In 2014 America's Corporate Pension Plans Gave Up Most of Their Funding Level Gains From 2013
U.S. defined benefit plans, which sharply improved their funding status in 2013, gave up most of those gains in 2014, according an analysis of pension plan data at 411 of the Fortune 1000 companies completed recently by Towers Watson. February 27, 2015 By Robert Stowe England When it comes to restoring funding levels lost in the financial crisis, U.S. corporate pension plans seem to be on a treadmill going nowhere. In 2012, the funding level for U.S. corporate plans stood at 77 percent. Funding then rose sharply to 89 percent in 2013 as market returns soared, giving the plans their best funding status since before the recession. During 2014, however, plans gave up 9 percentage points, as funding levels fell to 80 percent, according to Towers Watson. The stumble in funding status in the current cycle is a big disappointment for struggling pension plans and may call for diminished expectations for a full recovery, according to Alan Glickstein, a senior retirement ...