Originally Posted by PilotWombat

That's not correct. If the plan is set up with a 5% return, it pays 5%. If the actual market return is higher, the excess earning go into a reserve fund. The next time the market return is less than 5%, the reserve fund is used to fill out the 5%. If there's a string of bad luck and the reserve fund runs out, the company is required to use operating cash to fill it out. Since this process happens every year, the program is always fully funded.