Research Publications Archive

Thought Mortality Was Dead? Considerations for Pensions Given the IRS’s Delay in Implementing RP-2014

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The IRS’s somewhat unexpected decision to delay implementation of the RP-2014 mortality tables has impacted at least three separate aspects of pension plan strategy: calculating minimum contribution requirements; determining variable-rate PBGC premiums; and valuing lump-sum distributions to be paid out to terminated vested participants. This brief discusses what has changed and provides general considerations for all sponsors to weigh in the near term.

A Stronger Union: Addressing the Unique Investment Challenges of Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plans

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Adaptive and sophisticated strategies are necessary to serve the unique features, constraints, and needs of multiemployer plans. In this note, we explore some of the key challenges that many multiemployer plans face, discuss how to invest in light of these challenges, and provide thoughts on governance and the overall role of the investment advisor in the multiemployer context.

Maintaining Strategic Direction through Peaks and Valleys

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An extended bull market can tempt even the savviest investors into abandoning their long-term discipline. Resisting the impulse to switch horses in the middle of the race is hard, but necessary—the most important trait of successful investors is their ability to maintain discipline in sticking to a long-term strategy during good times and bad. Diversified portfolios—structured to earn returns comparable to their rate of spending at tolerable levels of risk—have benefitted long-term investors and grown their purchasing power for decades, and we have no reason to expect a different outcome when today’s bull market inevitably corrects.

What’s Next for the US Dollar?

We still expect a rising US dollar over the coming year or so; however, the currency is entering the final phase of the strong-dollar cycle and investors should be aware that valuations and historical cycles suggest USD weakness over the coming decade.