Interest Rates and Pension Plans
The strength of private retirement plans must be maintained in the upcoming years due to the increasing number of Baby Boomers who will be retiring in the United States. Many retired Americans rely on private pensions and employer-sponsored retirement savings as a secondary source of income in addition to Social Security (Brinner 131). In addition, because the human life expectancy has increased dramatically over recent years, it is very important that policymakers encourage the growth of employer-sponsored retirement plans (Hungerford et al. 13).
Defined benefit plans are employer-provided retirement plans that provide a guaranteed retirement income (Blomquist and Wijkander 32). The employer typically assumes all of the investment risk and the benefits are guaranteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. In the United States alone, there are approximately 50,000 defined benefit plans that cover about 23 million workers (Hungerford et al. 16)
History of Discount Rates
Over the years, Congress has adjusted the appropriate discount rate in order to address specific problems as they arose. From 1987 to 2002, the law required that defined benefit pension plans use a weighted 4-year average of the returns of the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond rate as their discount rate for determining funding adequacy. Under the 1987 law, plans were allowed to use any number between 90-110% of that rate. The spread between 90-110% was intended to allow the pension plan a slight amount of flexibility in its calculations. In 1994, Congress narrowed this range to 90-105%...
Public choice theorists focus on the question of what government policies are likely to be implemented in a given political setting, rather than what policies would produce a desirable outcome if they were implemented. The conclusions of the public choice theory tend to increase skepticism towards the prospect that giving government power over various areas of human affairs will actually have beneficial results, regardless of the democratic control exercised by
Interest Rate Risk Management This report aims to discuss the volatility of interest rates and how that issue is important for insurance companies, especially those underwriting premature death risks and selling annuities. The report also presents insights into why interest rates are important for other financial institutions such as banks and corporations who hold interest related securities throughout their accounting processes. Finally, the essay offers a status of the interest rate
Fed Policy Change The most recent Fed policy change was the decision to raise rates by 25 basis points. It is expected that the Fed will raise rates three more times (probably by the same amount) in 2018 and there are roughly 60% odds that the Fed will raise one more time this year (perhaps in December). However, I do not expect this trend to continue, because the debt of the
Pensions Fund Pension Fund Analysis The school was founded in 1839 and is Missouri's largest research university offering more than 280 degree programs (Mizzou, N.d.). The school is also the largest employer in the area with more than thirteen thousand full-time employees. The Retirement Trust and the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust hold the assets of the Retirement Plan and the OPEB Plan. The university is require to fully comply with the
Pension Plans of Coca Cola Co. Vs. Pepsi Inc. Compare the pension plans of Coca Cola and Pepsi, noting what type of pension, and funded status as of 2007 end of year. A) Coca Cola Co. This is a Defined Contribution Plan. For its primary plan the employer matches 100% of participants contribution, up to 3% of compensation. Benefit obligation at end of year for 2007 was $3,517 million. Benefits paid for pensions plan were
Pension Plan Replacement Rates Public Pension Replacement Rates The portion of monthly pre-retirement income that will be replaced by monthly pension plan funds is called the pension plan replacement rate (Quadagno, 2011). In the United States, the majority of pre-retirement income replacement comes from Social Security payments (Quadagno, 2011). The actual replacement rate for wage earners with lower incomes is higher than for those who have had higher wages during their working
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