Employee Benefit Plans

We maintain multiple employee benefit plans, covering employees at certain locations.

Our qualified U.S. defined benefit pension plan is not open to new entrants. New employees are not eligible to participate in the pension plan. Instead, we make contributions for those employees to an employee-directed investment fund in the Moog Inc. Retirement Savings Plan ("RSP"). The Company’s contributions are based on a percentage of the employee’s eligible compensation and age. These contributions are in addition to the employer match on voluntary employee contributions.

The RSP includes an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. As one of the investment alternatives, participants in the RSP can acquire our stock at market value. We match 25% of the first 2% of eligible compensation contributed to any investment selection. Shares are allocated and compensation expense is recognized as the employer share match is earned. At October 1, 2016, the participants in the RSP owned 1,839,185 Class B shares.

The changes in projected benefit obligations and plan assets and the funded status of the U.S. and non-U.S. defined benefit plans are as follows:



	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans
	2016			2015			2016			2015
Change in projected benefit obligation:
Projected benefit obligation at prior year measurement date	$	850,991		$	784,203		$	180,111		$	188,942
Service cost	23,637			23,635			5,204			6,087
Interest cost	37,659			34,031			4,928			4,814
Contributions by plan participants	—			—			863			774
Actuarial losses	96,107			35,064			38,265			4,639
Foreign currency exchange impact	—			—			(4,063		)	(19,149		)
Benefits paid from plan assets	(24,710		)	(22,612		)	(1,632		)	(2,186		)
Benefits paid by Moog	(2,754		)	(2,508		)	(2,429		)	(2,312		)
Other	(1,875		)	(822		)	(1,939		)	(1,498		)
Projected benefit obligation at measurement date	$	979,055		$	850,991		$	219,308		$	180,111
Change in plan assets:
Fair value of assets at prior year measurement date	$	578,783		$	585,677		$	117,693		$	120,754
Actual return on plan assets	57,646			(28,435		)	19,926			4,437
Employer contributions	67,928			47,666			6,155			8,208
Contributions by plan participants	—			—			863			774
Benefits paid	(27,464		)	(25,120		)	(4,061		)	(4,498		)
Foreign currency exchange impact	—			—			(3,801		)	(10,983		)
Other	(1,875		)	(1,005		)	(1,336		)	(999		)
Fair value of assets at measurement date	$	675,018		$	578,783		$	135,439		$	117,693
Funded status and amount recognized in assets and liabilities	$	(304,037	)	$	(272,208	)	$	(83,869	)	$	(62,418	)
Amount recognized in assets and liabilities:
Other assets - non-current	$	—		$	—		$	108		$	220
Accrued and long-term pension liabilities	(304,037		)	(272,208		)	(83,977		)	(62,638		)
Amount recognized in assets and liabilities	$	(304,037	)	$	(272,208	)	$	(83,869	)	$	(62,418	)
Amount recognized in AOCIL, before taxes:
Prior service cost (credit)	$	694		$	881		$	(1,269	)	$	(737	)
Actuarial losses	449,377			386,759			57,926			38,869
Amount recognized in AOCIL, before taxes	$	450,071		$	387,640		$	56,657		$	38,132

U.S. plan assets included 149,022 shares of Class A common stock and 1,001,034 shares of Class B common stock. Our funding policy is to contribute at least the amount required by law in the respective countries.

The total accumulated benefit obligation as of the measurement date for all defined benefit pension plans was $1,105,973 in 2016 and $941,266 in 2015. At the measurement date in 2016, our plans had fair values of plan assets totaling $810,457. At the measurement date in 2016, three of our plans had fair values of plan assets totaling $65,706, which exceeded their accumulated benefit obligations of $60,939. At the measurement date in 2015, three of our plans had fair values of plan assets totaling $62,070, which exceeded their accumulated benefit obligations of $54,603. The following table provides aggregate information for the other pension plans, which have projected benefit obligations or accumulated benefit obligations in excess of plan assets:



	October 1, 2016		October 3, 2015
Projected benefit obligation	$	1,128,524	$	968,848
Accumulated benefit obligation	1,045,034		886,663
Fair value of plan assets	744,751		634,406

Weighted-average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations as of the measurement dates and weighted-average assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost are as follows:



	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans
	2016		2015		2014		2016		2015		2014
Assumptions for net periodic benefit cost:
Discount rate	4.5	%	4.4	%	5.0	%	3.0	%	3.1	%	3.7	%
Return on assets	7.7	%	8.0	%	8.4	%	4.1	%	4.5	%	4.1	%
Rate of compensation increase	4.1	%	4.1	%	4.1	%	2.6	%	3.0	%	2.8	%
Assumptions for benefit obligations:
Discount rate	3.8	%	4.5	%	4.4	%	1.9	%	3.0	%	3.1	%
Rate of compensation increase	3.5	%	4.1	%	4.1	%	2.3	%	3.0	%	2.7	%

Beginning in 2017, we will change the method used to estimate the service and interest cost components of net periodic pension cost. The new method uses the spot yield curve approach to estimate the service and interest costs by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve used to determine the benefit obligation to the relevant projected cash outflows. Previously, these cost components were determined using a single-weighted average discount rate. This change does not affect the measurement of the projected benefit obligation.

We have made this change to provide a more precise measurement of service and interest costs by improving the correlation between projected benefit cash flows to the corresponding spot yield curve rates. We have accounted for this change as a change in accounting estimate and accordingly have accounted for it prospectively. The more granular application of the spot rates will reduce the service and interest cost for the annual net periodic pension expense in 2017 by approximately $7,000. The spot rates used to determine service and interest costs for our plans ranged from 1.26% to 4.30%, which results in a 3.96% service cost discount rate and a 3.21% interest cost discount rate to determine 2017 expense. Had this approach been applied to 2016 expense, these rates would have resulted in weighted-average rates for service and interest costs of 3.88% and 4.72%, respectively.

