A large corporation asked Milliman to help reassess its pension plan investment strategy. At the time, the client maintained a traditional policy: 70% equity and 30% fixed income. While common, this strategy allowed for significant tracking risk between the plan's assets and liabilities, leaving investors vulnerable to declines in interest rates and increases in liabilities. To mitigate this risk, the company wanted to fully fund its plan and lock it away. Instead, Milliman suggested an approach that would better align the company's assets with its liabilities. This liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy would enable the company to gain sufficient assets to meet all of its liabilities, both current and future. Now, the value of liabilities tracks the value of assets as interest rates rise and fall, and the plan's funded status remains stable. This approach is especially useful in light of new laws like the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which requires that plans be fully funded.
