Legal

Without smoothing, it says, pension funding would be subject to volatility that can potentially discourage sponsors from continuing defined benefit plans.

There are a few reasons, after all, that ERISA is sometimes known as Every Rotten Idea Since Adam.

Brinks Inc. is offering about 9,000 former employees a lump-sum payment in lieu of monthly payments from the companys pension plan when they retire.

If theres one thing plan sponsors want above all else, its a way to avoid legal hassles. And participants want what they've always wanted: a more secure future.

Although one of the goals of ERISA was to provide plan participants with a window into how their money is being spent, the new Short Form 5500 has had the opposite effect.

The insurer acknowledged in 2013 that it had reached Stage 3 in the FSOCs process for designating a non-bank entity systemically vital to the economy.