Surviving the great “benefits planning earthquake”: pension management in light of recent economic and corporate upheavals

For some years now, there has been a huge crisis developing for companies around how to effectively manage their pension plans. The gist of the crisis is this: pension plans have lost almost half their value while liabilities have skyrocketed due to the current low interest rate environment. Analysts have attempted to characterize this crisis as a “Perfect Storm”, likening it to the hazards described in the book and the movie of the same name. However, a more apt scenario might be that of an earthquake.