Revised Mercer U.S. Pension Buyout Index Methodology Shows That Costs of Annuity Buyouts Could Be Less Than Accounting Liability
The discovery comes following enhancements introduced by Mercer to its U.S. Pension Buyout Index (the Index).
- The discovery comes following enhancements introduced by Mercer to its U.S. Pension Buyout Index (the Index).
- As of June 30, 2020, the new Index value was 97.7%, indicating that a hypothetical retiree buy-out transaction may cost 97.7% of the plans accounting obligations.
- The revised methodology is more in line with the experience of the majority of Mercer clients who have executed retiree buy-outs and achieved a transaction price near or often below the accounting liability.
- As such, we believe that the enhancements to the Mercer U.S. Pension Buyout Index more accurately reflect the economic reality in which we are operating.