Actuarial Notes

Fundamentals of Private Pensions

By Dan M. McGill, Kyle N. Brown, John J. Haley, Sylvester J. Schieber and Mark J. Warshawsky · Oxford University Press · 2010

Study guide: Exam RET-101

A textbook on private pensions in the United States, published with the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School. The Pension Research Council describes the revised and updated ninth edition as adding to past knowledge while giving new perspectives on the provision of retirement income. Its eight sections run from the forces behind retirement plans through plan design, regulation, actuarial practice and accounting, to investments and the future of pensions.

On the syllabus

  • Exam RET-101 — Ch. 5 Human Resource Incentives, excluding pp. 154-156 (1a, 1b, 1c; 2b; 4a-4n); Ch. 10 Defined Benefit Design (1a, 1b); Ch. 28 Investing and Defined Contribution Plans (1a, 1c); Ch. 9 Risks of Outliving Resources, pp. 270-289 only (2a, 2d).

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Section I Introduction/Overview

1 Underlying Forces

Section II Broad Public Policy Environment for Retirement Plans

2 Social Insurance in the U.S. Retirement System

3 The Politics and Economics of Tax Preferences

Section III The Role of Pension Plans

4 Overall Objectives in Designing a Retirement Program

5 Human Resource Incentives in Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans

6 Financing of Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans

7 Total Retirement Income: Setting Goals and Meeting Them

8 Changing the End of Work: Phased Retirement

9 Dealing with Risks of Outliving Resources in Retirement

Section IV Structure of Retirement Plans

10 Defined Benefit Design: Retirement and Ancillary Benefits

11 Defined Contribution Plan Design Features

12 Hybrid Defined Benefit Plans

13 Individual Tax-Favored Savings Plans

Section V Regulatory Environment for Retirement Plans

14 Historical Review of Pension Regulation

15 Basic Regulatory Environment and Plan Qualification Requirements

16 Coverage, Nondiscrimination, and Integration with Social Security

17 Tax Consequences: Distributions and Contributions

18 Form of Doing Business and Transactional Considerations

19 Fiduciary Responsibility and Participant Rights

20 Plan Termination and Plan Benefits Insurance

Section VI Actuarial Requirements and Practices and Accounting for Pensions

21 Actuarial Cost Factors

22 Pension Cost and Liability: Concepts, Illustrations and Forecasts

23 Funding Requirements for Single-Employer Plans

24 Funding Requirements for Multiemployer Plans

25 Pension Accounting

Section VII Pension Risk Management and Investments

26 The Basics of Investments for Retirement Plans

27 Investing for Defined Benefit Pension Plans

28 Investing and Defined Contribution Retirement Plans

Section VIII The Future of Pensions

29 The Future of Pensions

Appendix

Index

Sources