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Employee Retirement Benefits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2024
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Employee Retirement Benefits Employee Retirement Benefits
We sponsor a qualified defined benefit pension plan that we closed entry into for new associates as of June 30, 2008, and only participants 40 years of age or older as of August 31, 2008, could elect to continue to participate. During 2008, we changed the form of retirement benefit we offer some associates to a company match on contributions to a 401(k) plan as further explained below. For participants remaining in the pension plan, we continue to fund future benefit obligations. Benefits for the defined benefit pension plan are based on years of credited service and compensation level. Contributions are based on the prescribed method defined in the Pension Protection Act. Our net periodic benefit cost is based on certain actuarial assumptions and also is composed of several components that are determined using the projected unit credit actuarial cost method. The qualified plan has been amended to allow for distribution of vested balances to terminated participants.
 
We sponsor a defined contribution plan (401(k) plan) for eligible associates with matching company contributions totaling $29 million, $26 million and $24 million during the years 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Associates who are not accruing benefits under the pension plan are eligible to receive the company match of up to 6% of cash compensation. Participants vest in the company match for the 401(k) plan after three years of eligible service.
 
We maintain a supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) with a benefit obligation of $13 million at
year-end 2024 and $11 million at year-end 2023, which is included in the projected benefit obligation. The company also makes available to a select group of associates the CFC Top Hat Savings Plan, a nonqualified deferred compensation plan, which had a fair value of $87 million and $67 million at December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Company matching contributions to the CFC Top Hat Savings Plan totaled approximately $1 million for the years 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
 
Defined Benefit Pension Plan Assumptions
We evaluate our pension plan assumptions annually and update them as necessary. This is a summary of the weighted-average assumptions used to determine our benefit obligations at December 31 for the plans:
 Qualified Pension PlanSERP
 2024202320242023
Discount rate5.68 %5.04 %5.66 %5.11 %
Rate of compensation increase4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 
 
To determine the discount rate for each plan, a theoretical settlement portfolio of high-quality rated corporate bonds was chosen to provide payments approximately matching the plan’s projected benefit payments. A single interest rate for each plan was determined resulting in a discounted value of the plan's benefit payments that equates to the market value of the selected bonds. The discount rate is reflective of current market interest rate conditions and our plan's liability characteristics. Based on this analysis, we increased the rate from the prior year by 0.64 percentage points for the qualified pension plan and by 0.55 percentage points for the SERP. Compensation increase assumptions reflect anticipated rates of inflation, real return on wage growth and merit and promotional increases. The mortality assumption is updated annually to reflect the updated mortality scales. The Pri-2012 tables with Scale MP-2021 was used for the years 2024, 2023 and 2022.

This is a summary of the weighted-average assumptions used to determine our net periodic benefit cost for the plans:
 Qualified Pension PlanSERP
 202420232022202420232022
Discount rate5.04 %5.34 %2.97 %5.11 %5.42 %2.90 %
Expected return on plan assets7.00 7.00 7.00 n/an/an/a
Rate of compensation increase4.00 4.50 
2.25-3.25
4.00 4.50 
2.25-3.25
 
The discount rate was decreased by 0.30 percentage points for the qualified pension plan and 0.31 percentage points for the SERP due to market interest rate conditions at the beginning of 2024. The discount rate assumptions for our benefit obligation generally track with high-quality rated corporate bond yields chosen in our theoretical settlement portfolio, and yearly adjustments reflect any changes to those bond yields. We believe the expected
return on plan assets is representative of the expected long-term rate of return on these assets, which is consistent with 2024 expectations of interest rates and based partially on the fact that the plan’s common stock holdings pay dividends. We review historical actual return on plan assets when determining our expected long-term rate of return. Total portfolio return for 2024 was 18.7% and for 2023 was 11.8%. Our compensation increase assumptions in 2024 reflect anticipated rates of inflation, real return on wage growth and merit and promotional increases.
 
