Fundatmentals of Private Pensions

by Dan Mays; Schieber McGill, Sylvester J. Schieber, John J. Haley

For four decades, Fundamentals of Private Pensions has been regarded as the best and most comprehensive reference and textbook on private pensions. In the ten years since publication of the last edition, there have been numerous legislative and regulatory initiatives that have affected retirement programs. Employers have also made fundamental changes in the structure and design of plans as they cope with the changing needs of workers and the costs of operating benefits programs. This completely revised edition represents a major restructuring of the contents, a wealth of new material, and an expanded discussion that provides new economic and policy perspectives on the provision of retirement income.

Section 1 lays out the regulatory environment in which private pension plans operate. Section 2 investigates the various forms of retirement plans available to determine how they are structured in practical terms. Section 3 focuses on the economics of pensions. Much of the material covered here is new to this edition; it includes discussion of the recent economic literature on the operations of employer-sponsored retirement plans. Section 4 explores the funding and accounting environment in which private employer-sponsored retirement plans operate. The concluding section investigates the handling of assets in employer-sponsored plans and their valuation as well as insurance provisions behind the benefit promises implied by these plans.

As the single most authoritative source on corporate pensions, Fundamentals of Private Pensions is invaluable to managers seeking to develop efficient pension plans, scholars and policymakers concerned with pension design and regulation, and actuaries and tax specialists. Employee benefits and human resource professionals around the world will find this edition an essential reference, and investment experts as well as accountants will gain a clearer understanding of how pensions influence corporate and employee well-being.

The Seventh Edition addresses the economics of the tax incentives provided to retirement programs and evaluates the various human resource incentives in defined benefit and defined contribution programs. The discussion and development of retirement income adequacy measures, a feature dating back to the first edition, has been significantly expanded. This new edition is organized into five main sections, enabling readers to use the volume as a text, a research tool, and a general reference.

Dan McGill is Professor Emeritus of Insurance and Risk Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Kyle N. Brown is an attorney with the Watson Wyatt Worldwide Research and Information Center. John J. Haley is a Vice President of Watson Wyatt Worldwide and a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries. He is a consulting actuary and the Chairman of Watson Wyatt's retirement practice. Sylvester J. Schieber is an economist and a Vice President of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. He is the Director of Watson Wyatt's Research and Information Center.

786 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996