Alternative pension strategies: Tackling the challenges of traditional plan designs

Pension plan trustees are looking for more robust retirement solutions for the future to avoid the struggles many traditional pension plans have faced. They want to make their defined benefit pension plans less vulnerable to the risks inherent in retirement, but don’t want to change to defined contribution plans that offload these risks onto participants. Modified variable annuity plans, such as the Milliman Sustainable Income Plan^™, could be a good option because they maintain plan funding and preserve contribution stability better than traditional designs.

Reproduced with permission from Benefits Magazine, Volume 54 Number 7, July 2017, pages 20-27, published by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (www.ifebp.org), Brookfield, Wisconsin. All rights reserved. Statements or opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of the International Foundation, its officers, directors or staff. No further transmission or electronic distribution of this material is permitted. Subscriptions are available (www.ifebp.org/subscriptions).