Nonqualified Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Nonqualified benefit plans

In addition to the qualified defined benefit pension plans reflected in the table at the beginning of this note, the Company also has unfunded, nonqualified defined benefit plans for executive officers and certain key management employees that generally provide for defined benefit payments at age 65 following the employee's retirement or, upon death, to their beneficiaries for a 15-year period. In

February 2016, the Company froze the unfunded, nonqualified defined benefit plans to new participants and eliminated benefit increases. Vesting for participants not fully vested was retained.

The projected benefit obligation and accumulated benefit obligation for these plans at December 31 were as follows:



	2019		2018
	(In thousands)
Projected benefit obligation	$	99,245	$	93,988
Accumulated benefit obligation	$	99,245	$	93,988

Components of net periodic benefit cost for these plans for the years ended December 31 were as follows:



	2019		2018		2017
	(In thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	109	$	185	$	289
Interest cost	3,473		3,157		3,494
Recognized net actuarial loss	764		1,047		883
Net periodic benefit cost	$	4,346	$	4,389	$	4,666

Weighted average assumptions used at December 31 were as follows:



	2019		2018
Benefit obligation discount rate	2.73	%	3.86	%
Benefit obligation rate of compensation increase	N/A		N/A
Net periodic benefit cost discount rate	3.86	%	3.20	%
Net periodic benefit cost rate of compensation increase	N/A		N/A

The amount of future benefit payments for the unfunded, nonqualified defined benefit plans at December 31, 2019, are expected to aggregate as follows:



	2020		2021		2022		2023		2024		2025-2029
	(In thousands)
Nonqualified benefits	$	7,774	$	7,795	$	7,023	$	7,219	$	7,597	$	35,998

In 2012, the Company established a nonqualified defined contribution plan for certain key management employees. Expenses incurred under this plan for 2019, 2018 and 2017 were $1.6 million, $597,000 and $736,000, respectively.

The amount of investments that the Company anticipates using to satisfy obligations under these plans at December 31 was as follows:



	2019		2018
	(In thousands)
Investments
Insurance contract*	$	87,009	$	73,838
Life insurance**	38,659		37,274
Other	8,450		10,818
Total investments	$	134,118	$	121,930


*	For more information on the insurance contract, see Note 8.


**	Investments of life insurance are carried on plan participants (payable upon the employee's death).

Defined contribution plans

The Company sponsors various defined contribution plans for eligible employees and the costs incurred under these plans were $51.8 million in 2019, $42.4 million in 2018 and $41.2 million in 2017.