Annual Meeting Investments Sessions

Traditional cash balance plans may have been designed to be safe, secure and reliable sources of pension income. But in reality that is far from the case. Though stated account balances are indeed stable, expected lifetime income is anything but. On the other hand, benefits under cash balance plans with market-based formulas are likely to be much more stable. Another critical issue with these types of plans is funded status volatility. What hedging approaches are available to manage that?

Capital markets have been more turbulent than usual. This implies that return expectations are equally in flux. Overlaying everything is an array of emerging trends, each of which could prove troublesome going forward — exploding federal debt, maturing demographics and waning globalization. On the other side of the ledger we see the potentially beneficial impact of technological advances. Looking through the turmoil, what can we conclude about the bottom-line impacts on capital markets and the economy?

What issues can you expect to arise in the go-to-market process for pension risk transfers? How is insurance company pricing aligning with accounting and funding liability values? How do insurers develop their pricing quotes? What investment strategies underlie them?