Pension Plans
With clients nationwide, Foster & Foster offers a variety of pension plans:
Church Plans
Churches offer retirement benefits for servants of the church. We assist our church clients with overseeing the following:
- Funding: Ensuring that church members receive the benefits they are promised
- Administration/Compliance: Navigating the unclear world of legal requirements that churches are subject to
- Design: Designing plans to provide benefits that church members can enjoy for life
Corporate Plans
At Foster & Foster, we are experts in helping clients with setting up, managing, and monitoring their company pension plans. We offer a wide range of services as part of any relationship. This includes:
- Actuarial funding valuations required under IRC Section 430 and ASC 960
- AFTAP certifications
- Financial accounting valuations under ASC 715 (qualified and non-qualified plans)
- Governmental filings for DOL, IRS, and PBGC
- Experience studies
- Funding and accounting projections
- Plan design studies/union negotiations
- Nondiscrimination testing under IRC Sections 401(a)(4), 401(a)(26, 410(b), and 416
- Plan mergers/spinoffs/terminations/de-risking
- Consulting regarding plan risk and cost volatility
- Defined contribution plan consulting – design, pricing, and nondiscrimination testing
Private Small Plans
Foster & Foster’s private pension sector specializes in the design, administration, and ongoing consulting of small to medium sized defined benefit plans, including cash balance plans and defined contribution plans. Our mission is to help plan sponsors and their advisors realize their retirement plan goals whether it be lowering tax liabilities, retaining, or attracting talent, and/or future retirement planning.
Here is what we offer:
- Actuarial services
- Plan administration
- Consulting
- Plan design
- Defined benefit plans
- Cash balance plans
- Defined contribution plans
- Non-discrimination testing
- 401(h) post-retirement medical benefits
- Life insurance
- Roth conversions
Public Plans
As a company, Foster & Foster’s roots are in the public pension space. In our first year of business in 1979, we had only one public pension client. Today, we partner with more than 2,600 public plans in 32 states across the nation, and this list continues to grow. We are experts in all phases of design, implementation, and administration of these public pension plan programs.
Some of the services we offer our public pension plan clients include:
- Preparation of the annual actuarial valuations to determine the plan sponsor’s funding requirements
- Collaboration with unions and municipalities to determine the impact of plan design changes
- Timely preparation of the GASB 67/68 statements for the plan sponsor
- Ensuring the plan is compliant with producing any actuarial statutory requirement disclosures
- Developing and recommending actuarial assumptions to help mitigate against volatility in the plan sponsor’s funding requirements
- Performing level 1, 2, or 3 type audits to report on other public pension plans and provide recommendations when necessary
- Preparation of multi-year projection models to help the plan sponsor with any future budgetary concerns
- Calculating the monthly retirement benefits for the individual plan participants
Taft-Hartley Plans
At Foster & Foster, we understand the important role that pensions play in providing retirement security for union members. We reinforce this philosophy by being one of the few consulting firms that sponsor a defined benefit plan for our employees.
Trustees of Taft-Hartley pension plans face many challenges in keeping these plans solvent. Investment volatility, aging plan populations, and interest rate sensitivity are just a few of these challenges that Foster & Foster actuaries help trustees navigate.
Working closely with other plan professionals, we provide unbiased solutions, clearly communicate our results, and continuously monitor the progress of the plan’s financial stability. As a part of this, our services include:
- Preparation of annual actuarial valuations, required notices, and government filings
- PPA zone status certifications, including projections to identify and address potential future issues
- Determination of withdrawal liability
- Monitoring and updating funding improvement plans or rehabilitation plans
- Preparation for and attendance at Trustees meetings
- Cost estimates and PPA zone implications for any suggested plan changes
- Interprets pension plan documents, performs and/or reviews benefit and QDRO (i.e., divorce) calculations, and assists clients in applying suspension, minimum required distributions, and actuarial adjustment rules.
- Assist in the design and general operational compliance support related to defined contribution plans including annuity and 401(k) plans.
- Assistance with collective bargaining agreement negotiations
- Review plan documents, amendments, and summary plan descriptions