Defined Benefits

The funded status of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit plans fell by $22 billion in August, despite market gains that brought in $24 billion, according to the latest Milliman report.

Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. didnt break promises on retirement benefits to employees of a brick-making business it acquired in 2000, the company said in a challenge to a lawsuit filed last month.

Five of these large employers shifted out of their defined benefit program and into a defined contribution plan in 2013, leaving 118 still doing so.

The drop in corporate pension funding was tied to geopolitical tensions that put downward pressure on interest rates, leading to higher liabilities.

Seventeen states are at some stage of legislating state-administered plans that hope to deliver retirement plan access to the countrys smallest employers.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, feels its time for Congress to address retirement security.