A Balancing Act: Strategies for Financial Executives in Managing Pension Risk

As pressures on pensions mount, we believe financial executives are best served by re-evaluating major decisions in terms of the true tools at their disposal. In this paper we review four levers that are fundamental drivers of pension costs and outcomes: asset returns, liability hedging, contribution policy, and benefit management. Balancing these levers is critical to enabling greater probability of success in managing pension risk, and we introduce a framework for chief financial officers and other financial executives to use in doing so.

November 2017

Harvesting the Potential of Private Investments

In the November 2017 issue of Benefits Magazine, which covers benefit issues affecting multiemployer, single employer and public plan representatives, senior investment director and investment actuary in Cambridge Associates’ pension practice, Alex Pekker, contributed an article highlighting the potential for private investments in a pension’s investment portfolio. Pekker explains that private investments could be a […]

November 2017

Newly Issued Guidance for UK Pension Schemes Emphasizes Need to Consider ESG Factors

Sustainable investing and the consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors continue to gain prominence. The new 2017 investment guidance for defined benefit (DB) schemes from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) in the United Kingdom has material new ESG content. This follows similar guidance for defined contribution (DC) schemes issued last year. Cambridge Associates has prepared this short piece to summarise this guidance and its implications for pension scheme investment strategy, including how we might help.

September 2017

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

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.

May 2017

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

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.

April 2017

403(b) Plan Fiduciary Oversight

In an increasingly complex landscape, the fiduciary management of robust 403(b) plans has become more challenging than ever.

November 2016

Hedge Fund-ing the Pension Deficit: The Case for UK Schemes

Select hedge funds have provided attractive long-term returns with reduced equity beta and can be integral to pension investment strategies.

October 2016

Don't Forget the Credit Spread!

While corporate plan sponsors are keenly aware of interest rate risk within their defined benefit plans, few fully appreciate the complex and significant risk posed by credit spreads.

October 2016