Description: Asia is experiencing changing demographic, social, and cultural tides which threaten to submerge existing retirement-pension systems.

Description: The article reviews recent investment performance of stable value compared to other low risk alternatives, discusses current criticisms of the option, and concludes that they are not well founded. Criticism reflects a lack of openness to the full range of stable value contracts available and manager bias against traditional GICs, not a real lack of wrap capacity. Stable value continues to be the pareto superior low risk option.

Description: This paper establishes a framework to analyze the volatility of corporate profits as a result of variability in accounting for pension plans. It models a Canadian corporation that maintains a defined-benefit pension plan and that has adequate cash flow to fully fund the pension plan, should it wish. Volatility of corporate profits is important because many senior executives have some component of their compensation directly related to corporate profitability and consequently do not want any surprises with respect to actual profits compared to expected profits. The volatility management techniques considered are investment policies for the pension plan, funding the pension plan, and an alternative plan design. The analysis is timely since changes are proposed to the accounting standards to eliminate most smoothing techniques. The results suggest that, depending on the investment environment, reduced volatility may be accompanied by by enhanced return, which is a result that few would expect.

Description: Investment volatility can lead to unacceptable levels of contribution volatility and wide swings in a retirement plan’s perceived funded status. This paper approaches the volatility problem from a plan design perspective.

Description: The abstract for a paper that focuses on when and how we retire.

Description: A supplemental report conducted in 2009 to contrast results of the 2008 study, 'Will Retirement Assets Last a Lifetime'? It discusses retirees confidence in having sufficient assets to fully fund their retirement, their willingness to take risk, efforts to control spending and their use of financial advisers.

Description: This article is a summary of the roundtable discussion with a group of panelists on how to appropriately measure public pension plan liabilities. The crux of the debate is whether public pension plans should disclose a market value of liability - MVL - or whether current disclosures are adequate.

Description: This article provides an overview of the laws and regulations governing pension funding and suggests analysis which will enable the plan sponsor to capitalize on contribution options and coordinate long and short term funding strategies.

Description: Discussion of the merits of solvency versus going concern funding targets for pension plans, and the connection with different risk-sharing deals.

Description: The selection of a discount rate is one of the most important assumptions for the calculations of present values. The paper presents the basic properties of the key measurements of investment returns and the discount rates associated with these measurements.