
7.	RETIREMENT PLANS

Defined Contribution Plans

We have a qualified profit sharing plan subject to United States Internal Revenue Code Section 401(k) for eligible U.S. employees. We make employer contributions under this qualified profit sharing plan that are included in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015 our employer contributions were $27.8 million, $23.4 million, and $19.3 million, respectively. The related trust assets of this plan are managed by trustees and are excluded from the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

We maintain several defined contribution retirement plans for eligible non-U.S. employees. Our contributions to these plans were $25.5 million, $27.2 million, and $29.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively.

Defined Benefit Plans

We maintain four defined benefit pension plans in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands to provide retirement benefits to eligible employees. It is our policy to fund at least the minimum annual contributions required by applicable regulators. We use a December 31 measurement date for our plans.

Effective December 30, 2015 our Netherlands plan was frozen with no expected future service credit as contributions for plan participants are now made to a defined contribution plan. This transition resulted in a plan curtailment as certain obligations of the defined benefit plan, included in the projected benefit obligations and plan asset tables below, remain with the Company. During the year ended December 31, 2017, certain participants in one of our UK plans voluntarily transferred their accumulated benefits out of this plan resulting in plan settlements.

The following table provides detail of Net periodic pension cost (benefit) for these four plans.



	Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)	2017			2016		2015
Employer service cost - benefits earned during the period	$	1.4		2.0		4.7
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation	10.1			12.3		14.5
Expected return on plan assets	(16.5		)	(19.5	)	(20.9	)
Net amortization of deferrals	2.2			0.7		4.3
Curtailment gain	—			—		(0.4	)
Plan settlements	2.3			—		—
Recognized actuarial loss	0.2			0.2		0.2
Net periodic pension (benefit) cost	$	(0.3	)	(4.3	)	2.4

The following tables provide reconciliations of projected benefit obligations and plan assets (the net of which represents our funded status), as well as the funded status and accumulated benefit obligations, of our defined benefit pension plans.



($ in millions)
Change in benefit obligation:	2017			2016
Projected benefit obligation, January 1,	$	373.9		358.5
Service cost	1.4			2.0
Interest cost	10.1			12.3
Plan settlements	(8.1		)	—
Plan participants' contributions	0.1			0.1
Benefits paid	(11.1		)	(16.2	)
Actuarial (gain) loss	(0.5		)	80.7
Changes in currency translation rates	37.0			(62.1	)
Other	(0.6		)	(1.4	)
Projected benefit obligation, December 31,	$	402.2		373.9

Change in plan assets:	2017			2016
Fair value of plan assets, January 1,	$	364.9		384.9
Actual return on plan assets	18.7			52.6
Plan settlements	(8.1		)	—
Plan contributions	8.1			8.4
Benefits paid	(11.1		)	(16.2	)
Changes in currency translation rates	36.9			(63.4	)
Other	(0.5		)	(1.4	)
Fair value of plan assets, December 31,	$	408.9		364.9

Funded status and net amount recognized	$	6.7		(9.0	)

Accumulated benefit obligation, December 31,	$	402.2		373.9

The accumulated benefit obligation was calculated based on the actuarial present value of the vested benefits to which employees are entitled if they terminate their employment immediately.

Defined benefit pension plan amounts recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets are presented in the below table.



	December 31,
($ in millions)	2017			2016
Pension assets (included in Other assets)	$	22.4		11.2
Pension liabilities (included in Other liabilities)	(15.7		)	(20.2	)
Net asset (liability) recognized	$	6.7		(9.0	)

Actuarial losses	$	91.9		90.8
Prior service costs	0.3			0.4
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	$	92.2		91.2

The amounts recognized in Other comprehensive income are presented in the table below.



	Year Ended December 31,
($ in millions)	2017			2016		2015
Current year actuarial (gains) losses	$	(3.2	)	44.2		(25.2	)
Reclassification adjustments included in Net periodic pension cost	(4.7		)	(0.9	)	(4.1	)
Change in currency translation rates	8.9			(11.7	)	(3.5	)
Total	$	1.0		31.6		(32.8	)

We estimate $2.2 million will be recognized from AOCI into net periodic pension cost (benefit) during 2018.

