The Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation Committee released an issue brief, Collective Defined Contribution Plans. The issue brief defines Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) plans broadly, provides some examples of CDC plans that exist in various countries, discusses some advantages and criticisms of CDC plans—and considers possible options to address the criticisms.
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The Social Security Committee has released a public policy issue paper, Immigration and Social Security. Immigration is a crucial component to the trajectory of the financial condition of the Social Security system—this paper discusses how immigration affects the social insurance program.
( )The Public Plans Committee released an issue brief, Public Pension Plans: Helping Members Evaluate Buyout Programs and Other Lump Sums. The issue brief suggests critical information that would help members compare the value of an offered buyout—a lump sum payment in exchange for some or all of their pension benefits—to the value of the lifetime benefits.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue paper, ERISA: 50 Years of Shaping the Single-Employer Defined Benefit Landscape. It discusses the broad impacts of The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 on the retirement landscape, focusing specifically on the single-employer space.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, An Actuarial Perspective on the 2024 Social Security Trustees Report. This detailed brief provides perspective on the latest detailed annual assessment by the federal government of the program’s solvency.
( )The Retirement Practice Council’s Social Security and Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation committees sent a joint comment letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions regarding portable benefits for self-employed workers and other individuals in nontraditional working arrangements.
( )The Retirement Policy and Design Evaluation Committee released a policy paper, Improving Retirement Outcomes: Demographic Considerations, which discusses retirement inequities and how current retirement plan design elements and policies may inadvertently disadvantage certain cohorts of individuals. In tandem with the paper, the committee released a high-level executive summary.
( )The actuarial organizations’ collaborative Intersector Group released notes of its April 2024 virtual meetings with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service.
( )The Retirement Practice Council and Pension Committee responded to a request for information (RFI) by the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee regarding ways to bolster the defined benefit pension system.
( )The Social Security Committee released Highlights from the 2024 Social Security Trustees Report, a one-page illustration detailing the latest annual report on the current and projected financial status of the trust funds.
( )The Pension Committee submitted comments to the Actuarial Standards Board regarding the proposed revision of Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 12, Risk Classification (for All Practice Areas).
( )The Social Security Committee released an updated monograph and issue brief on individual equity and social adequacy as those principles apply to Social Security reform options. The monograph and issue brief compare three different Social Security reform proposals using individual equity and social adequacy—two of the important principles underlying the program—and provide details on each of the proposals and examine the data used in the illustrations.
( )The Public Plans Committee released ‘Surplus’ Considerations for Public Pension Plans, an issue brief that examines plan “surplus,” what it means and does not mean, historical lessons for public plans regarding “surplus,” and considerations for plans at or approaching 100% funding in the future.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Aligning the PBGC’s Single-Employer Premium Structure With Its Objectives, which discusses options for modifying the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) single-employer premium structure to better support the single-employer defined benefit system, while preserving a strong level of retirement security.
Read the Academy news release. For more information, read here.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief on the 2023 Social Security Trustees Report examining the social insurance program’s long-term solvency issues.
( )The Public Plans Committee released Introduction to Service Purchases for Public Pension Plans, a practice note considering a variety of service purchase programs that can be found across public sector pension plans, as well as plan administration topics that actuaries should be aware of when working with them.
( )The Pension Committee released an issue brief, Church-Sponsored Retirement Plans—Overview and Considerations. This issue brief discusses the broad range of church plans and practices. Among other considerations, it discusses the impact on a participant of being in a church plan when the ERISA protections and provisions for U.S. tax-qualified single or multiemployer pension plans generally do not apply.
( )The collaborative U.S.-based actuarial organizations’ Intersector Group released notes from its September meetings with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the IRS and U.S. Department of the Treasury.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue paper, Social Security and Financially Disadvantaged Groups, focusing on how benefits received by different groups are shaped by features of the program interacting with circumstances and trends associated with members of financially disadvantaged groups. The paper also discusses various reform proposals and how they might affect members of certain groups.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief, Reforming Social Security Sooner Rather Than Later, which notes that earlier reform action would allow for tax increases and benefit reductions to be phased in gradually and provide individuals more time to plan and adjust to the changes. Read the Academy news release.
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