Pension
The risks and challenges faced by your pension plan today require solutions that assist in providing sustainable benefits that meet your unique requirements. At GRS, we combine our expertise and capabilities in actuarial, benefit design, regulatory and compliance, and technology services to bring forth solutions that are sensitive to the needs of all stakeholders and are sustainable under various fiscal and economic environments.
GRS provides expert valuation services to more than 500 pension clients nationwide, primarily in the public sector and for church plans. We take pride in providing clients with information that helps them make the best decisions.
Our knowledgeable team of actuaries have decades of experience handling actuarial valuations and ensuring our clients receive the highest level of service. We help clients assess their funding needs and sustainability measures using cutting edge approaches developed through years of experience with benefit design, funding methods, projections, and risk metrics.
Further bolstering our depth of expertise is our actuarial audit work. Our independent peer reviews of other actuarial firms produce useful information and improvements. We have conducted audits on nearly every national actuarial firm in existence today as well as having our own work audited, making GRS uniquely qualified as an actuarial service provider
Designing retirement plans for your employees can be an overwhelming task. Let the experts at GRS assist you with retirement plan design. We have worked with clients to create defined benefit, hybrid and cash balance plan designs that fit their specific needs.
At GRS, we utilize a top-down approach to pension plan design which integrates major goals of stakeholders, addresses human capital needs, as well as utilizes projection and valuation techniques that manage risks. This approach promotes a thorough and thoughtful process to create sustainable solutions that have a high probability of working effectively in the long-term and in the face of various fiscal stresses that systems may encounter in the future.
Every pension plan design comes with some level of risk, whether it is funding, benefit, or investment related. But “risk” can mean different things to different people. For purposes of our Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOP), risk is defined as, “the potential of actual future measurements deviating from expected future measurements resulting from actual future experience deviating from actuarially assumed experience.” In addition, the ASOP states that risk also includes contribution risk, which is defined as, “the potential of actual future contributions deviating from expected future contributions.” For public plans, investment risk will generally be the most significant risk.
It is our best practice approach to help clients minimize these risks so they can provide the retirement benefits promised. Using GRS Foresight®, our comprehensive solution-driven modeling tool, we are able to deliver stress testing, risk assessment, funding policy development, experience studies, and contribution projections that clients can rely on for decision making.
GRS consultants work with their clients to ensure that regulatory and compliance issues are handled effectively and in a timely fashion. Our services in this area are structured based on the scope and depth of the inquiry or service that is needed. Clients are able to quickly receive guidance on hundreds of matters through our publications and news summaries. Many of our clients have specific inquiries that require a more in-depth technical review. That is why we have internal subject matter committees, which support GRS consulting teams in responding to those needs.
Our knowledge of regulatory and compliance issues is furthered enhanced by our relationship with the Groom Law Group, which provides support to GRS on compliance matters. Through this valuable relationship, our consultants become increasingly knowledgeable on compliance matters that our clients face.