Milliman Index Shaves $54B in Assets in February

March 11, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, representing 100 of the nation's largest defined benefit pension plans, lost another $54 billion in assets in February.

A Milliman news release said the losses were offset by liability decreases of roughly $21 billion, resulting in a net loss of $33 billion in funding status for the month. In the last year, the funding ratio for these pensions has fallen from 99.6% to 71.7%, Milliman said.

“January was a terrible month for asset values, and February was worse,” said John Ehrhardt, co-author of the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, in the announcement. “We’re not even through the first quarter yet and already funding status had declined from 77.2% to 71.7%, and that’s with asset values being offset by changes in discount rates.”

Funding status has fallen by $337 billion in the last 12 months thanks in large part to a -26% asset return. As of the end of February, the total asset value for these pensions stood at $869 billion.

More information is available  here .

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