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PensionRisk

Virginia Retirement System (VRS) vs Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund

Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data

Virginia Retirement System (VRS) and Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Virginia Retirement System (VRS) grades B while Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund grades A. Funding ratios: 75% vs 83%.

Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund 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

Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund has a stronger Pension Health Score of 91/100 (A) compared to Virginia Retirement System (VRS) at 70/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 7.5 percentage points (82.6% vs 75.1%). Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund covers 148,965 participants.

MetricVirginia Retirement System (VRS)Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund
Health Score
Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk
70/100 (B)91/100 (A)*
Funding Ratio
Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded)
75.1%82.6%*
Total Assets$87.0B$7.5B
Total Liabilities$115.8B$9.1B*
Unfunded Liability$28.8B$1.6B*
Participants740,000148,965
1-Year Investment Return6.0%*5.3%
Plan Typepublicmultiemployer
PBGC Risk Levelmoderatelow
SponsorState of VirginiaSheet Metal Workers International Association

Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund has a stronger Pension Health Score of 91/100 (A) compared to Virginia Retirement System (VRS) at 70/100 (B). Funding ratios differ by 7.5 percentage points (82.6% vs 75.1%). Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund covers 148,965 participants.

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