Northeastern Mutual Life: Preparing for Employee Terminations

On May 31, I began working for Northwestern Mutual in downtown Nashville. Northwestern Mutual is a Fortune 500 life insurance and financial planning company. Since then, my title hasn’t just been intern or college intern and I wasn’t just doing busy work or making copies for people. Northwestern Mutual treats their college interns as full time representatives with all of the daily jobs and responsibilities that full time employees handle. Northwestern gave me the title Financial Representative and sent me on my way to make a difference in peoples’ lives by giving them the opportunity to gain financial security through live insurance and financial planning.

9. How did the pension plan changes affect Harnischfeger’s financial statements in 1984? Are these changes likely to affect future profits?

Due to financial constraints, employer-sponsored pension plans have evolved from being primarily defined benefit pensions (to which employees do not have to contribute their own monies) to

ASC 42-10-25-8 states that entity should recognize obligation related to the termination of employees, the liability for termination benefits should be recognized at the communication date. According to ASC 42-10-30-4 through 30-6 this liability shall be measured at its fair value. In this case, Pharam Co. will not show the liability of $3 million for the termination benefits on its December 31, 2010 Balance Sheet.

together to make this lawsuit happen. This lawsuit went into effect for the men who had retired

GAASB is proposing some major improvements to the reporting of pension plans. (GASB Proposes Major Improvements for Pension Reporting, 2011). Immediate recognition of more components of pension expense will be required, including the effect on the pension liability of changes in benefit terms, rather than deferred and amortization over as many as 30 years. Use of a discount rate will be required that applies the expected long term rate of return on pension plan investments where pension assets are expected to be available to make projected benefit payments and the interest rate on a tax exempt 30 year AA or higher rated municipal bond index to projected benefit payments where plan assets are not expected to be available for long term investment in a qualified trust. A single actuarial cost allocation method, the entry age normal, will be required. Governments participating in cost sharing multiple employer plans will be required to record a liability equal to their proportionate share of any net pension liability for the cost sharing plan as a whole. Governments in all types of covered pension plans will be required to present more extensive note disclosures and required supplementary information.

It’s extremely costly to hire new staff. The money saved by keeping the staff you currently have reflects in the company’s profits.

While the book contains valuable insight into some of the most ambitious payout and compensation plans ever implemented in the United States, the lessons are somewhat muffled by Feinberg’s reluctance to apply the lessons of each fund to any larger policy or make any connections to traditional means of recovery though torts. (pg. 24). Feinberg’s work under intense scrutiny is commendable, however I think the analysis in Who Gets What would have been more effective if he explained why he thought the compensation procedures from funds he managed should be completely separated from torts and not presented the rationale for his decisions as fairness.

Atkinson is a strong consumer advocate with over 25 years of experience in the investment management

In the whole process, the only party which is most affected are the workers of the Whyalla-based steel unit for no fault of theirs. The management walked away handing over the administration to Grant Thornton, the banks though will take a haircut on their lending’s, but they too will survive, however, the workers who have toiled hard for the company for decades will face the

From those final bids, we won our first pension risk transfer case in August for $14.7 million and 264 participants. The expected procedure was that Jen Rizzo of IT would be the lead in the client install process; however, her retirement in August left a void. Chris stepped in and assumed a leadership role and coordinated a series of internal meetings and telephone conference calls with the consultant to bring about a successful on-time installation.

Harnischfeger modified employees’ pension plans. A new salaried employees’ retirement plan was designed and the old one was aborted.

Opposition from Unions in different subsidiaries against the layoff could cause serious problems like high severance package and possible strikes

For my sales manager interview I was fortunate enough to interview Chad Keaton, a wealth management advisor and a managing director of Northwestern Mutual. Mr. Keaton graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1989 with Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. Moreover, he joined Northwestern Mutual in 1993 and now it has been almost 20+ years since he has been in sales and sales force management with Northwestern Mutual here in Knoxville, TN. Founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Northwestern Mutual, as a middle west based company, started up with the earliest life insurance services in 1857. Even though, Northwestern Mutual has always been prominent for its life insurance products, the innovation and diversity in various financial services of business are undeniably more attractive. Risk management, wealth accumulation, wealth preservation and distribution are some of the major needs that Northwestern Mutual offers to the public with many specializations.

|benefits, transition services for those being downsized, and adequate attention to "survivors" - the employees left |