Sustainability for Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Defined benefit (DB) pension plans create promises of future benefit payments that are secure only if they are sustainable. This article addresses:

  • What is Sustainability?
  • What are the Criteria for Sustainability?
  • What is a Sustainability Checklist?

The article provides a sample sustainability checklist as a qualitative tool that can be used to facilitate discussions with public employee retirement systems related to sustainability and potential risks.