Ryan ALM has produced a position brief on various ALM strategies, including cash flow matching (CDI) and duration matching, but with a twist. The purpose of duration matching is an attempt to match the interest rate risk sensitivity of assets...

We are pleased to share with you the Ryan ALM quarterly newsletter for Q1'21 . As you will read, a terrific quarter was logged for both private and public pension systems that benefited from rising rates (liabilities down) and strong...

The WSJ has published an article today titled, "Corporate Bond Gauge Signals Dwindling Economic Risk", in which they speculate that the narrowing of spreads for non-investment grade bonds (High Yield) relative to Treasuries reveals confidence in the economy's rebound. But...

Great funding progress has been made by the average US private pension plan that has benefited during the last 12 months from rising equity values and rising bond yields. As the chart below suggests (thanks, Mercer), the funded status for...

Fidelity Investments is out with their 2021 State of Retirement Planning Study. Given the impact of Covid-19 on many Americans, in terms of health, employment, etc. it isn't surprising to read that pre-pandemic retirement plans may have been altered. What...

I am pleased to share that I recently completed a webcast on behalf of the IFEBP. The topic was "Rethinking Pension Obligation Bonds". POBs have gotten a bad reputation since their introduction in 1985, and several organizations, including the GFOA,...

I am pleased to share a terrific podcast brought to you by Traci Dority-Shanklin and the World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds . Traci has cobbled together comments from Jack Marco, John Elliott, Jason Russell, and me from previous podcasts. Our...

Since the first use of Pension Obligation Bonds (POB) in 1985 (Oakland, CA), results have been checkered at best. Boston College Center for Retirement Research (CRR) has produced two studies related to POBs and neither shines a great light on...

It has been reported that the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) has decided to pull the application for benefit reductions under MPRA and "bet" that the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act will provide a superior...

We know that the accounting rules differ quite significantly in the treatment of discount rates for public (GASB) and private pension plans (FASB). Do the differences manifest in asset allocation? According to the following two charts, the answer is yes,...