Brian Murphy served on a speaker panel, covering Section 415, at the 2022 CCA Enrolled Actuaries Meeting. The session “415 for Public Plans” covered special rules for public sector plans related to calculations, COLAs, public safety employees, and early retirement incentives.
James Rizzo will serve as a co-presenter for the topic, Investment Return Assumptions for Pensions (AU-C 540 AND ASOP NO. 27). The webinar is being sponsored by Marcum, LLP. Hermes Garzon, Manager, Assurance Services at Marcum LLP is also a presenter. An overview of the session is here.
James Rizzo participated in a panel discussion for the session “Practical Aspects of Setting the Expected Pension Return Assumption” at the 2021 Conference of Consulting Actuaries Annual Meeting.
Mr. Rizzo discussed different methods to calculate a portfolio’s expected geometric mean return, which utilize capital market assumptions for each asset class as provided by professional investment forecasters. The expected geometric return is a measure presented by actuaries that informs plan trustees in setting the actuarial valuation’s investment return assumption.
James Rizzo and Piotr Krekora served on the panel session “ASOP No. 6 Practice Note-Actuarial Valuations of Retiree Health Valuations” at the 2021 CCA Annual Meeting.
Mr. Rizzo and Mr. Krekora served on the American Academy of Actuaries (AAA) Work Group for this practice note, as chairperson and member, respectively.
David Kausch and James Sparks presented the session “What’s This Accounting vs. Funding Basis?” at the Public Pension Financial Forum (P2F2) virtual conference.
Session Overview:
The discussion covered the different purposes of actuarial valuations-funding and accounting-and the similarities and differences between them. Attendees were provided with an actuarial perspective on the assumed rate of return, discount rate, actuarial cost methods, timing of recognition of gains and losses, assumption changes, plan amendments, and contribution and expense calculations.
James Rizzo served as a presenter at the Public Funds Investment Seminar hosted by Public Trust Advisors on October 7, 2021.
The presentation, “Fulfilling the Pension Promise with Integrity,” discusses a framework and considerations for setting the investment return assumption to help public employee retirement systems fulfill the pension promise made to their employees and retirees. Issues covered in the discussion: 1) developing a rigorous assumption setting process 2) considerations related to annual governmental budgets 3) plans’ benefit cash flow
Bonita Wurst will serve on an actuarial panel for the session “Asset Allocation and the Investment Return Assumption” during the 2021 National Council on Teacher Retirement (NCTR) Annual Conference.
Overview: Top industry actuaries explain how investment risk helps shape sound asset allocations that determine the investment return assumption – and not the other way around.
The virtual conference is being held October 11-14, 2021.
Jim Anderson and Mike Kosciuk will present the session Actuarial ABCs: Demystifyng Your Valuation at the Michigan Goverment Finance Officers Fall Training Institute.
Session Summary: Given that public pension plans face an extraordinary level of scrutiny, understanding the actuarial valuation is an invaluable tool. After this fun and interactive session, you will understand that the valuation is more than a book full of numbers and be able to leverage the knowledge you gain to help explain the key components of the actuarial valuation to key stakeholders.
Pete Strong will present the session “Establishing a Funding Policy” at the 2021 Florida Public Pension Trustees Association (FPPTA) Fall Trustee School Conference. The conference is being held October 3-6, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Overview: A Funding Policy is a written document that sets the policies for determining how much the Plan Sponsor(s) should contribute to a pension plan and when. This session presents the primary elements of a Funding Policy, why it is important for a pension plan to have one, and the steps involved to create one.
Brad Armstrong, Nicolas Lahaye, and Jeff Tebeau will present the session “Employer Contribution Stabilization Techniques to Consider Now!” at the 2021 Florida Public Pension Trustees Association (FPPTA) Fall Trustees School. The conference is being held from October 3-6, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Overview: Many pension plans were 100% funded in the late 1990s. Are we back there yet? What can we learn from the past and present to apply to lessening the volatility of future employer contributions? During this session, GRS consultants will explore the opportunities public employee retirements systems may have to stabilize future employer contributions as they reach 100% funding and experience investment gains.