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Hybrid Pension Plans: Tiptoe Through the Tulips

By Stuart A. Sirkin
February 27, 2011

It is time again for firms to consider hybrid plans, such as cash balance plans. However, firms may want to move slowly ' tiptoe through the tulips so to speak (for those old enough to remember Tiny Tim). In October 2010, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) issued very helpful guidance, but many of the most important issues remain either unanswered or answered only by proposed regulations.

What Was

There was a time when hybrid pension plans, such as cash balance plans, were viewed as the answer to the retirement puzzle. Hybrid plans are defined benefit pension plans that look like defined contribution plans. Firms could explain them to participants in terms of their lump-sum amounts, a concept easily understood and appreciated by employees. As defined benefit plans, they provided the same higher benefit and deduction limits plus PBGC guarantees as traditional final average pay plans, but without the volatility and legacy costs of such plans.

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