Description: An “eligible combined plan”allows the promise, funding and delivery of both pension benefits funded by the employer and salary deferrals funded by the employees

Description: This paper comments on the Successful Employee Retirement Income Outcomes in the United States (SERIOUS), a comprehensive model for the delivery of employment-based retirement income.

Description: The author shares the story of his actuarial career and provides insight into the development of retirement today and the past and future of the pension actuary.

Description: An interview with actuary Lee Gold reveals preliminary results of a recent SOA research project which surveyed employees on what retirement plan features they prefer.

Description: There is no silver bullet to improving retirement income outcomes for retirees. However, a combination of changes can be of significant value in addressing this overlooked issue. Although QLACs on the surface have potential value, they are not nearly as efficient as they could be. So far, employer plans have provided limited options for retirement income solutions. IRAs may not cost effectively serve the best interest of retirees. Employer plans should be encouraged to become retirement income providers and alternative approaches should be considered. The current prohibition on allowing plans to modify benefit payouts based on mortality experience should be reconsidered to allow for innovative plan income designs. Improvements to the deaccumulation stage of the retiree nest egg are challenging yet necessary.

Description: The Society of Actuaries provides a snapshot of the findings from the SOA and Stanford research report, “The Next Evolution in Defined Contribution Retirement.” The fact sheet provides employers and plan sponsors with tips on how to build and offer retirement income generators.

Description: All we need is … a §401k - redesigned to • Leverage the fungibility of money • Consolidate to a lifetime, all-in-one plan • Create liquidity without leakage

Description: This is a study of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) mortality experience. The study consists of data furnished by the PBGC for the time period of September 30, 2009 through September 30, 2014. All of the data come from single-employer pension plans taken over by the PBGC in a distress termination. This is the SOA’s first study of PBGC experience and provides another comparison point of retirement plans mortality experience for work performed by pension actuaries.

Description: This study examines reductions in retirement benefits from the decline in defined benefit plans and increases in defined contribution plans during the past 20 years and what effect this has on workforce management. In particular how this change is affecting older workers’ decisions to retire and what effect this could have on companies. An underlying assumption implicit in evaluating the benefit of retirement of older workers is that productivity declines in old age while pay does not, leading to a pay productivity gap that could have an adverse effect on the employer from delayed retirement. The validity of this assumption was also examined.

Description: This paper is intended to help plan sponsor fiduciaries understand existing options and carry out their due diligence when studying retirement income solutions for DC retirement plans. It educates human resources and financial professionals at plan sponsors about the potential issues, solutions, and processes involved with implementing, administering, and communicating a retirement income program for their plan participants.