Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund vs Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS)
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund and Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund grades C while Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) grades A. Funding ratios: 64% vs 85%.
Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) comes out ahead on the composite rubric. For a participant in either plan, the spread is informative but not directly actionable — pension participation is not portable, so the relevant question is what each plan's funded-status trajectory means for that participant's benefit security.
Verdict
Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 80/100 (A) compared to Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund at 56/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 20.7 percentage points (84.8% vs 64.1%). Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) covers 372,000 participants.
| Metric | Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund | Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 56/100 (C) | 80/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 64.1% | 84.8%* |
| Total Assets | $21.0B | $35.5B |
| Total Liabilities | $32.8B* | $41.9B |
| Unfunded Liability | $11.8B | $6.4B* |
| Participants | 430,000 | 372,000 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 5.5% | 6.4%* |
| Plan Type | multiemployer | public |
| PBGC Risk Level | high | low |
| Sponsor | United Association (UA) | State of Iowa |
Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) has a stronger Pension Health Score of 80/100 (A) compared to Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund at 56/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 20.7 percentage points (84.8% vs 64.1%). Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (IPERS) covers 372,000 participants.