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 not required to make contributions but elected to contribute $8 million and $10 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. We do not expect to be required to make any contributions to these pension plans in 2019. 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 $(2) million, $(3) million and $5 million during 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. In 2019, we expect to make benefit payments of approximately $110 million for these plans.

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



	As of or For the Years Ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2018			2017

							Other Postretirement
	Pension Plans						Benefit Plans
Fair value of plan assets	$	1,356		$	1,566		$	64		$	60
Projected benefit obligation		1,477			1,674			74			87
Funded status	$	(121	)	$	(108	)	$	(10	)	$	(27	)

Amounts Recognized on the
Consolidated Balance Sheets
Other assets	$	52		$	45		$	-		$	-
Other liabilities		(173	)		(153	)		(10	)		(27	)
Net amount recognized	$	(121	)	$	(108	)	$	(10	)	$	(27	)

Weighted-Average Assumptions
Benefit obligations:
Weighted-average discount rate		4.14%			3.62%			4.50%			4.00%
Net periodic benefit cost:
Weighted-average discount rate		3.75%			4.01%			4.00%			4.50%
Expected return on plan assets		6.46%			6.71%			6.50%			6.50%

The weighted average discount rate was determined based on a corporate yield curve as of December 31, 2018, 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,
	2018		2017

Fixed maturity securities:
Corporate bonds	$	249	$	292
U.S. government bonds		252		291
Foreign government bonds		216		231
State and municipal bonds		28		32
Common and preferred stock		485		615
Cash and invested cash		125		103
Other investments		65		62
Total	$	1,420	$	1,626

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, 2018, 2017 and 2016, expenses for these plans were $93 million, $88 million and $86 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 the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, expenses for these plans were $4 million, $35 million and $33 million, respectively. For further discussion of total return swaps related to our deferred compensation plans, see Note 6.

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



	As of December 31,
	2018		2017
Total liabilities (1)	$	547	$	588
Investments dedicated to fund liabilities (2)		170		182

⁽¹⁾

Reported in other liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

⁽²⁾

Reported in other assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.