The aggregate funded ratio for US corporate pension plans rose 1.3% to 84.7% for the month of September, up 7.9% over the past year, a study from Wilshire Consulting shows.
Wilshire attributed the increase to a combination of a 0.9% decrease in liability values and a 0.5% gain in asset values.
The aggregate funded ratio climbed 1.4% for the third quarter overall, while the ratio was up 2.8% year-to-date.
“September is the 11th month in a row of gains for the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index,” according to Ned McGuire, a managing director with Wilshire and a member of its Pensions Risk Solutions Group, in a statement. McGuire characterized the gains as “the longest streak in more than 30 years.”
Below are the charts for Wilshire Consulting’s 12-month review of the funded ratio and assumed asset allocation. According to the firm, aggregate figures represent “an estimate of the combined assets and liabilities of corporate pension plans sponsored by S&P 500 companies with a duration in-line with the Citi Group Pension Liability Index – Intermediate.” The Funded Ratio is based on the CPLI – Intermediate liability. Service cost, benefit payments and contributions are in-line with Wilshire’s 2016 corporate funding study. To estimate the most current month end liability growth, Wilshire Consulting uses the Barclays Long Aa+ U.S. Corporate Index.
