原文鏈接:http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2016/03/03/more-companies-freezing-corporate-pension-plans/
A growing number of companies are freezing their defined benefit pension plans as they seek toreduce their retirement burdens.
Since thefinancial crisis, the percentage of Fortune 500 companies that havefrozentheir corporate pensions nearlydoubledto 39% in 2015 from 21% in 2009, according to risk advisor and benefits management firm Willis Towers Watson.
Frozen plans stop earning further benefits for workers.
In recent years, companies includingBoeing Co.,American International Group Inc.and United States Steel Corp. froze theirdefined benefit plans—in whichemployers manage the investment portfolio and guarantee set payments to retirees—andshifted employees to defined contribution plans. In these 401(k) plans, workers are responsible for theirown investment decisions.
The number of Fortune 500 companies that only offerdefined contribution plansto workersjumped to 401 in 2015 from 333 in 2009. The total hasdoubledsince 1998, according to Willis Towers Watson.
A bevy(一群)ofregulationsgoverning the defined benefit plans,higher costs for employeesthat areliving longerandincreasing feescharged by regulators have made the plansless attractive for corporations, said Alan Glickstein, a senior retirement consultant ?at Willis Towers Watson.
The defined benefit plans, while an attractive benefit for workers, are alsoa big burden on corporate balance sheets.
The 100 largest corporate pension plans had acollective deficitof $326 billion in January, according toconsulting firm Milliman. That meansthe value of the assets in their plans don’t match the amount they owe. The plans werein surplusin 2007, butfell into deficit during the financial crisisof 2008.Plunging突然往下的stock pricesand low interest ratescombined to push them into the red.
Pensions depend onstock returns to boost their asset values, whilelow interest rates increase the present-day values of the future liabilities.Years ofratesnear historical lows havemore than offsetany gains the plans made fromstock gains.
文章大意：
闡述了比起09年昌讲，15年很多公司逐漸凍結(jié)defined pension plan(或轉(zhuǎn)成defined contribute plan)這一現(xiàn)象，以及給出背后的原因育韩。
個(gè)人感受：
國家政策與公司決策息息相關(guān)……(如影響interest rate的政策宵晚，對pension plan的regulation)
Employee的權(quán)利太小菠劝？赊舶？？赶诊？笼平？當(dāng)所有公司都轉(zhuǎn)成這種plan的時(shí)候就沒有人會因?yàn)檫@個(gè)理由而跳槽？
公司的做法某層面上打擊employee, maybe會motivation減弱舔痪，因?yàn)楫吘笵B多少是base on employee salary, performance etc寓调，但DC就是base on their investment decision因此他們干活可能不會那么積極對公司也許造成負(fù)面影響；但不管怎么說這個(gè)決策為公司減少了很多tangible的負(fù)擔(dān)锄码？ 而且要是公司不這么干的話有可能賬面很難看導(dǎo)致investor失去信心不投資他們?nèi)缓笞顗慕Y(jié)果就是破產(chǎn)破了就更沒法還employee??
金融危機(jī)帶來的危害真大……
相關(guān)知識：
Defined-benefit plan
A type ofpension planin which an employer/sponsor promises a specified monthly benefit on retirement that is predetermined by aformulabased on the employee'searningshistory, tenure of service andage, rather than depending directly on individualinvestmentreturns/An employer-sponsored retirement plan where employee benefits are sorted out based on a formula using factors such as salary history and duration of employment. Investment risk andportfolio managementare entirely under the control of the company. There are also restrictions on when and how you can withdraw these funds without penalties.
Defined-contribution plan
A?type ofretirement planin which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis.[1]Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts (through employer contributions and, if applicable, employee contributions) plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. Only employer contributions to the account are guaranteed, not the future benefits. In defined contribution plans, future benefits fluctuate on the basis of investment earnings. The most common type of defined contribution plan is a savings and thrift plan. Under this type of plan, the employee contributes a predetermined portion of his or her earnings (usually pretax) to an individual account, all or part of which is matched by the employer
簡單說法：
DB是員工在工作的時(shí)候定期向公司交定量的錢夺英，但是最終他們退休的時(shí)候公司還他們多少錢是根據(jù)一系列的公式計(jì)算的，其中的factor包括他們的salary,工作時(shí)長等滋捶，并且終生有效(really?)秋麸。而公司如何有錢還員工就是從他們事先交的錢里拿去投資，但是退休金和投資的return沒有關(guān)系炬太。
DC是員工預(yù)先將他們的salary拿出一部分來放到一個(gè)獨(dú)立的賬戶里面進(jìn)行投資灸蟆，估計(jì)一人一個(gè)賬戶。投資的decision要么公司會給你一些建議亲族，要么靠自己炒考。最終退休得到的退休金根據(jù)investment return來定。
注意：
The money in the?individual's account is used to buy an annuity or transfer to a RRIF (a monthly income stream).
