Cash Balance Pension Plans

There are two general [tag] types of pension plans[/tag]. They are the [tag]Defined Benefit Plans and Defined Contribution Plans[/tag]. Generally. the defined benefit plans provide a specific benefit at retirement for each eligible employee, while defined contribution plans specify the amount of contributions to be made by the employer toward an employee's retirement account. In a defined contribution plan, the actual amount of retirement benefits provided to an employee depends on the amount of the contributions as well as the gains or losses of the account.

A cash balance plan is a defined benefit plan that specifies the benefit in terms that are more characteristic of a [tag] defined contribution plan [/tag]. Put differently, a cash balance plan defines the promised benefit in terms of a stated account balance. In a typical cash balance plan, a participant's account is credited each year with a pay credit like a 5 percent of compensation from his or her employer and a fixed or variable interest credit.
Increases and decreases in the value of the plan's investments don't directly affect the benefit amounts promised to participants. Therefore, the investment risks and rewards on plan assets are borne solely by the employer.

When a participant becomes entitled to receive benefits under a cash balance plan, the benefits that are received are defined in terms of an account balance. For instance, presume that a participant has an account balance of $100,000 when he or she reaches age 65. If the participant decides to retire at that time, he or she would have the right to an annuity. Such an annuity might be approximately $10,000 per year for life.

In many cash balance plans, however, the participant could instead choose to take a lump sum benefit equal to the $100,000 account balance. In addition to generally permitting participants to take their benefits as lump sum benefits at retirement, cash balance plans often permit vested participants to choose to receive their accrued benefits in lump sums if they terminate employment prior to retirement age.

Traditional defined benefit pension plans do not offer this feature as often. If a participant receives a lump sum distribution, that distribution generally can be rolled over into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or to another employer's plan if that plan accepts rollovers. The benefits in most cash balance plans, as in most traditional defined benefit plans, are protected, within certain limitations, by federal insurance provided through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.