PBGC Premiums Will Increase in 2019

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will increase it’s fixed rate premium to $80 per plan participant for 2019.  The fixed rate premium was just $35 in 2012.  The PBGC is a federal agency created by ERISA to protect private sector pension plans.  If your pension plan goes belly up, the PBGC wills step in and its insurance program will pay your pension benefits up to certain limits, depending upon your age and when your plan fails or your employer enters bankruptcy.  The PBGC is funded entirely by insurance premiums from the companies its protects, assets from plans for which it serves as trustee, recoveries from former plan sponsors, and its investments.  The PBGC is not funded with tax dollars.