Norman Russell looks at how companies are searching for ways of handling the long-term challenges of defined benefit pension schemes
Financial markets all too often force companies to focus on the short term. Pensions require the long view. Other than pensions, how many financial obligations do companies enter into where they will still be paying out 70 years hence? If you think 70 years is an exaggeration, consider a 30-year-old in a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme. The actuaries tell us one person in 200 born in 1908 was expected to live to 100; today it is one in four.
