Description: This Fast Facts document summarizes the Phase 2 Report of the Communicating Defined Benefit Risk project.

Description: This panel discussion is from the 1991 Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held June 3-5 in Colorado Springs. The panelists discuss the future, if any, of defined-benefit pension plans, and whether they have been “legislated” out of existence, in particular the role of the Internal Revenue Service as the primary regulator of pension plans. From the Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 17, No. 3B.

Description: In defined-benefit plans, a portability problem arises, especially in an inflationary economy. Final salary plans were designed to cope with inflation. However, transfer of employment during a career can result in long service at a prior employer with outdated final compensation and short service at a current employer with appropriate final compensation. Thus the problem. This presentation discusses possible solutions. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 17, No. 3A.

Description: This report, Phase 2 of a project on communicating pension risk, includes interviews with several individuals representing various aspects of plan administration: plan fiduciaries, finance professionals, consultants, and providers. The report provides a summary of each interview, concluding with common themes.

Description: View the complete issue for the August 2014 Reinsurance News newsletter.

Description: Sponsors of DB plans are being forced to focus on their plans as never before. A confluence of events—market downturn, aging workforce and changing legislation/regulation—has meant the status quo no longer applies to companies’ DB plans.

Description: This article provides a basic introduction to the taxation of qualified annuities held in qualified retirement plans and IRAs. The article has been updated for the SECURE Act and the SECURE 2.0 Act. The article describes the basic types of employer-based plans, provides of overview of the taxation of contributions and benefits when annuities are held in connection with plans and IRAs, explains the required minimum distribution rules, and offers a brief introduction to recent legislation impacting qualified annuities.

Description: Recently, we have seen renewed interest in the international (or “offshore”) pension plan. An international plan typically provides benefits for internationally mobile workers of a multinational employer, but can also be used for certain other workers. The plan is usually located in a respected international finance centre.

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: The article is a summary of Society of Actuaries report entitled “Annuity Market Pricing Approaches” sponsored by the Retirement Section Research Committee. The report examines the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) methodology of developing solvency valuation assumptions, compares it to methods used in the U.S., and considers if it could be used in other markets, such as U.S. group annuities or individual annuities