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American workers rely on their employers to provide a way to generate retirement income beyond their Social Security earnings. Many employers still offer traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plans. A growing majority, however, have replaced DB plans with account-based defined contribution (DC) plans. Virtually everyone acknowledges that the basic DC plan design is flawed. Yet as a society with low private savings and a fraying Social Security system, we count on this imperfect structure to serve as a retirement security bulwark. Workers and society both need the employer-sponsored retirement system to function well. Enhancing DC plan design therefore becomes critical. Defined Contribution Plans: Challenges and Opportunities for Plan Sponsors offers guidance to plan sponsors interested in better understanding the primary issues confronting DC plans. We wrote this book from the viewpoint of the plan sponsor seeking to improve the DC system, and it follows five major themes: the plan participant, the plan sponsor, plan design, investments and investment managers, and asset decumulation in retirement. We present the material conversationally from a high-level perspective. We have not sought to write an encyclopedia on DC plans but rather focus on the basic features of well-run plans. We address key challenges facing DC plans and offer associated design and policy recommendations for plan sponsors and other interested parties to consider. Plan design improvements almost certainly will be incremental, rather than sweeping top-down changes mandated by regulators. Plan sponsors individually will make the important decisions that have lasting consequences for participants and for society. Our objective is to spark interest among sponsors, encouraging them to carry out additional research and take action. We believe the DC system will be strengthened by informed sponsors advocating for and implementing thoughtful strategic changes to their plans.
Private defined benefit (DB) pension plans are an important source of retirement income for millions of Americans. However, from 1990 to 2006, plan sponsors have voluntarily terminated over 61,000 sufficiently funded single-employer DB plans. An event preceding at least some of these terminations was a so-called plan ¿freeze¿ -- an amendment to the plan to limit some or all future pension accruals for some or all plan participants. This report examines: (1) the extent to which DB pension plans are frozen and the characteristics of frozen plans; and (2) the implications of these freezes for plan participants, plan sponsors, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC). Charts and tables.
Employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plans (DBPP) face unprecedented challenges in the midst of significant changes in our nation's retirement landscape. Many DBPP & the fed. agency that insures them, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), have accumulated large & growing deficits that threaten their survival. Meanwhile, the percentage of Amer. workers covered by DBPP has been declining for 30 years, reflecting a movement toward defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) plans). To address these issues, a diverse group of knowledgeable individuals was convened -- incl. gov't. officials, researchers, accounting experts, actuaries, plan sponsor & employee group rep., & members of the investment community. Charts & tables.
Conflicts of interest typically exist when someone in a position of trust, such as a pension consultant, has competing professional or personal issues. Such competing interests can make it difficult for pension plan fiduciaries and others to fulfill their duties impartially. The proliferation of consulting work and the complexity of business arrangements among investment advisors, plan consultants, and others have increased the likelihood of conflicts of interests for both defined benefit (DB) plans, and defined contribution (DC) plans. This is a report on: (1) the effects undisclosed conflicts of interest may have on the financial performance of DB plans; and (2) the vulnerabilities that conflicts of interest may pose for DC plan participants. Illus.

Retirement Security

United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 100


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New legislation and regulations have altered the landscape of how you manage your defined contribution plan. This book addresses the significant changes taking place in education for defined contribution plans. It provides an overview of the recent critical changes in plan sponsor requirements as a result of legislative and regulatory changes, the emerging opportunities and challenges in developing defined contribution educational strategies, and the new models and tools that can inform both decision makers and participants. International Foundation.
This Issue Brief examines trends in employment-based defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension plans since 1975. The analysis relies extensively on Form 5500 reports submitted by plan sponsors and published by the Department of Labor, although other sources of information are used. The Issue Brief goes beyond a general description of trends in the number of qualified private-sector plans, participants, and plan contributions and assets to examine why DB plans have steadily lost ground as the preferred plan type in recent decades. It explores several explanations for the increased use of DC plans and cites the research and lines of reasoning used to support them. These reasons include government regulation; changes in the work place; business environment and risk associated with funding and managing pension plans; firm size; increased global competition; and the successful marketing efforts of consultants and DC plan service providers. Developments in the public sector--on the federal and state and local levels--are discussed. The report addresses public policy implications raised by the movement away from DB toward DC (and hybrid) plan designs. Important issues in this context include possible sources of future retirement income; the impact of job stability on the portability of retirement benefits as well as benefit preservation and decumulation; and the extent to which alternative retirement plan designs satisfy the needs of both employer and employee. A closing section examines two topics of importance to retirement plans: changes in the tax code resulting from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) of 2001 and recent developments in corporate governance reform and financial disclosure. The report updates information contained in a 1997 EBRI analysis of the same subject, and includes sections on plan design and operational issues that are combined into an appendix to provide basic background on how retirement plans work.
Over the past 25 years, defined contribution plans, including 401(k) plans, have become the most prevalent form of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States. The majority of assets held in these plans are invested in stocks and stock mutual funds, and the decline in the major stock market indices in 2008 greatly reduced the value of many families' retirement savings. The effect of stock market volatility on families' retirement savings is just one issue of concern to Congress with respect to defined contribution retirement plans. This book examines fee considerations and country comparisons relating to defined contribution plans for retirement with a focus on increasing access to employer-sponsored plans, raising participation and contribution rates, helping participants make better investment choices, requiring clearer disclosure of fees charged to plan participants, preserving retirement savings when workers face economic hardship or change jobs, and promoting life annuities as a source of retirement income.