NOTE 14: RETIREMENT PLANS

We sponsor programs that provide retirement benefits to most of our employees. These programs include defined benefit pension plans, defined contribution plans and postretirement healthcare plans. 

The accounting guidance related to postretirement benefits requires recognition in the balance sheet of the funded status of defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans, and the recognition in either expense or AOCI of unrecognized gains or losses and prior service costs or credits. We use MTM accounting for the recognition of our actuarial gains and losses related to our defined benefit pension and postretirement healthcare plans as described in Note 1. The funded status is measured as the difference between the fair value of the plan’s assets and the PBO of the plan.

A summary of our retirement plan costs over the past three years is as follows (in millions):

The components of the MTM adjustments are as follows (in millions):

2021

Net of all fees and expenses, the actual rate of return on our U.S. Pension Plan assets was 12.90%, which was higher than our expected return of 6.75%. Positive portfolio returns derived from our return-seeking assets were partially offset by losses from our fixed-income assets due to rising long-term interest rates. The weighted-average discount rate for all our pension and postretirement healthcare plans increased from 3.05% at May 31, 2020 to 3.11% at May 31, 2021. The demographic experience in 2021 reflects an update to our mortality and retirement rate assumptions and a current-year actuarial loss due to unfavorable experience compared to various demographic assumptions.

2020

The weighted-average discount rate for all our pension and postretirement healthcare plans decreased from 3.69% at May 31, 2019 to 3.05% at May 31, 2020. The demographic experience in 2020 reflects an update to our mortality assumption and a current-year actuarial loss due to unfavorable experience compared to various demographic assumptions. The actual rate of return, which is net of all fees and expenses, on our U.S. Pension Plan assets of 15.00% was higher than our expected return of 6.75%, as return-seeking assets, primarily equities, were positive despite equity market volatility. Additionally, fixed-income assets performed as expected as interest rates declined.

2019

The weighted-average discount rate for all our pension and postretirement healthcare plans decreased from 4.11% at May 31, 2018 to 3.69% at May 31, 2019. The demographic experience in 2019 reflects updates to several forward-looking assumptions, including retirement rates, disability incidence rates and salary increase assumptions, and a current-year actuarial loss due to unfavorable experience compared to various demographic assumptions. The actual rate of return, which is net of all fees and expenses, on our U.S. Pension Plan assets of 4.05% was lower than our expected return of 6.75%, as lower-than-expected equity returns negatively impacted return-seeking assets while fixed-income assets performed as expected due to declining interest rates.

PENSION PLANS. Our largest pension plan covers certain U.S. employees age 21 and over, with at least one year of service. Pension benefits for most employees are accrued under a cash balance formula we call the Portable Pension Account (“PPA”). Under the PPA, the retirement benefit is expressed as a dollar amount in a notional account that grows with annual credits based on pay, age and years of credited service, and interest on the notional account balance. The PPA benefit is payable as a lump sum or an annuity at retirement at the election of the employee. The plan interest credit rate varies from year to year based on a U.S. Treasury index. Prior to 2009, certain employees earned benefits using a traditional pension formula (based on average earnings and years of service). Benefits under this formula were capped on May 31, 2008 for most employees.

We also sponsor or participate in nonqualified benefit plans covering certain of our U.S. employee groups and other pension plans covering certain of our international employees. The international defined benefit pension plans provide benefits primarily based on earnings and years of service and are funded in compliance with local laws and practices. The majority of our international obligations are for defined benefit pension plans in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

In November 2019, we announced the closing of our U.S.-based defined benefit pension plans to new non-union employees hired on or after January 1, 2020. We will introduce an all-401(k)-plan retirement benefit structure for eligible employees with a higher company match of up to 8% across all U.S.-based operating companies in 2022. During calendar 2021, current eligible employees under the PPA pension formula will be given a one-time option to continue to be eligible for pension compensation credits under the existing PPA formula and remain in the existing 401(k) plan with its company match of up to 3.5%, or to cease receiving compensation credits under the PPA and move to the new 401(k) plan with the higher match of up to 8%. Changes to the new 401(k) plan structure become effective beginning January 1, 2022. While this new program will provide employees greater flexibility and reduce our long-term pension costs, it will not have a material impact on current or near-term financial results.

POSTRETIREMENT HEALTHCARE PLANS. Certain of our subsidiaries offer medical, dental and vision coverage to eligible U.S. retirees and their eligible dependents and a small number of international employees. U.S. employees covered by the principal plan become eligible for these benefits at age 55 and older, if they have permanent, continuous service of at least 10 years after attainment of age 45 if hired prior to January 1, 1988, or at least 20 years after attainment of age 35 if hired on or after January 1, 1988. Postretirement healthcare benefits are capped at 150% of the 1993 per capita projected employer cost, which has been reached under most plans, so these benefits are not subject to future inflation.

