By Greg Iacurci
Source: CNBC
The pension plans of big U.S. companies haven’t looked this good since before the 2008 financial crisis — and that’s good news for workers and employers.
A pension’s “funded” status is a core gauge of its health. It’s a measure of plan assets relative to liabilities (how much money the plan needs to pay future income). Pensions less than 100% funded don’t have enough money on hand to meet future obligations to retirees.
The 100 largest pensions of public U.S. companies were 99.6% funded at year’s end — the healthiest they’ve been since September 2008, according to Milliman, a consulting firm. That’s up from 90.3% at the end of 2020.