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Investing January 19, 2010
Milliman 100 Finished 2009 with Funding Deficit
January 19, 2010
(PLANSPONSOR.com) – An end of the year rally was still not enough to keep the
Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index from an overall deficit for 2009.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
In December, pensions experienced asset increases of $5 billion and liability decreases of $32 billion, resulting in a $37-billion increase in funding status – the second consecutive month of improvement after six months of declining funding status. However, overall, pension funding declined $31 billion during 2009, according to Milliman’s latest monthly update.
The funded ratio at the end of December stood at 77.7%, compared to 78.3% at the end of 2008.
Overall, the pension funding deficit grew from $269 billion at the close of 2008 to $300 billion by the end of the year. Much of this deficit was liability driven, Milliman said. The cumulative 2009 asset return was 13.21% compared to a 2009 pension benefit obligation (PBO) increase of 13.46%.
The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index consists of 100 of the nation’s largest defined benefit pension plans.
The complete monthly update is here.