應(yīng)該是說他們退休的時(shí)候所賺的錢拿來買annuity(一個(gè)contract specified每時(shí)間段會給你多少錢)霎迫，如果你想要有additional benefit的話沒時(shí)間段的coupon估計(jì)會減少或者價(jià)格升高吧斋枢。
總的來說對比他倆：
DC類似saving了，要求employee承受的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)更大(investment risk),面臨additional cost的可能性(為了得到ancillary benefits), benefit更難保障知给。
疑問:那他媽誰會買這種plan?都沒有一個(gè)好的瓤帚。好在哪里，剛開始每年交的錢不用那么多涩赢？
其他：
Pension fund是buy-side戈次，并且long-term investment,因此這種fund最不受市場短期波動影響，所以liquidity risk（馬上要把investment兌現(xiàn)的能力）最型舶恰怯邪；而hedge fund是capture market的，因此liquidity risk最大
Milliman,a large international, independentactuarialandconsultingfirm
句子理解與疑惑：
Frozen plans stop earning further benefits for workers.
這句話是什么意思花墩？不是DB按照規(guī)定formula計(jì)算嗎悬秉，合同都簽好了你咋不給人約定的benefit澄步？還是說frozen專指DB轉(zhuǎn)成DC這一行為？（因?yàn)楹笳吖静怀袚?dān)責(zé)任）估計(jì)后面這話是對的和泌。
倒數(shù)第四段：
A bevy(一群)ofregulationsgoverning the defined benefit plans,higher costs for employeesthat areliving longerandincreasing feescharged by regulators have made the plansless attractive for corporations, said Alan Glickstein, a senior retirement consultant ?at Willis Towers Watson.
higher costs for employeesthat areliving longerà這是在講對公司不好的地方對嗎村缸，因?yàn)榛畹瞄L就要給錢給的時(shí)間長，right武氓？
Defined benefit plan對公司的壞處：
1. higher costs for employeesthat areliving longer
2. increasing feescharged by regulators
倒數(shù)第五段：從Balance sheets分析DB對公司的不好
The 100 largest corporate pension plans had acollective deficitof $326 billion in January, according toconsulting firm Milliman. That meansthe value of the assets in their plans don’t match the amount they owe. The plans werein surplusin 2007, butfell into deficit during the financial crisisof 2008.Plunging突然往下的stock pricesand low interest ratescombined to push them into the red.
Pensions depend onstock returns to boost their asset values, whilelow interest rates increase the present-day values of the future liabilities.Years ofratesnear historical lows havemore than offsetany gains the plans made fromstock gains.
Asset = Liability + Equity
Collective deficit存在于plan里面王凑，不管賬面關(guān)系因?yàn)槲也粫椭苯永斫獬蛇@個(gè)plan帶給公司的價(jià)值減去公司要還employee的錢=- 326.誰能教我從A，L聋丝，E分析分析？有關(guān)嗎工碾？
現(xiàn)象：own-owe= - 326
金融危機(jī)時(shí)從surplus轉(zhuǎn)deficit的原因：
1)plunging stock prices (own更少)
我的理解是弱睦，公司把這些錢invest到項(xiàng)目中去，因此stock price影響公司獲利的多少渊额。Stock price下跌說明公司手上能還employee的錢更少况木，asset方面減少
2)low interest rates (owe更多)
Present value計(jì)算公式是CASH FLOW/(1+interest rate)^t ,因此公司欠employee的錢在分母不變情況下，ir減小旬迹，pv增大火惊。這個(gè)增大是在liability(owe) size
綜合就是欠的更多，獲得的更少奔垦，總體賬面虧欠更多屹耐。
問題：
是不是balance sheet是會把公司欠employee的pension plan都要算成pv寫上去？（那他們怎么預(yù)測最終的payout是多少椿猎？）
