A new app has been designed to help employers calculate the possible effects of DB pension schemes.
Towers Watson’s Funding Illustrator can be used to calculate different outcomes for employers depending on various unknown factors. Employers will be able to find when the size of their deficit will be affected, and what contributions they might be required to make.
Adam Boyes, a senior consultant at Towers Watson, commented: ‘Giving sponsors and trustees the ability to perform actuarial calculations on their own iPad will help them get a deeper understanding of how sensitive valuation results are to key assumptions and of how much prudence they are building in.
‘This can help illustrate the risks inherent in funding DB schemes – including the consequences of investment returns falling short of expectations or of members living longer than anticipated.’
‘This will be valuable at all stages of the valuation process from providing early indications of possible results soon after the valuation date, through to facilitating final-stage negotiations between trustees and sponsors with results being modelled ‘live’ in the meeting.’