The ranges of assumptions we used in developing the projected benefit obligation as of December 31 are presented in the following table.



	2017			2016
Discount rate used in determining present values	2.00%	to	2.55%	2.00%	to	2.70%
Annual increase in future compensation levels	0.00%	to	3.75%	0.00%	to	3.65%

The ranges of assumptions we used in determining net periodic cost (benefit) for the years ended December 31 are presented in the following table.



	2017			2016			2015
Discount rate used in determining present values	2.00%	to	2.70%	2.00%	to	3.90%	2.25%	to	3.70%
Annual increase in future compensation levels	0.00%	to	3.65%	0.00%	to	3.50%	0.00%	to	3.50%
Expected long-term rate of return on assets	2.30%	to	4.90%	2.00%	to	5.90%	2.70%	to	5.80%

The discount rate assumptions used for these pension plans were derived from the expected yield of investment grade bonds with durations consistent with the liabilities of these plans.

The expected long-term rate of return on assets is based on the current level of expected returns on risk-free investments (primarily government bonds), the historical level of the risk premium associated with various asset classes in which the portfolio is invested and the expectations for future returns of each asset class. The expected return for each asset class is then weighted based on the target asset allocation to develop the expected long-term rate of return on assets assumption for the portfolio.

Actual return on plan assets in excess of expected long-term rates of return was the primary driver of the actuarial gains recognized in 2017, while the change in discount rates, compared with the previous year, was the primary driver of actuarial losses recognized in 2016.

Plan assets consist of diversified portfolios principally composed of equity and debt securities. The investments and investment policies of these defined benefit plans are controlled by the trustees of each plan. The primary investment objective of these trusts is to invest plan assets in such a manner that members' benefit entitlements can be paid when they come due. Plan assets are invested with a long-term focus to achieve a return on investment based on levels of liquidity and investment risk which the trustees, in consultation with JLL's management, believe are prudent and reasonable. These trusts set investment target allocations, but generally are not prohibited by us from investing in certain types of assets.

Pension plan assets measured at fair value and cash are presented in the following table with the overall allocation of pension plan assets.



	December 31, 2017						December 31, 2016
($ in millions)	Level 1		Level 2	Level 3	Total		Level 1		Level 2	Level 3	Total
Equity securities	$	105.7	—	—	$	105.7	$	112.6		—	$	112.6
Debt securities:
Corporate bonds	150.5		5.2	—	155.7		121.3		3.6		124.9
Government and other	17.8		7.5	—	25.3		14.8		2.7	—	17.5
Other	3.6		7.0	31.0	41.6		3.9		2.5	29.2	35.6
Total plan assets at fair value	$	277.6	19.7	31.0	328.3		$	252.6	8.8	29.2	290.6
Cash & cash equivalents					3.4						6.6
Assets measured at NAV					77.2						67.7
Total plan assets					$	408.9					$	364.9

Certain investments held by our pension plans are in funds where the fair value is measured using net asset value per share ("NAV") provided by the investment managers. As such, we have excluded such investments from classification in the fair value hierarchy. The underlying investments in funds measured at NAV are primarily equity and debt securities.

The actual asset allocation as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 approximates each plan's target asset allocation percentages.

The Company's defined benefit plan in the Netherlands has its assets invested with a third party insurance company that guarantees the payment of vested benefits under this plan. The valuation of these assets was determined based on future benefits expected to be paid under this plan and is a Level 3 measurement. These assets are included in the Other category in the table above.

We expect to contribute $8.3 million to our defined benefit pension plans in 2018. In addition, pension benefit payments expected to be paid as of December 31, 2017, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are presented in the following table.



($ in millions)	Expected future minimum pension benefit payments
2018	$	20.5
2019	21.2
2020	21.7
2021	22.4
2022	23.0
2023 to 2027	125.4
Total	$	234.2