Each year for the past 5 years, we’ve set aside an extra day immediately following the Enrolled Actuaries to dive deeply into some of the key retirement issues of the day. This year’s Pension Symposium promises to be the most provocative in the series as we review the events of the last year – and identify the lessons for the future.

As we go to press with this announcement in the late fall of 2008, we are still in the midst of unprecedented market turmoil, with new issues emerging almost daily. With the new Administration and a new Congress poised to tackle our nation’s financial crisis, this is a time to review the policies of past several decades, take stock of current retirement policies and explore the future of retirement security with our “Monday morning” vantage point.

Expert participants from both the public and private sectors are invited to lead us in considering what went right and what went wrong. In particular, we will explore:

• How are defined benefit plans holding up?
• How do we assess the funding requirements of the PPA?
• How are defined contribution plans holding up?
• How are employees and retirees weathering the storm?
• How are plan sponsors dealing with their retirement plans?
• What policy lessons can we learn and what might we do differently going forward?

As in the past, the Pension Symposium is limited in attendance (first come, first served!) so as to promote dialogue and the sharing of opinions among attendees. In each of four coordinated sessions, our panels of expert participants are invited to limit their prepared remarks so that we can get right to the discussion.

Speakers