In its 24th year, the Pension Review “First Take” analyzes the 50 largest US Defined Benefit plans in the S&P 500 based on asset values to review the factors that impacted corporate DB plan sponsors in 2025 and share potential trends for 2026.
Annual Pension Review “First Take”
Goldman Sachs
Michael Moran
Research
19 Pages
Key Takeaways
Strong 2025: Strong returns across both equities and fixed income in 2025 boosted asset levels in corporate DB plans and pushed aggregate system-wide funded status to 106%; the highest year-end funded level since before the Global Financial Crisis in 2007.
Funded Status: The vast majority of plans in our sample posted a year-over-year increase in GAAP funded status. The median year-over-year change in funded status in our sample was an increase of 2.5%. Some of the largest year-over-year increases were due to outsized plan asset returns or, in a handful of situations, sizable contributions.
Discount Rates: While discount rates declined slightly last year, they still are at almost their highest level over the past decade. When combined with the highest funded levels since before the Global Financial Crisis, this potentially presents an attractive entry point for plans that had been looking to de-risk in recent years.
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