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March 2025

14Mar

Pension Funding Index February 2025

By Zorast Wadia The funded status of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit pension plans increased by $12 billion during January, as measured by the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI). The funding surplus improved to $71 billion as a result of liability decreases and investment returns that surpassed expectations. Pension liabilities fell during the month due to a small increase in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value those liabilities. As of January 31, the PFI...

March 14, 2025
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13Mar

US. Corporate Pension Funding Ratios Decline Amid Weak Market Returns

  Corporate pension plans over the past year have seen their funding surpluses increase significantly, as strong market returns and heightened interest rates consistently improved the health of corporate pension finances. However, in February, corporate pension funding ratios declined, a result of both weak equity returns and an increase in the value of pension plan liabilities, breaking a three-to-four-month streak of month-over-month increases. Funded Status Declines Investment consultant Wilshire estimated that the funded status of corporate U.S. pension plans in the S&P 500...

March 13, 2025
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February 2025

26Feb

German economist suggests tapping into VAT to stabilise first pillar’s contribution rate

German economist and pensions expert Bert Rürup has proposed channelling one percentage point from VAT to the first-pillar pension system, a form of public subsidy to stabilise the contribution rate of the pay-as-you-go pension system, in an article published by Handelsblatt newspaper. One percentage point from VAT would mean channelling €16bn per year to the first-pillar pension system, he added. Rürup’s idea is akin to a model chosen in Switzerland under the reform of the first-pillar AVH21, with the increase of...

February 26, 2025
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21Feb

Multiemployer Pension Funding Study: Year-end 2024

By Tim Connor,Timothy Herman,Rex Barker & Nina Lantz The amounts in Figure 1 reflect the $70 billion in SFA granted to 97 plans that received the funds by December 31, 2024, including $16 billion paid during 2024. Without the SFA program, the aggregate funded percentage would be approximately 89%. The liabilities in Figure 1 are projected using discount rates equal to each plan’s actuarial assumed return on assets. Assumed returns generally fall between 6.0% and 8.0%, with a weighted average interest...

February 21, 2025
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21Feb

US. Milliman analysis: Multiemployer pensions approach 100% funding in aggregate at year-end 2024

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the 2024 year-end results of its Multiemployer Pension Funding Study (MPFS), which analyzes the funded status of all U.S. multiemployer defined benefit pension plans based on assumptions and data in their latest Form 5500 filings. “Strong returns during the first and third quarters of 2024 largely drove the year’s significant rise in the aggregate funded percentage, which reached the second-highest point since Milliman launched this study in 2007” Post this As...

February 21, 2025
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10Feb

Youth Climate Council Ghana rejects Parliament’s plan to use carbon funds for MPs’ pensions

The Youth Climate Council Ghana (YCC) has strongly condemned a recent proposal by Parliament to fund Members of Parliament’s (MPs) pension schemes using revenue from the country’s carbon credit market. The youth-led organisation has labelled the move as a direct violation of Ghana’s climate commitments and a dangerous misallocation of resources meant for sustainability initiatives. It has therefore asked Parliament to revoke the proposal and prioritise long-term environmental and economic sustainability over short-term political convenience. According to YCC, diverting carbon finance...

February 10, 2025
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07Feb

U.S. corporate funding surpluses rise in January — Wilshire and LGIMA

U.S. corporate pension funding surpluses vaulted higher in January, thanks to a strong month of returns across global equities, according to estimates from Wilshire Advisors and Legal & General Investment Management America. First, Wilshire estimated the aggregate funding ratio of U.S. corporate plans reached 105.4% as of Jan. 31, an increase of 1.8 percentage points from the firm's updated 103.6% funding ratio as of Dec. 31. Ned McGuire, managing director at Wilshire, said in a news release Feb. 5 that the...

February 7, 2025
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January 2025

09Jan

US. Pensions Got a Boost From Strong Markets in 2024, But They’re Still In Trouble

A solid year for the U.S. stock markets resulted in better-than-expected returns for state and local pensions last year. However, that boost may not be enough to pull them out of trouble. Pensions notched an average annual return of 10.3% in 2024, higher than the projected 6.87%, according to a new report from Equable Institute, a think tank focused on pension research.12 Yet public pension returns still lagged behind the gains of the broader equity markets–the S&P 500 rose more than 23% in 2024. The...

January 9, 2025
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08Jan

Finally, U.S. pension plans reach fully funded status

For the first time in 17 years, at the close of 2024 pension plans sponsored by large U.S. companies were fully funded to meet future financial obligations. That’s according to Willis Towers Watson’s latest funded-status analysis, which examined pension plan data for 361 Fortune 1000 companies with a calendar fiscal year. The analysis estimated that, in the aggregate, those companies’ plans were 100% funded. The companies’ combined pension obligations declined by 8%, from an estimated $1.25 trillion at the end of 2023...

January 8, 2025
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December 2024

12Dec

November Sees Another Gain in Corporate Pension Funded Status

The funded ratios of defined benefit corporate pension plans in the U.S. rose in November, with strong market returns offsetting a drop in discount rates, according to tracking by some of the country’s largest pension consultancies. Milliman Inc., which tracks 100 of the largest corporate pension plans through its monthly index, reported that funded ratios rose to 103.5% as of November 30, outdoing the end of October’s 103.2%. The average market gains of 1.88% lifted the value of the plan assets Milliman tracks...

December 12, 2024
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