Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan Annual Reports

Artists, writers and technicians under TAG contracts receive pension and health benefits from the MPIPHP (Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan).

TAG has been getting an increasing number of calls from members asking, "So where are the Annual Reports? I need to know how my Individual Account Plan* and Defined Benefit Plan** are doing."

Today there is good news: trustees of the Plan say that the Annual Reports will be out in October. That's a few months late, but better late than not getting the reports at all. ....

Unlike the Guild's 401(k) Plan, where members self-manage their investments ... or hand the job off to Vanguard Mutual Funds ... the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan has a squad of investment experts that invest in a wide array of stocks, bonds, real estate and alternative investments (commodities, private equity, futures, etc.)

Here's how the IAP investments break down:

INVESTMENTS - INDVIDUAL ACCOUNT PLAN

U.S. Core Equity - 4.5%
U.S. Growth Equity - 3.1%
U.S. Value Equity - 1.2%
Global Equity - 14.8%
Emerging Markets - 1.8%
Total Equity - 25.4%

Fixed Income - 32.2%

Alternative Investments - 36.4%

Real Estate - 6%

The percentages above are not static. They can grow or shrink on direction from trustees of the MPIPHP. (Prior to the 2008 meltdown, the Plan's investment were more heavily weighted to fixed income. The financial experts saw at least some of the disaster coming, and shifted the Plan's portfolios to more conservative investments).

* Individual Account Plan = a big basket of investments, directed by the MPIPHP, that earns interest and capital gains.

** Defined Benefit Plan = a monthly annuity (much like Social Security) that pays you X amount of dollars twelve times per year. The amount you receive is based on the total number of qualified pension years and total number of contribution hours in your account.