loss of pensions by its workforce that (eventually) provided the impetus for [ERISA].... They write that the suit 'plausibly alleges a concrete and particularized injury: a non-speculative, materially increased risk of nonpayment that is fairly traceable to the challenged fiduciary decision and redressable through ERISA's remedial provisions, including equitable relief.' " [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)] MORE >>
"The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans is estimated to have increased by 1.0 percentage point in January, ending the month at 105.3% ... The change in funded ratio observed this month is primarily due to a 0.9 percentage point rise in asset value, combined with a 0.3 percentage point reduction in liability value. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 6.1% over the trailing twelve months." MORE >>
"Though the DOL argued in its filing that the plaintiffs continue to receive benefits following the PRT, the former DOL officials argued that insisting the plaintiffs lacked standing would disrupt the balance of ERISA and that the PRT substantially increased the risk of nonpayment of benefits, thereby giving the plaintiffs standing in the case." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)] MORE >>
"[FASB] approved the recommendation of its Emerging Issues Task Force earlier this month that benefits for market-based cash balance plans, which are legally classified as defined benefit plans, be valued by setting the discount rate equal to the assumed interest crediting rate.... [T]he proposed new accounting calculation would make it simpler and more sensible for plan sponsors to estimate their market-based cash balance pension obligations." MORE >>
"The [DOL's amicus brief], which argued the Lockheed retirees lack standing to challenge the company's pension de-risking transaction, is inconsistent with [ERISA] and would undermine the statute's standards by 'insulating fiduciary conduct from review precisely when judicial oversight is most needed,' Phyllis Borzi and Ali Khawar told the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a Jan. 30 amicus brief backing the Lockheed workers." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)] MORE >>
"The standing doctrine advocated by Lockheed is inapplicable to the circumstances here and would license Lockheed or any other plan sponsor to select almost any insurer not in immediate danger of failing in the near future, even those with lower ratings and riskier business models than Athene. And ... with annuity contracts the future can extend for many decades." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)] MORE >>
"A well-funded plan is certainly a nice achievement, but it does come with some new challenges -- namely, higher contribution volatility.... [T]here will certainly be years with negative returns, and it is not unheard of for assets to return -15% in a single year. And if your assumption is a 6.5% return, that -15% return translates to a loss of over 20%! We do have asset-smoothing techniques that dampen this volatility, but a large asset loss will still result in an unexpected increase in the contribution amount. " MORE >>
149 pages. "In fiscal year 2025, [PBGC] made benefit payments of over $6.4 billion to 926,000 participants in trusteed single-employer plans, provided $168.5 million in traditional financial assistance to multiemployer plans covering 60,244 participants, and made SFA payments of $6.2 billion[.]" MORE >>
68 pages. "This report projects the financial status of both programs under a range of future financial scenarios through FY 2034; additional projections are made through FY 2064 for the Multiemployer Program.... The financial outlook for PBGC's Multiemployer Program improved compared to last year's report, and the Program is likely to remain solvent for the next 40 years.... The Single- Employer Program is projected to remain in a positive net financial position over the next decade in all modeled scenarios, and significant growth in net position is projected." MORE >>
"During December, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up 20 basis points, from 100.1% to 100.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.3% of a plan's ABO." MORE >>
"[T]he current proposal would apply to all PRT business, regardless of the specific investment and risk management strategies employed by the issuing company. However, the ARCS noted in our discussions that evaluating the appropriateness of many of the elements of the proposal requires an integrated analysis of the liabilities, the supporting in force assets held on each valuation date, and the company's investment and asset/liability management (ALM) strategies." MORE >>
