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Active Versus Passive: Thoughts on How You Can Get Your Investment Portfolio On Base (PDF)

"Driven by the impact of fees upon results, poor relative returns and the difficulty in finding and retaining managers that can consistently outperform the many types of markets, more investors have been defaulting to the cheaper and seemingly easier solution of just owning a market basket of securities. [This article] examines the hits and strikeouts of the ongoing debate ... [T]o the question of 'is it possible to achieve excess return relative to a passive market benchmark in a highly competitive environment?' -- the answer is unequivocally 'yes' ... [P]oll the members of the World Champion Kansas City Royals for their baseball-equivalent response. Is that feat easy? For that, ask the members of the other 29 teams."

Pension Plan Funded Status Falls Due to Equity Market Losses in Q3 2015 (PDF)

"During the third quarter of 2015, the funded status of the model pension plan ... decreased by 5 percentage points: from 87 percent to 82 percent. This decrease was the result of a 4 percent asset decrease and a 2 percent liability increase during the quarter."

Examining Cash-Balance Plans' Investment Risk (PDF)

"Contrary to the common perception, cash-balance plans do not represent a low-risk arbitrage opportunity, but rather are a leveraged investment in risk assets, similar to a traditional DB plan. While cash-balance plans can provide greater design transparency, portability and more even benefit-accrual patterns, plan sponsors still face investment risk and return tradeoffs that need to be professionally managed."

Pension Plan Funded Status Rises Due to Liability Decreases in Q2 2015 (PDF)

"During the second quarter of 2015 (Q2 2015), the funded status of the model pension plan ... increased by 8 percentage points: from 79 percent to 87 percent. This increase was the result of a 10 percent liability decrease and flat investment performance during the quarter."

Pension Plan Funded Status Increases Slightly in Q2 2014 (PDF)

"During the second quarter of 2014 (Q2 2014), the funded status of the model pension plan examined ... increased by 1 percentage point: from 92 percent to 93 percent. This increase was driven by an asset return of 4 percent and a liability increase of 3 percent."