Defined Benefit Reporting Bootcamp

After watching this video, you’ll have a better understanding of the reporting process and how to avoid making errors that could have unintended consequences in the future.

Understanding your Defined Benefit Plan Financials

Each year, MERS provides a number of financial reports and statements to help you understand your defined benefit plan. During this recorded webinar, MERS Finance Director Betsy Waldofsky provides a helpful explanation of what each of those financial tools can tell you about the health of your plan, including how the numbers on your quarterly statement translate to your Annual Actuarial Valuation, how investment returns are applied to your plan, and how to use the GovInvest tool to model the impact additional funds will have on your plan.

Investment Return Assumption & Dedicated Gains

Learn how the investment return assumption impacts pension funding and how MERS uses a dedicated gains policy to reduce that assumption in a way that lessens the impact on required contributions.

Understanding the Current and Future Health of Your Defined Benefit Plan

If you offer a Defined Benefit Plan, your Annual Actuarial Valuation (AAV) is an important tool to help you understand the current and future health of your retirement plan. We will walk you through understanding key components of your AAV, and what those numbers tell you about your plan’s current costs and future sustainability.

Sustainable Defined Benefit Plans

Is managing unfunded accrued liability (UAL) a priority for your municipality? In this session we will review how UAL develops and discuss plan design and funding strategies available to address it. Whether you’re considering modifying benefit provisions for new hires, bridging benefits for existing employees, changing your plan type or making additional voluntary contributions, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of your options and what may work best for your municipality’s situation.

MERS Defined Benefit Investments Concepts

Investment earnings from the MERS Defined Benefit Portfolio fund more than half of the benefits paid to MERS retirees. In this video, we’ll discuss how MERS manages the Defined Benefit Portfolio, including who is responsible for which investment decisions. We’ll share our investment philosophy and how that affects our asset allocation and investment goals. You’ll leave with a better understanding of MERS investments and how those investments impact your plan’s funding.

Defined Benefit Plan Provisions

During this session, we’ll cover the fundamentals of your MERS Defined Benefit Plan. We’ll review how each participant’s retirement benefits are calculated, and how that benefit is funded over their career. We’ll also walk through the benefit provisions modifications coming soon with the implementation of the Employer Reporting project that MERS kicked off this year. You’ll learn more about employer expectations as a result of this project and important next steps you’ll be asked to take.