DLax85

Much talk about our current A fund being too expensive and the risks of future default.

Let's take a look back at the numbers published by Fedex in the "Annual Funding Notice for Fedex Corp Employee's Pension Plan."

To keep it simple, let's cut to the chase and focus on the "Funding Target Attainment Percentage" (FTAP)

Federal Law requires the Plan Administrator to tell us how well the plan is funded using FTAP.

FTAP = Net Plan Assets / Plan Liabilities (expressed as a percentage)

In general, the higher the percentage, the better funded the plan.

All percentages as of June 1, 20XX

2008 - 83.19%

2009 - 90.38%

2010 - 80.00%

2011 - 82.72%

2012 - 99.09%

2013 - 95.16%

2014 - 101.22%

2015 - 105.35%

2016 - 100.63%

2017 - Not Yet Published


Note: Prior to 2008, a slightly different accounting metric was utilized and reported - the Funded Current Liability Percentage (FCLP)

2006 - 73.63%

2007 - 83.32%


Trends since 2009:

Regulated Age Change = Pilots retiring later + longevity constant = lower # of payments in retirement

High Stock Market gains.

(Note: The decline of 20% by mid-2008 was in tandem with other stock markets across the globe. On September 29, 2008, the DJIA had a record-breaking drop of 777.68 with a close at 10,365.45.

The DJIA hit a market low of 6,443.27 on March 6, 2009, having lost over 54% of its value since the October 9, 2007 high)

DLax85

Bumpty, Bump, Bump.

Research Broadly - Think Critically!

Demand that your elected representatives share the specific data, research all options, and be actively genuine regarding all aspects of what’s being proposed.

DLax85

Bumpty, Bump, Bump.

(Yeah, we were all busy over the holidays)

Scroll down to read original post.

Research Broadly - Think Critically!

In Unity,

DLax

pinseeker

Isn't it interesting that the "A" plan was funded in the 80% range until 2012, five years after the regulated age changed and added 5 more years until mandatory retirement. Seems like that was a bit of a windfall for the company.

DLax85

Yes - and why hasn’t our union pointed this out to both the company and the membership?

It doesn’t fit the narrative that only a big change can save us.

Economic conditions & airlines industry negotiating positions have changed from 2005/2006....to 2008/2009....to 2012/2013...to 2015...to 2017 and today.

Let’s recognize the financial health of our current A fund, the company and the industry.

The company can afford to make improvements to our current A plan

Any leadership, and crew force, which assumes otherwise is disconcerting

DLax85

Bumpty...Bump...Bump

FamilyATM

$1.00 in 2008 had the same buying power as $1.17 in 2018. So, it appears to me my A plan has lost 17% of it’s value.

DLax85

The thread, and the financial disclosures it's based upon, address the financial funding status of our A plan.

Your statement is merely a statement of inflation.

These are two different issues.

Indexing our current A plan earnings limit to some measure of inflation would be an improvement and one way to fix the "inflation" issue.

However, the argument that we must change to a "variable plan" and take on the investment risk, along with losing our "High 5" based retirement mode, is NOT supported by a factual argument that the current A fund is underfunded.

Once 2017 results are included, I think we will find the A fund is even healthier.

Research Broadly, Think Critically

In Unity,

DLax

DLax85

The ANNUAL FUNDING NOTICE for FedEx Corporation Employee's Pension Plan is published each Sept

The last report was published in Sept 2017, showing the A Funds Target Attainment Percentage of Jun 1, 2016

It appears pilots will need to wait until Sep 2018 to publicly see the results thru "mid-year" 2017.

However in May, each pilot should received their annual, FedEx Corp Employees' Pension Plan Report of Traditional Pension Benefit Accrued Benefit

This is where you will see your "High 5" calculation

Under the proposed Variable Benefit plan, you can kiss this methodology GOODBYE!

Your accrued benefit will be a function of your "career earnings".

Yes - ALL Years Count - Even your LOW ONES!

This change alone is a major disadvantage of the proposed VB plan.

It will decrease a pilots accrued benefit, and will decrease the rate a pilot can increase his accrued benefit as he upgrades

The affect is being masked, by the union saying the current A fund limit cannot be raised at all, without changing to a VB plan

And that market rates of return, will increase your benefit greater than the accrued benefit.

If the later is true, why doesn't the company keep the investment risk and reap those extra returns?

FoxHunter

Prior to buying Tigers the FedEx Pension Plan paid 1.5% per year of service and it had a COLA. The percentage was changed to 2% and the COLA was removed. There was no cap on pension earnings until the first contract in 1998. The $260,000 set in 98 has never been adjusted. Jan. 1, 1998 $260,000 equals $169,510.26 on Jan 1, 2018
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm