17. Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans

Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

We maintain U.S. defined benefit pension plans in which certain U.S. employees and agents are participants, and a U.K. plan we retained after the sale of the Lincoln UK business. Our defined benefit pension plans are closed to new entrants and existing participants do not accrue any additional benefits. We comply with the minimum funding requirements in both the U.S. and the U.K. In accordance with such practice, we were required to contribute zero and $11 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. We elected to contribute $4 million and $25 million for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. We do not expect to be required to make any contributions to these pension plans in 2017. We sponsor other postretirement benefit plans that provide health care and life insurance to certain retired employees and agents. Total net periodic cost (recovery) for these plans was $5 million, $(6) million and $(4) million during 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. In 2017, we expect to make benefit payments of approximately $106 million for these plans.

Information (in millions) with respect to these plans was as follows:



	As of or For the Years Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2016			2015

							Other Postretirement
	Pension Plans						Benefit Plans
Fair value of plan assets	$	1,433		$	1,434		$	56		$	52
Projected benefit obligation		1,593			1,607			84			97
Funded status of plan	$	(160	)	$	(173	)	$	(28	)	$	(45	)

Amounts Recognized on the
Consolidated Balance Sheets
Other assets	$	26		$	28		$	-		$	2
Other liabilities		(186	)		(201	)		(28	)		(47	)
Net amount recognized	$	(160	)	$	(173	)	$	(28	)	$	(45	)

Weighted-Average Assumptions
Benefit obligations:
Weighted-average discount rate		4.03%			4.29%			4.50%			4.50%
Net periodic benefit cost:
Weighted-average discount rate		4.29%			3.88%			4.50%			4.00%
Expected return on plan assets		6.99%			6.87%			6.50%			6.50%

The weighted average discount rate was determined based on a corporate yield curve as of December 31, 2016, and projected benefit obligation cash flows. The expected return on plan assets was determined based on historical and expected future returns of the various asset categories, using the plans’ target plan allocation. We reevaluate these assumptions each plan year.

The following summarizes our fair value measurements of our benefit plans’ assets (in millions) on a recurring basis by asset category:



	As of December 31,
	2016		2015

Fixed maturity securities:
Corporate bonds	$	322	$	355
U.S. government bonds		235		207
Foreign government bonds		167		145
State and municipal bonds		31		32
Common and preferred stock		556		542
Cash and invested cash		120		151
Other investments		58		54
Total	$	1,489	$	1,486

See “Fair Value Measurement” in Note 1 for discussion on how we categorize our pension plans’ assets into the three-level fair value hierarchy. See “Financial Instruments Carried at Fair Value” in Note 20 for a summary of our fair value measurement of our pension plans’ assets by the three-level fair value hierarchy.

Defined Contribution Plans

We sponsor tax-qualified defined contribution plans for eligible employees and agents. We administer these plans in accordance with the plan documents and various limitations under section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, expenses for these plans were $86 million, $82 million and $78 million, respectively.

Deferred Compensation Plans

We sponsor non-qualified, unfunded, deferred compensation plans for certain current and former employees, agents and non-employee directors. The results of certain notional investment options within some of the plans are hedged by total return swaps. Our expenses increase or decrease in direct proportion to the change in market value of the participants’ investment options. Participants of certain plans are able to select our stock as a notional investment option; however, it is not hedged by the total return swaps and is a primary source of expense volatility related to these plans. For further discussion of total return swaps related to our deferred compensation plans, see Note 6. For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, expenses for these plans were $33 million, $10 million and $23 million, respectively.

Information (in millions) with respect to these plans was as follows:



	As of December 31,
	2016		2015
Total liabilities (1)	$	514	$	483
Investments dedicated to fund liabilities (2)		159		151

⁽¹⁾

Reported in other liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

⁽²⁾

Reported in other assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.