Milliman analysis: Corporate pension funded ratio climbs to 105.7% as of July 31

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released its monthly Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI), which analyzes the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans.

July marks four straight months of funding improvement, with levels not seen since late 2007, before the global financial crisis, said Zorast Wadia.

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During July, a modest discount rate increase buoyed corporate pension funding, lowering the Milliman PFI projected benefit obligation (PBO) by $6 billion to $1.213 trillion as of July 31. While the month’s funding improvement was offset by sub-par investment returns of 0.38%, overall corporate pension funding increased by $4 billion for the month.

The Milliman 100 PFI funded ratio climbed from 105.3% at the end of June to 105.7% as of July 31, with the monthly discount rate increasing from 5.52% to 5.55%.

“July marks four straight months of funding improvement, with levels not seen since late 2007, before the global financial crisis,” said Zorast Wadia, author of the PFI. “In order to preserve funded status gains, plan sponsors should be thinking about asset-liability management strategies to help mitigate potential discount rate declines in the future.”

Looking forward, under an optimistic forecast with rising interest rates (reaching 5.80% by the end of 2025 and 6.40% by the end of 2026) and asset gains (10.53% annual returns), the funded ratio would climb to 111% by the end of 2025 and 125% by the end of 2026. Under a pessimistic forecast (5.30% discount rate at the end of 2025 and 4.70% by the end of 2026 and 2.53% annual returns), the funded ratio would decline to 102% by the end of 2025 and 93% by the end of 2026.

Read this month’s complete Pension Funding Index or Milliman’s full range of annual Pension Funding Studies. To receive regular updates of Milliman’s pension funding analysis, contact us at pensionfunding@milliman.com.

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