Ryan ALM
Blog
DB Pension Plan "Absolute Truths" Revisited
This post may be familiar to some of you, as I originally published it in October 2024. Given today's great uncertainty related to geopolitics, markets, and the economy, I thought it relevant to share once again. Please don't hesitate to...
MV versus FV
There seems to be abundant confusion within certain segments of the pension industry regarding the purpose and accounting (performance) of a Cash Flow Matching (CFM) portfolio on a monthly basis. Traditional monthly reports focus on the present value (PV) of...
You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure!
Nearly 10 years ago, before joining Ryan ALM, I wrote an article about the idea that plan sponsors need to focus on their fund’s liabilities, as much as, if not more than, their plan’s assets. It shouldn’t be a shocking...
Actuaries of DB Pension Plans Prefer Higher Interest Rates
I produced a post yesterday, titled "U.S. Rates Likely to Fall - Here's the Good and Bad". In that blog post I wrote, "I’d recommend that you not celebrate a potential decline in rates if you are a plan sponsor...
Confusing the Purpose!
There recently appeared in my inbox an article from an investment advisory firm discussing Cash Flow Driven Investing (CDI). Given that CDI, or as we call it Cash Flow Matching (CFM), is our only investment strategy, I absorb as much...
My Wish List as a Pension Trustee
I’ve been a trustee for a non-profit’s foundation fund. I haven’t been a Trustee for a defined benefit pension plan, but I’ve spent nearly 44-years in the pension industry as both a consultant and investment advisor working with many plan...