They were expected to rise 7% this year, according to benefits consultants Towers Watson.
Lawsuits already cost America nearly 2% of GDP, according to Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson), a consultancy.
At least 12 of the companies on the Towers Watson list offered participants lump-sum buyouts or annuity purchases in 2012.
"Clients expect yield at a shorter time frame, and sometimes double-digit returns, " said Jeffrey Tang, a director at consultants Towers Watson.
The great variation in life expectancy among pensioners has been highlighted in a new study by the actuarial firm Towers Watson.
Doug Friske, global head of executive-compensation consulting for Towers Watson, expects total CEO compensation to rise a "couple percentage points" this year.
Towers Watson found that the rise in young-adult enrollment was responsible for premium increases of as much as 3% at many firms.
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That reflects falling building costs, said Towers Watson risk consultant Jeremy Pecora.
Schieber, retired director of research at benefits consulting firm Towers Watson and author of The Predictable Surprise, The Unraveling Of the U.S. Retriement System.
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Mark Warshawsky is a pension expert who directs retirement research at the benefits firm Towers Watson and was a senior official at the Treasury Department from 2004-2006.
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Investors have re-evaluated the value hedge funds actually add to their investment plan, and as a result have greater negotiating power, a Towers Watson report says.
Last week, Towers Watson bought Extend Health, which allows retirees to choose from thousands of private Medicare plans according to their needs, instead of having their employer make the decision.
Only 46% of employers surveyed last year by Towers Watson had added a Roth option to their 401(k) plans and 57% of those said that less than 5% of participants had taken advantage of it.
Employers pay 36 percent more for health care than they did just five years ago, according to a recent study by professional services firm Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health.
Aggregate funded status at the 100 largest pensions of U.S. publicly-traded companies fell from 79% at year end 2011 to 77% at year-end 2012, according to a Towers Watson report, TW Pension 100, released today.
And like other surveys, the Towers Watson report shows employers are continuing to shift the cost of the total premium onto their workers with the employee share of the costs rising to 37 percent this year from 34 percent in 2011.
Pay-and-benefits consultants also suffered: sharply falling revenues were one reason why Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt decided to merge last year.
The surest sign trouble lies ahead for pensions is the recent effort by some of the largest actuarial and pension consulting firms, including Milliman, Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt, to coerce their pension clients to agree to limitation of liability (LOL) provisions in their contracts.
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Watson climbed down to Wreck Beach, where there were two abandoned gun towers, built during the Second World War to protect Canada from a Pacific invasion.
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