Effective January 1, 2018, certain of our U.S. postretirement healthcare benefits were converted to a lump-sum benefit in a notional retiree health reimbursement account (HRA) for eligible participants. The HRA is available to reimburse a participant for qualifying healthcare premium costs and limits the company liability to the HRA account balance. The amount of the credit is based on age at January 1, 2018 or upon age at retirement thereafter. In connection with this change, retiree health coverage was closed to most new employees hired on or after January 1, 2018.

PENSION PLAN ASSUMPTIONS. The accounting for pension and postretirement healthcare plans includes numerous assumptions, such as: discount rates; expected long-term investment returns on plan assets; future salary increases; employee turnover; mortality; and retirement ages.  

Weighted-average actuarial assumptions used to determine the benefit obligations and net periodic benefit cost of our plans are as follows:

Our U.S. Pension Plan assets are invested primarily in publicly tradable securities, and our pension plans hold only a minimal investment in FedEx common stock that is entirely at the discretion of third-party pension fund investment managers. As part of our strategy to manage pension costs and funded status volatility, we follow a liability-driven investment strategy to better align plan assets with liabilities.

Establishing the expected future rate of investment return on our pension assets is a judgmental matter, which we review on an annual basis and revise as appropriate. Management considers the following factors in determining this assumption:

For consolidated pension expense, we assumed a 6.75% expected long-term rate of return on our U.S. Pension Plan assets in 2021, 2020 and 2019. For 2022, we have decreased our EROA assumption to 6.50% due to the significant increase in 2021 administrative expenses payable from the pension trust due to higher Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) variable-rate premiums (“VRP”) and based on our long-term outlook for the capital markets. The higher 2021 PBGC VRP resulted in a 25-basis point lower rate of return compared to 2020. The historical annual return on our U.S. Pension Plan assets, calculated on a compound geometric basis, was 7.9%, net of all fees and expenses, for the 15-year period ended May 31, 2021.

The investment strategy for our U.S. Pension Plan assets is to utilize a diversified mix of public equities, fixed-income, and alternative investments to earn a long-term investment return that meets our pension plan obligations. Our largest asset classes are Corporate Fixed Income Securities and Government Fixed Income Securities (which are largely benchmarked against the Barclays Long Government, Barclays Long Corporate or the Citigroup 20+ STRIPS indices), and U.S. and non-U.S. Equities (which are mainly benchmarked to the S&P 500 Index and MSCI indices). Accordingly, we do not have any significant concentrations of risk. Active management strategies are utilized within the plan in an effort to realize investment returns in excess of market indices. Our investment strategy also includes the limited use of derivative financial instruments on a discretionary basis to improve investment returns and manage portfolio risk.

The following is a description of the valuation methodologies used for investments measured at fair value:

The fair values of investments by level and asset category and the weighted-average asset allocations for our U.S. Pension Plans and our most significant international pension plans at the measurement date are presented in the following table (in millions):

The change in fair value of Level 3 assets that use significant unobservable inputs is shown in the table below (in millions):

The following tables provide a reconciliation of the changes in the pension and postretirement healthcare plans’ benefit obligations and fair value of assets over the two-year period ended May 31, 2021 and a statement of the funded status as of May 31, 2021 and 2020 (in millions):

Our pension plans included the following components at May 31 (in millions):

The table above provides the PBO, fair value of plan assets and funded status of our pension plans on an aggregated basis. The following tables present our plans on a disaggregated basis to show those plans (as a group) whose assets did not exceed their liabilities. The fair value of plan assets for pension plans with a PBO or ABO in excess of plan assets at May 31 were as follows (in millions):

Contributions to our U.S. Pension Plans for the years ended May 31 were as follows (in millions):

For 2022, no pension contributions are required for our U.S. Pension Plans as they are fully funded under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. However, we expect to make voluntary contributions of $500 million to these plans in 2022.

Net periodic benefit cost for the three years ended May 31 were as follows (in millions):

Amounts recognized in other comprehensive income were primarily related to amortization of prior service cost in our U.S. Pension Plans of $8 million in 2021 and $105 million in 2020 ($6 million, net of tax, in 2021 and $80 million, net of tax, in 2020).

Benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, are expected to be paid as follows for the years ending May 31 (in millions):

These estimates are based on assumptions about future events. Actual benefit payments may vary significantly from these estimates.

Future medical benefit claims costs are estimated to increase at an annual rate of 5.6% during 2022, decreasing to an annual growth rate of 4.0% in 2045 and thereafter.