Deep-dive library

How a 1978 tax provision became a central workplace savings system: the pension shift, the growth of assets, automatic enrollment and the gaps hidden by headline account totals.

Version note: Clarified the unrounded contribution and benefit amounts behind the reported net difference.

Export credit insurance can make open-account sales and receivables financing more workable by sharing covered foreign-buyer losses. It does not promise immediate cash, insure every commercial disagreement or eliminate the exporter’s retained risk and policy obligations.

A property-and-casualty insurer’s combined ratio measures underwriting, while reserve revisions and investment results explain why reported profit can tell a different story.

A pension funding ratio compares assets with a measured promise. Discount rates, valuation rules, benefit design and cash-flow timing explain why the ratio can change even when no contribution arrives.

Reinsurance changes which institution bears covered losses. Attachments, limits, exclusions, reinstatements and counterparty performance determine how much risk actually leaves the original insurer.