Motion Picture Industry Pensions Statements

Now with Mentholated Add On!

The Motion Picture Industry Pension Plans has mailed out financial statements for 2014, which contain the following:

Name -- Birthdate
Vested years as of 2013
Vested Years as of 2014
Accrued Monthly Benefits as of 2013
Accrued Monthly Benefits as of 2014

2013 Individual Account Plan Balance
-- 2014 Investment Earnings
-- 2014 Compensation Related Contributions
2014 Individual Account Plan Balance

"When are the statements coming out?" is one of Guild members' most frequently asked questions.

Answer: They're in the mail ... or in your mailbox ... NOW.

Another question: "What does it all mean?"

Happy to answer: The Accrued Monthly Benefit is part of the Defined Benefit Plan run by the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan since its founding in the mid-fifties. There were lots of Defined Benefit Plans then (where retirees got a monthly payment until they died), but relatively few now.

Defined Benefit Plans were expensive. So corporations got out of them.

More common today is a Defined Contribution Plan, which is a set amount of money contributed to a pool of investments (bonds, stocks, and real estate) that will grow even as the participant adds more money through work. The Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan has a Defined Contribution Plan called the "Individual Account Plan." and the old-style Defined Benefit Plan (see above).

Both of these plans are funded by the companies that TAG has under contract. There is also a third plan, funded by participants, called "The Animation Guild 401(k) Plan". This plan is funded directly by the participants on a voluntary basis, and all the money in it is contributed by employees, not the employer.

The 401(k) plan is NOT part of the MPI Pensions statement described above. It's got a different administration and oversight committee, and all the assets parked inside of it are invested by participants, not the plan.

So, to sum up: TAG has three different pension plans. Two of them are automatic and summarized by the just-mailed statement. The other is an optional plan and accessed on the Vanguard website.

Add On: The mailing also contains how the billions in the MPIPP are allocated:

Asset Allocations -- Defined Benefit -- Dec. '14

U.S. Core Equity -- 5.5%
U.S. Growth Equity -- 3.8%
U.S. Value Equity -- 2.1%
Global Equity -- 20.8%
Emerging Market -- 4.4%

Total Equity -- 36.6%

Fixed Income -- 22.8%
Alternative Investments -- 33.3%
Real Estate -- 7.3%

Total Plan -- 100%

* * * * * *

Asset Allocation -- IAP

U.S. Core Equity -- 4.5%
U.S. Growth Equity -- 4.0%
U.S. Value Equity -- 1.9%
Global Equity -- 14.8%
Emerging Market -- 2.3%

Total Equity -- 27.5%

Fixed Income -- 32.6%
Alternative Investments -- 34.7%
Real Estate -- 5.2%

Total Plan -- 100%