If you thought your 401(k) statement was painful to look at, your pension plan (if you’re lucky enough to still have one) is probably doing even worse. The 200 largest U.S. pension plans collectively dropped 16.5 percent during the year that ended September 30, according to a survey of large plan sponsors by Pensions & Investments released yesterday. More than 30 of the 200 largest U.S. pension plans experienced asset declines of 20 percent or more, the worst drop recorded in the 20 year history of the survey.
These 4 pension plans suffered the steepest losses.
Verizon Communications Inc. experienced a decline of 30.7 percent to $51.8 billion
Northwest Airlines Inc. is down 25.9 percent to $8 billion
SUPERVALU Inc. fell 25.2 percent to $6.6 billion
Wachovia Corp. lost 23.9 percent to end the period with $13.2 billion
Source: Pensions & Investments
Only one large U.S. pension plan in the survey experienced an increase in assets in the year that ended September 30. The Austin-based Texas Municipal Retirement System's assets increased 2.7 percent to $14 billion. Why was this fund the only one to show a positive return last year? Over 90 percent of the fund is allocated to domestic fixed income investments.
Check out how the 200 largest pensions performed here.
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Natu S. Patel of MD 3:43PM January 27, 2009