Description: Understanding U.S. defined-benefit plan annual funding notice definitions and what they are meant to represent is a key to understanding how “healthy” or “unhealthy” a pension plan is. This article offers a description of several types of funded status measurements and their applications under the rules mandated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to fund private employer-sponsored defined-benefit pension plans.

Description: Summary of the non-routine business transacted at meetings of the Executive Committee of the Society of Actuaries on September 18, 1979 and the Board of Governors on October 18-19, 1979

Description: Response to David Kausch’s comments on the paper.

Description: This article discusses some of the ideas of pension finance, how to present such information, and how it was presented to the New York City Retirement Systems (NYCRS) in a way that made it available to other interested parties, including the public.

Description: Comments on Robert North’s paper, a real case study of disclosing MVL in a public employee retirement system.

Description: A response to the comments on the paper.

Description: The article discusses the Texas Pension Review Board's Guidelines for Actuarial Soundness applicable to Texas state public retirement systems (including the system's amortization period), and how these guidelines are consistent with and complementary to both the current GASB 27 ARC disclosure, and the imminent GASB 67 & 68 disclosures. The GASB requirements will change from a de facto funding standard to strictly disclosure requirements, with a focus on plans whose funding trajectory is the poorest.

Description: This article, another in the popular series devoted to tax basics, provides an overview of how the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the law governing employment-based retirement and health plans, impacts the use of annuities in pension and 401(k) plans. The article explains which types of plans are subject to ERISA, and which are not; why the concept of "plan assets" is critical; what duties an insurance company or distributor might take on when an annuity is placed with a retirement plan; and finally what disclosures may be required. The article also includes a brief introduction to terminal funding annuities. This article is intended for those with no prior experience in ERISA. Because the vast majority of retirement assets are saved originally in employment based plans like pension and 401(k) plans, understanding the basics of ERISA is important for anyone who will have a career in annuities and life insurance.

Description: A discussion of regulatory considerations for pension plans considering the use of longevity risk hedging contracts in Canada.

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