gandydancer
Well-Known Member
Just got my Annual Funding Notice from the WCTPT. They SAY the "funded percentage" for 2009 is down from 97.1% to 84.7%, which is bad enough ("Under federal law a plan generally will be considered to be in 'endangered' status if...the funded percentage of the plan is less than 80 percent...") but it turns out they are using "actuarial values" for the value of the plan's assets rather than the market value of the plan's assets. In other word they've apparently hired some "actuary" to declare that the assets are "worth" more than the market is currently paying. Here's the numbers:
1/1/06 Actuarial val of assets $28.126B Liabilities $29.978B 93.8% funded
12/31/06 fair market val of assets $31.975B
1/1/07 Actuarial val of assets $29.492B Liabilities $30.794B 95.8% funded
12/31/07 fair market val of assets $32.323B
1/1/08 Actuarial val of assets $31.399B Liabilities $32.342B 97.1% funded
12/31/08 fair market val of assets $25.077B
Thus at the beginning of '07 the actuary was saying that assets that could be marketed for $32B were really "worth" only $29.5B (why they didn't sell the overvalued assets, and buy assets really worth $32B is an interesting question) and at the beginning of '08 assets worth $31.4B could be sold for $32.3B the day before.
But if the current value of future pension payments went up according to trend (say to $34B) the claimed 84.7% funding indicates an "actuarial" asset value of $28.8B, $3.7B higher than the fair market value. Or, if the fair market value is correct, and liabilities are now $34B, then the actual funded percentage is only 74%, and the fund is well on its way from "endangered" (80%) to "critical" (65%).
I understand Central States is much worse off.
1/1/06 Actuarial val of assets $28.126B Liabilities $29.978B 93.8% funded
12/31/06 fair market val of assets $31.975B
1/1/07 Actuarial val of assets $29.492B Liabilities $30.794B 95.8% funded
12/31/07 fair market val of assets $32.323B
1/1/08 Actuarial val of assets $31.399B Liabilities $32.342B 97.1% funded
12/31/08 fair market val of assets $25.077B
Thus at the beginning of '07 the actuary was saying that assets that could be marketed for $32B were really "worth" only $29.5B (why they didn't sell the overvalued assets, and buy assets really worth $32B is an interesting question) and at the beginning of '08 assets worth $31.4B could be sold for $32.3B the day before.
But if the current value of future pension payments went up according to trend (say to $34B) the claimed 84.7% funding indicates an "actuarial" asset value of $28.8B, $3.7B higher than the fair market value. Or, if the fair market value is correct, and liabilities are now $34B, then the actual funded percentage is only 74%, and the fund is well on its way from "endangered" (80%) to "critical" (65%).
I understand Central States is much worse off.