Operating costs of pension funds: the impact of scale, governance, and plan design

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
JACOB A. BIKKER ◽  
JAN DE DREU
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Pension Plan ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Plan Design ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAdministrative and investment costs per participant appear to vary widely across pension funds. These costs are important because they reduce the rate of return on the investments of pension funds and consequently raise the cost of retirement security. This article examines the impact of determinants of these costs, such as the size, governance, pension plan design and outsourcing decisions, using data on all Dutch pension funds across the 1992–2004 period, including more than 10,000 observations. We find that economies of scale dominate the strong dispersion in both administrative and investment costs across pension funds. Industry-wide pension funds are significantly more efficient than company funds and other funds. The operating costs of pension funds' defined contribution plans are lower than those of defined benefit plans. Higher shares of pensioners make funds more costly, whereas the reverse is true when relatively many participants are inactive.

Scale Economies in Private Multi-Employer Pension Systems

ILR Review ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia S. Mitchell ◽  
Emily S. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Pension Plan ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Department Of Labor ◽  
Pension Fund Management ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Stratified Sample ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Administrative Expenses

This paper examines the efficiency of pension plan operations in the private sector, focusing on the relationship between plan size and administrative expenses of pension fund management. The authors estimate cost equations for multi-employer, defined benefit plans with funds held totally by a trust, using data from a stratified sample of plan reports for 1975 filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Equations are estimated for individual industries and for the private sector as a whole. In all cases economies of scale in plan administration are evident, suggesting that policymakers should investigate measures to encourage plan consolidation in the private sector and perhaps in the public sector as well.

The decline of defined benefit plans and job tenure

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALLISON SCHRAGER
Keyword(s):  
Pension Plan ◽  
Job Turnover ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Job Tenure ◽  
Benefit Plan ◽  
Job Separation ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Defined Contribution Pension Plan ◽  
Defined Contribution Plan

AbstractThis paper investigates the consequences of relying on assets accumulated in a defined contribution pension plan compared to an annuity based on salary from a defined benefit plan. Although a defined contribution plan varies with asset returns, it may be more desirable than a defined benefit plan when wage variability and job turnover are adequately considered. It is found that both job separation rates and wage variance increased in the 1990s. The new calibrations of these variables are used in a life-cycle model where a worker chooses between a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan. It is shown that the increase in job turnover made defined contribution the dominant pension plan.

The outlook for pension contributions and profits in the US

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALICIA H. MUNNELL ◽  
MAURICIO SOTO
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Pension Plan ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Bear Market ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
Corporate Profits ◽  
The Impact

The bear market that began in 2000 focused attention on two issues – pensions and profits. The initial pension problem was the big decline in value of individual 401(k) accounts. The profit issue was misconduct and stock options. In fact, there is another compelling issue involving both pensions and profits – the impact of the bear market on defined benefit pension plans.Plan sponsors have a projected benefit liability, which until recently was covered by the rise in asset values during the extended bull market. When stock values fell by 50 percent, sponsors for the first time in decades had to contribute to their pensions. But even without the decline in the stock market, sponsors of defined benefit plans were going to face increased pension contributions in the coming decade. The reason is a host of regulatory and legislative changes in the late 1980s that slowed or limited pension contributions.Our analysis suggests that in the absence of the stock market boom and the regulatory and legislative changes that reduced funding, the average firm's contribution to its pension plan would have been 50 percent higher during the 1982–2001 period; corporate profits would have been roughly 5 percent lower.The deferred contributions are coming due. The decline in the stock market and an ageing population imply that contributions would double from their current level. As the economy emerges from recession and the bear market draws to a close, firms and investors must be prepared to contend with a strong headwind from pension funding obligations that could slow the recover.

scholarly journals Life After Defined Benefit Plans

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin A. Goldberg ◽  
Robert E. Wnek ◽  
Michael J. Rolleri
Keyword(s):  
Pension Plan ◽  
Profit Sharing ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Cash Balance ◽  
Benefit Plan ◽  
Defined Contribution Plans ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Recent Developments

Employers have moved from traditional pension plans to cash balance and other alternative defined benefit plans. However, it may be that the best approach lies beyond defined benefit plans completely. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) was enacted to protect workers. Its focus was on the defined benefit plan, which at that time meant a traditional pension plan that provided lifetime income to retired workers. Over the years traditional pension plans have declined in number, often due to their increasing costs. Many of these plans have been replaced by the 401(k) plan, a profit-sharing plan partly or wholly funded by employee contributions. There has also been a rise in hybrid plans, plans that have features of both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Recent developments highlight the weaknesses in traditional pension plans. Replacing a traditional pension plan with a cash balance plan, a hybrid plan that qualifies as a defined benefit plan, does not fully address all the problems. It may be that there is limited advantage to the continued emphasis on defined benefit plans. Instead, defined contribution plans that contain some features of defined benefit plans may better address the current retirement-plan issues.

Pension type, tenure, and job mobility

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
KELLY HAVERSTICK ◽  
ALICIA H. MUNNELL ◽  
GEOFFREY SANZENBACHER ◽  
MAURICIO SOTO
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Job Tenure ◽  
Defined Contribution Plans ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Dramatic Shift ◽  
Using Data

AbstractOver the last 25 years, the United States has seen a dramatic shift in the private sector away from defined benefit plans and towards defined contribution plans. While commentators constantly cite an increase in labor mobility as a major reason for the shift in the private sector from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, researchers to date have not been able to document any difference in mobility by pension type. This study argues that the inability to find such a relationship stems from ignoring the important role of job tenure. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the results of duration analyses that include the interaction of job tenure and pension type reveal that workers with between five and ten years of tenure at a firm are 23% more likely to leave a job with a defined contribution plan than with a defined benefit plan. This difference is consistent with differences in the timing of benefit level entitlement between the two types of plans.

A Comprehensive Review of the Evolution of Accounting Standards for State and Local Government Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits in The United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Dale L. Flesher ◽  
Craig Foltin ◽  
Gary John Previts ◽  
Mary S. Stone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Accounting Standards ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Defined Contribution ◽  
Defined Contribution Plans ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local

ABSTRACT Both the business media and the popular press have emphasized the underfunding problems associated with pension funds that are set aside for state and local government workers, a group that also includes teachers and professors at state-affiliated colleges and universities. The realization that pension funds are typically underfunded stems from the fact that the accounting standards associated with state and local government employee pension funds have led to greater transparency since 2011. This paper examines, explains, and interprets the historical development over the last 70 years of accounting standards for state and local government pension funds in the United States. Changing accounting standards, along with economic and social change, have led to consequences such as employers transforming their pension programs to avoid substantial costs and significant liabilities, for example by changing from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.

Getting More from Less in Defined Benefit Plans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Wallick ◽  
Daniel B. Berkowitz ◽  
Andrew S. Clarke ◽  
Kevin J. DiCiurcio ◽  
Kimberly A. Stockton
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Pension Plan ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Portfolio Risk ◽  
Defined Benefit Pension Plan ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Investment Returns ◽  
Defined Benefit Plans ◽  
Asset Class ◽  
Reduced Costs

As global interest rates hover near historic lows, defined benefit pension plan sponsors must grapple with the prospect of lower investment returns. We examine three levers that can enhance portfolio outcomes in a low-return world: increased contributions; reduced investment costs; and increased portfolio risk. We use portfolio simulations based on a stochastic asset class forecasting model to evaluate each lever according to two criteria: the magnitude of impact and the certainty that this impact will be realized. We show that increased contributions have the greatest and most certain impact. Reduced costs have a more modest, but equally certain impact. Increased risk can deliver a significant impact, but with the least certainty.

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