Britain’s DB plans roiled by gender equalization
The DB schemes of the UK’s 350 biggest listed companies showed a combined estimated deficit of £36bn (€41bn) on October 31, down from a £3bn aggregate surplus on September...
Pensions
MassMutual stakes out thought-leadership in pension risk transfer services
Single premium PRT product sales in the United States were $23.9 billion in 2017, up from $13.7 billion in 2016, a 68% increase, a new MassMutual white paper said,...
With new pension policy, California links retirement income to global warming
Senate Bill 964, which was passed last week, requires CalPERS and CalSTRS to identify climate risk in their portfolios and report on that risk to the public and to...
‘Collective’ versus ‘individual’ pension accrual debated in Holland
In the Netherlands, the government and the labor unions are struggling to create a new model for retirement savings that satisfies employers and workers.
As the discount rate rises, so do pension funding ratios: Milliman
Milliman's forecasts for the discount rate range from a high of 4.43% by end of 2018 and 5.03% by end of 2019 to a low of 3.63% at end...
‘OnePension’ lets employers put DB back in DC
'We now have a solution that adds a guaranteed component to the retirement plan without being burdensome,' said Pete Welsh of OneAmerica, the provider of OnePension.
MassMutual to publish commentary for DB plan sponsors
MassMutual’s Defined Benefit Market Update and Commentary is designed to support its DB plan sponsors and potential clients in the ongoing management of their plans.
People with pensions conserve their savings: EBRI
'Instead of spending down, a large number of retirees are continuing to accumulate assets throughout retirement,' writes Sudipto Banerjee of T. Rowe Price, who prepared the report on decumulation...
‘Peeps’ Try to Peck Through a Pension Shell
A Pennsylvania maker of colored marshmallow ‘chicks’ wants to be the first company in a ‘closed MEP’ pension plan to stay in the plan but put all new hires...
Alcoa transfers DB risk to Sun Life and others
Sun Life Financial, Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company, and Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. (IAFS) will begin making benefit payments to the affected plan participants by...
In Canada, ‘LIFE’ Begins at 85
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald (right or below), a research fellow at Toronto's Ryerson University, proposes a voluntary, tontine-like deferred income annuity called Lifetime Income for the Elderly (LIFE). Canadians could make...
MassMutual aims to compete harder for defined benefit business
PensionSmart Analysis, as MassMutual calls its newest tool, is available to DB plan sponsors through financial advisors and consultants who serve the pension recordkeeping, investments and actuarial marketplaces.
DC plans deliver less income than DB plans, study shows
Expansion of DC coverage, wider use of auto-enrollment and auto-escalation of contributions, and reduced leakage would help turn the situation around, according to the Center for Retirement Research at...
MassMutual offers customized pension yield curves to DB clients
MassMutual issued a white paper on its yield curve methodology and compares it with other yield curves available on the market. The white paper is available to plan sponsors...
Dream-House Shopping in Costa Rica
The house was for sale. Its mystical vibe seduced them into paying $150,000 in cash. Monkeys, sloths, macaws, butterflies and gekkos would be their neighbors as the couple aged....
Skin in the (Costa Rican Retirement) Game
How do Costa Ricans pay for retirement? In San Jose, Alvaro Ramos Chaves (above), the pensions regulator, told RIJ how his nation’s mandatory DB and DC plans work. His...
Will pensions become subject to state income tax in Illinois?
AARP is leading an effort to prevent fiscally-challenged Illinois from taxing pension income again after a holiday of 32 years. Reinstating the tax would bring in an estimated $2...
Pension risk transfers have varied effects, actuaries say
Pension risk transfers may include the purchase of annuities from life insurers, the payment to plan participants of lump sums, and/or the restructuring of plan investments to reduce risk...
TIAA creates fund to invest in ‘super-regional’ malls
Super-regional malls are “a distinctly strong and stable performer throughout multiple cycles,” said Suzan Amato, managing director of TIAA Global Asset Management.
European pension executives criticize quantitative easing
The European Central Bank is “distorting the market” for corporate debt, several pension executives said at an institutional investors' summit in Vienna this week.
