Description: This paper was the results of an invitation by the SOA’s Pension Section Research Team to explore the current state of defined benefit plans in Canada and future visions of them.

Description: This report examines a simple but accurate means of assessing discount rate sensitivity.

Description: The Society of Actuaries provides a snapshot of the findings from the SOA and Stanford research report, “The Next Evolution in Defined Contribution Retirement.” The fact sheet provides employers and plan sponsors with tips on how to build and offer retirement income generators.

Description: A new approach to computing annual pension costs, based on an open-group projection of the participant population for a number of years, was described in detail in a paper published in the 1975 Transactions, entitled 'The Forecast Valuation Method for Pension Plans.' That paper described the operation of such a cost method at the initial valuation date. This paper discusses several alternative approaches to projection valuation methods and also describes how costs should be computed at valuation dates after the first one. In addition, the author illustrates projected contributions and asset buildups under both traditional [closed-group] cost methods and projected [open-group] cost methods, for a number of years under a variety of assumptions as to the growth rate of the participant group. Projection valuation methods have not been described heretofore in sufficient detail to make it possible for actuaries to use them on a recurring basis or for the Internal Revenue Service to make a determination as to the acceptability of such approaches for computing tax-deductible pension plan contributions. It is the hope of the author that this paper will fill both of those gaps. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1977, Vol. 29.

Description: The primary purpose of this paper is to set forth one method of evaluating vested pension costs and to suggest a simple way for the actuary to make provision in his pension cost calculations for specific vesting schedules. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1966, Vol. 18, Pt. 1, No. 52.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to set forth the nature of the charges made on the corporate financial statements for the cost of pension plans, to give a resume of what is currently being done, and to suggest possible solutions. Additionally included is a discussion of the paper from a number of actuaries and the authors comments. Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1964, Vol. 16, Pt. 1, No. 46.

Description: This is a discussion of 'The Generalized Family of Aggregate Actuarial Cost Methods for Pension Funding' by John R. Taylor. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1967, Vol. 19, Pt. 1, No. 54.

Description: A frustrating aspect of pension funding rules for U.S. plan sponsors is that contribution requirements are adversely correlated with business cycles. For example, not only did plan sponsors get hit with large contribution requirements in the perfect storm of the early 2000s, but many sponsors were prohibited from contributing in the late 1990s boom due to full funding limitations. This paper proposes that plan sponsors be allowed to contribute the normal cost as a deductible contribution each year. In hindsight, this would have allowed plan sponsors to pay for benefits as they accrued in the late 1990s and ultimately mitigated some of the crash of the early 2000s. The authors aim to demonstrate that a contribution policy allowing contributions to be at least equal to the normal cost will result in less volatility of contributions and improve the funded status over time.

Description: Pension funds are usually either defined benefit or defined contribution funds. In Australia in recent years, for a number of reasons, some pension funds have offered the 'greater of,' these two benefits. Such a benefit design can be valued using contingent claims valuation techniques since it is equivalent to an option on the maximum of two random benefit amounts - one equal to a multiple of salary and the other the accumulation of a percentage of salary at an earnings rate. This paper overviews some of the issues in applying contingent claims valuation techniques to the valuation of this style of benefit. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, Vol. 1.