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Primers

Topical Papers, Providing Foundational Investment Knowledge

December 20, 2021

NISA Client Webinar: The Island Of Misfit Pensions

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the NISA hosted webinar focused on risk mitigating strategies for non-traditional pension plans. If you were unable to attend or would like to listen again, a link to the replay is accessible below. Materials accompanying the webinar can be found here.

September 23, 2021

10 Minute Read

TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities) – Primer

Originally published on September 21, 2021. Revised on October 19, 2021. Uncertainty regarding the future cost of goods and services can create challenges for investors. Inflation can materially impact the real value of inflows for investors’ portfolios. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (“TIPS”) are specifically designed to address this uncertainty by explicitly protecting investors against unexpected inflation. Investors need to clearly…

July 26, 2021

NISA Client Webinar: Why Plans Should Consider Accelerating Their Glidepath

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the NISA hosted webinar focused on why plans should consider accelerating their glidepaths. If you were unable to attend or would like to listen again, a link to the replay is accessible below. Materials discussed during the webinar can be found here.

May 20, 2021

Investment Decisions and Demographics (Canada) – How Misestimation of Longevity Impacts Investment Outcomes

In December 2020, NISA and Club Vita co-hosted a webinar analyzing the impact of longevity assumptions on investment decisions by U.S. pension plan sponsors. The purpose of this recent presentation is to explore the relevancy of longevity for Canadian plans. Pension plan assets are ultimately used to pay participants’ benefits as they fall due. Knowing when and for how long…

January 27, 2021

Investment Decisions and Demographics — How Misestimation of Longevity Impacts Investment Outcomes

Pension plan assets are ultimately used to pay participants’ benefits as they fall due. Knowing when and for how long benefits will be paid is central in deciding how to invest those assets. Understanding how long different pension plan participants will live is essential when setting liability targets to drive investment decisions. In this webinar, we consider how the potential…

January 13, 2021

13 Minute Read

Liability Driven Investing – Primer

Synopsis The primary measure of the health of a pension plan is its funded status, which is the difference between the market value of the assets and the present value of the liability. As such, many plans measure and monitor risk in terms of the volatility of the plan’s funded status, as opposed to the volatility of the assets in…

August 19, 2020

Hedging Interest Rate Risk in a Low Rate Environment

Given the current low rate environment, there may be questions about a plan sponsor’s liability hedging strategy. Naturally, this leads to a discussion on the market outlook for interest rates, changing liability dynamics, and heightened market volatility. As such, NISA held a webinar to cover these issues. Click here to watch the presentation.

August 16, 2019

13 Minute Read

Completion Portfolio Management – Primer

Many corporate pension plans have already taken several de-risking steps, including extending the duration of their fixed income, reducing the allocation to return-seeking assets, offering term-vested lump sum payouts, etc. As plan sponsors approach the end of their de-risking glidepath and begin to think about the structure of their end-state/hibernation portfolio, a logical next step is to customize their fixed…