Benefit obligation activity using an actuarial measurement date for our qualified pension plan and SERP at December 31 follows:
(Dollars in millions)At December 31,
20242023
Change in projected benefit obligation:  
Benefit obligation, January 1$263 $282 
Service cost6 6 
Interest cost13 13 
Actuarial loss (gain) (9)10 
Benefits paid(15)(48)
Projected benefit obligation, December 31$258 $263 
Change in plan assets:  
Fair value of plan assets, January 1$317 $332 
Actual return on plan assets56 33 
Benefits paid(15)(48)
Fair value of plan assets, December 31$358 $317 
Funded status, December 31$100 $54 
Accumulated benefit obligation$243 $247 
 
Our funded status for 2024 compared to 2023 improved primarily due to higher year over year return on plan assets and increases in the actuarial gain resulting from increases in discount rates.
A reconciliation follows of the funded status for our qualified plan and SERP at the end of the measurement period to the amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets at December 31:
(Dollars in millions)At December 31,
20242023
Pension amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets:
Other assets$100 $54 
Total$100 $54 
Pension amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income:  
Net actuarial gain$(76)$(31)
Prior service cost1 1 
Total$(75)$(30)
 
Below are the components of our net periodic benefit cost, as well as other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other comprehensive income for our qualified plan and SERP at December 31:
(Dollars in millions)Years ended December 31,
202420232022
Net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost$6 $6 $9 
Non-service costs (benefit):
Interest cost13 13 10 
Expected return on plan assets(21)(21)(22)
Amortization of actuarial (gain) loss and prior service cost1 (2)— 
Other— (6)(3)
Net periodic benefit $(1)$(10)$(6)
Other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations recognized in other
   comprehensive income:
Current year actuarial gain $(44)$(2)$(12)
Amortization and recognition of actuarial gain (loss)(1)8 3 
Total recognized in other comprehensive (income) loss$(45)$6 $(9)
Total recognized in net periodic benefit and other comprehensive income$(46)$(4)$(15)
 
The 2024 change in the amount recognized in other comprehensive income from 2023 is largely due to higher year over year return on plan assets and increases in actuarial gain resulting from increases in discount rates.

Service costs and non-service costs (benefit) are allocated in the same proportion primarily to underwriting, acquisition and insurance expenses line item with the remainder allocated to the insurance losses and contract holders' benefits line item on the consolidated statements of income for 2024, 2023 and 2022.
 
Defined Benefit Pension Plan Assets
The pension plan assets are managed to maximize total return over the long term while providing sufficient liquidity and current return to satisfy the cash flow requirements of the plan. The plan’s day-to-day investment decisions are managed by our internal investment department; however, overall investment strategies are discussed with our employee benefits committee. Our investment strategy is to weight our portfolio towards large-cap, high-quality, dividend-growing equities that we have historically favored. As our plan matures and interest rates normalize, we expect a greater allocation to fixed-income securities to better align asset and liability market risks. Our fixed-maturity bond portfolio is investment grade. The plan does not engage in derivative transactions.
 
Including cash, during 2024 we held approximately 83% of our pension portfolio in domestic common equity investments. The remainder of the portfolio consisted of 10% percent in cash, 4% in United States
government fixed-maturity investments, 2% in domestic corporate fixed-maturity investments, and 1% in states, municipalities and taxable political subdivisions fixed-maturity investments. Our common equity portfolio consisted of 31% in the information technology sector, 20% in the financial sector, 17% in the industrials sector, and 12% in the healthcare sector, at year-end 2024. No additional sectors accounted for 10% or more of our common equity portfolio balance at year-end 2024.
 
Investments in securities are valued based on the fair value hierarchy outlined in Note 3, Fair Value Measurements. The pension plan did not have any liabilities carried at fair value during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. The following table shows the fair value hierarchy for those assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2024 and 2023. Excluded from the table below is cash on hand of $36 million and $16 million at December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
(Dollars in millions)Level 1Level 2Level 3Total
At December 31, 2024
Fixed maturities, available for sale:    
United States government$13 $— $— $13 
Corporate — 7 — 7 
States, municipalities and political subdivisions— 5 — 5 
Total fixed maturities, available for sale13 12 — 25 
Common equities297 — — 297 
Total$310 $12 $— $322 
At December 31, 2023    
Fixed maturities, available for sale:    
United States government$22 $— $— $22 
Corporate — 4 — 4 
States, municipalities and political subdivisions— 6 — 6 
Total fixed maturities, available for sale22 10 — 32 
Common equities269 — — 269 
Total$291 $10 $— $301 
 
Our pension plan assets included 100,610 shares of the company’s common stock, which had a fair value of $14 million and $10 million at December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The defined benefit pension plan did not purchase or sell any of our common stock during 2024 or 2023. The company paid less than $1 million in both 2024 and 2023 in cash dividends on our common stock to the pension plan.
 
We estimate $8 million of benefit payments from the SERP during 2025. We expect to make the following benefit payments for our qualified plan and SERP, reflecting expected future service:
(Dollars in millions)Years ended December 31,
202520262027202820292030 - 2034
Expected future benefit payments$40 $29 $30 $31 $30 $120