Postretirement Benefits

A. Pension and postretirement benefit costs



(Millions of dollars)	U.S. Pension Benefits						Non-U.S. Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits
	March 31,						March 31,						March 31,
	2014			2013			2014			2013			2014			2013
For the three months ended:
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	39		$	49		$	28		$	31		$	20		$	24
Interest cost	162			145			46			43			53			49
Expected return on plan assets ¹	(221		)	(208		)	(65		)	(59		)	(13		)	(14		)
Amortization of:
Transition obligation (asset)	—			—			—			—			—			1
Prior service cost (credit) ²	4			4			—			—			(13		)	(18		)
Net actuarial loss (gain) ³	98			136			22			33			10			27
Total cost included in operating profit	$	82		$	126		$	31		$	48		$	57		$	69

Weighted-average assumptions used to determine net cost:
Discount rate	4.6		%	3.7		%	4.1		%	3.7		%	4.6		%	3.7		%
Expected rate of return on plan assets	7.8		%	7.8		%	6.9		%	6.7		%	7.8		%	7.8		%
Rate of compensation increase	4.0		%	4.5		%	4.2		%	3.9		%	4.0		%	4.4		%


¹	Expected return on plan assets developed using calculated market-related value of plan assets which recognizes differences in expected and actual returns over a three-year period.

Prior service cost (credit) for both pension and other postretirement benefits are generally amortized using the straight-line method over the average remaining service period of active employees expected to receive benefits from the plan. For pension plans in which all or almost all of the plan's participants are inactive and other postretirement benefit plans in which all or almost all of the plan's participants are fully eligible for benefits under the plan, prior service cost (credit) are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining life expectancy of those participants.

Net actuarial loss (gain) for pension and other postretirement benefit plans are generally amortized using the straight-line method over the average remaining service period of active employees expected to receive benefits from the plan. For plans in which all or almost all of the plan’s participants are inactive, net actuarial loss (gain) are amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining life expectancy of the inactive participants.

We made $279 million of contributions to our pension plans during the three months ended March 31, 2014. We currently anticipate full-year 2014 contributions of approximately $510 million, all of which are required. We made $142 million of contributions to our pension plans during the three months ended March 31, 2013.

B. Defined contribution benefit costs

Total company costs related to our defined contribution plans were as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
(Millions of dollars)	2014		2013
U.S. Plans	$	81	$	83
Non-U.S. Plans	20		14
	$	101	$	97