Description: This article addresses how the ARPA has lessened the financial burden on sponsors of corporate defined benefit plans.

Description: This article is a review of the book “Pension Mathematics with Numerical Illustrations,” by Howard E. Winklevoss. The stated objective of this book is to analyze pension costs in detail, including the manner in which such costs vary under different actuarial assumptions, funding methods, and benefit provisions. The reviewers conclude the book is “probably most useful as a basic reference to those interested in pension cost relationships, examined from a theoretical and mathematical viewpoint.”

Description: This article discusses pension plans in North America as compared to pension plans in Japan from the perspective of the author, who has lived in both places, currently residing in Japan. From Pension Section News, January 2006, No. 60.

Description: This article is about the Society of Actuaries' Education and Examination Research Paper Committee awarding 30 Fellowship credits to Krzysztof M. Ostaszewski, Ph.D., ASA, for his paper, 'Macroeconomic Aspects of Private Retirement Programs.' This is the twelfth such paper approved for Fellowship credit under the SOA’s Future Education Methods program. The paper analyzes possible macroeconomic factors contributing to the decline in the use of defined benefit plans and proposes an alternative hypothesis for the cause of the decline.

Description: 10 Considerations for DB Pension Plans in Light of the Coronavirus Crisis of 2020. The article discusses the following topics: ERISA funded status & benefit restrictions; cash contributions & tax deductibility; PBGC premiums; Pension Accounting Expense; Commencing Benefits After Normal Retirement Age; Bringing Back Former Participants; Actuarial Assumptions; Asset Allocation and Re-Risking; De-Risking Expectations and Future Funding Relief

Description: This is an article from The Actuary that discusses the need to reform defined benefit plans. The number of defined benefit plans in the United States has declined significantly over the past 20 years. If Congress overlooks the interests of plan sponsors in its reform, we're likely to witness further erosion of an already weakened defined benefit system, and America's workers would be the ultimate losers.

Description: This article discusses the affects of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 PPA primarily in relation to defined benefits pension DB plans.

Description: This article describes the Joint and Survivor Factor. In defined benefit plans, ERISA requires that the normal form of the pension must be on a qualified joint and survivor basis. If the plan defines the pension in terms of a lifetime pension to the participant only, the lifetime pension must be multiplied by the joint and survivor factor. This article shows what happens to the factor as the interest rate increases.

Description: Summary of the annual cost-of-living adjustment and changes in other wage-indexed programs parameters for Social Security in 2024.

Description: The Employee Retiree Income Security Act, or ERISA, establishes an important statutory role for pension actuaries in the United States. As part of its statutory goal to protect the retirement security of America’s workers, ERISA requires tax-qualified defined benefit plans to obtain an actuarial valuation of plan reserves each year. When valuing the plan’s reserves, the actuary is required by ERISA to act on behalf of plan participants. Thus, the plan actuary fulfills an important role in maintaining the plan’s ability to meet its on-going obligations to the plan participants and their beneficiaries. From Pension Section News, April 2006, Issue No. 61.