Pension plan investment policies and strategies are developed on a plan specific basis, which varies by country. The overall objective for the long-term expected return on both domestic and international plan assets is to earn a rate of return over time to meet anticipated benefit payments in accordance with plan provisions. The long-term investment objective of both the domestic and international retirement plans is to maintain the economic value of plan assets and future contributions by producing positive rates of investment return after subtracting inflation, benefit payments and expenses. Each of the plan’s strategic asset allocations is based on this long-term perspective and short-term fluctuations are viewed with appropriate perspective.

The U.S. qualified defined benefit plan’s assets are invested for long-term investment results. To accommodate the long-term investment horizon while providing appropriate liquidity, the plan maintains a liquid cash reserve of one-month to three-months of benefit distributions. Its assets are broadly diversified to help alleviate the risk of adverse returns in any one security or investment class. The international plans’ assets are invested in both low-risk and high-risk investments in order to achieve the long-term investment strategy objective. Investment risks for both domestic and international plans are considered within the context of the entire plan, rather than on a security-by-security basis.

The U.S. qualified defined benefit plan and certain international plans have investment committees that are responsible for formulating investment policies, developing manager guidelines and objectives and approving and managing qualified advisors and investment managers. The guidelines established for each of the plans define permitted investments within each asset class and apply certain restrictions such as limits on concentrated holdings in order to meet overall investment objectives.

Pension obligations and the related costs are determined using actuarial valuations that involve several assumptions. The return on assets assumption reflects the average rate of return expected on funds invested or to be invested to provide for the benefits included in the projected benefit obligation. In determining the return on assets assumption, we consider the relative weighting of plan assets, the historical performance of total plan assets and individual asset classes and economic and other indicators of future performance. Asset management objectives include maintaining an adequate level of diversification to reduce interest rate and market risk and to provide adequate liquidity to meet immediate and future benefit payment requirements.

In determining our U.S. pension expense for 2016, we assumed an average rate of return on U.S. pension assets of approximately 7.7% measured over a planning horizon with reasonable and acceptable levels of risk. The rate of return assumed an average of 50% in equity securities, 40% in fixed income securities and 10% in other securities. In determining our non-U.S. pension expense for 2016, we assumed an average rate of return on non-U.S. pension assets of approximately 4.1% measured over a planning horizon with reasonable and acceptable levels of risk. The rate of return assumed an average asset allocation of 30% in equity securities and 70% in fixed income securities.

The weighted average asset allocations by asset category for the pension plans as of October 1, 2016 and October 3, 2015 are as follows:



	U.S. Plans			Non-U.S. Plans
	Target	2016 Actual	2015 Actual	Target	2016 Actual	2015 Actual
Asset category:
Equity	20%-50%	55%	59%	30%-50%	32%	30%
Debt	35%-60%	36%	31%	40%-60%	36%	42%
Real estate and other	10%-20%	9%	10%	10%-30%	32%	28%

The following tables present the consolidated plan assets using the fair value hierarchy, which is described in Note 9 - Fair Value, as of October 1, 2016 and October 3, 2015.



U.S. Plans, October 1, 2016	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Shares of registered investment companies:
Non-investment grade	$	—	$	45,709	$	—	$	45,709
Real assets	—		37,337		—		37,337
Other	—		177,037		—		177,037
Fixed income funds:
U.S. Government obligations	—		23,867		—		23,867
Corporate and other	—		230		—		230
Employer securities	68,574		—		—		68,574
Interest in common collective trusts	—		237,032		—		237,032
Money market funds	—		18,962		—		18,962
Limited partnerships	—		—		44,003		44,003
Insurance contracts and other	—		—		22,267		22,267
Fair value	$	68,574	$	540,174	$	66,270	$	675,018



Non-U.S. Plans, October 1, 2016	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Shares of registered investment companies	$	—	$	6,523	$	—	$	6,523
Domestic equity	7,616		—		—		7,616
International equity	10,562		—		—		10,562
Fixed income funds	6,246		23,574		—		29,820
Unit linked life insurance funds	—		36,889		—		36,889
Cash and cash equivalents	73		553		—		626
Insurance contracts and other	—		789		42,614		43,403
Fair value	$	24,497	$	68,328	$	42,614	$	135,439



U.S. Plans, October 3, 2015	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Shares of registered investment companies:
Non-investment grade	$	—	$	38,517	$	—	$	38,517
Real assets	—		35,647		—		35,647
Other	—		78,102		—		78,102
Fixed income funds:
U.S. Government obligations	—		64,441		—		64,441
Corporate and other	—		106,120		—		106,120
Employer securities	62,214		—		—		62,214
Interest in common collective trusts	—		88,870		—		88,870
Money market funds	—		16,887		—		16,887
Limited partnerships	—		—		64,760		64,760
Insurance contracts and other	—		—		23,225		23,225
Fair value	$	62,214	$	428,584	$	87,985	$	578,783



Non-U.S. Plans, October 3, 2015	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Shares of registered investment companies	$	—	$	3,683	$	—	$	3,683
Domestic equity	6,142		209		—		6,351
International equity	8,806		—		—		8,806
Fixed income funds	5,615		24,131		—		29,746
Unit linked life insurance funds	—		38,260		—		38,260
Cash and cash equivalents	252		880		—		1,132
Insurance contracts and other	—		779		28,936		29,715
Fair value	$	20,815	$	67,942	$	28,936	$	117,693

The following is a roll forward of the consolidated plan assets classified as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy:



	U.S. Plans			Non-U.S. Plans			Total
Balance at September 27, 2014	$	103,717		$	30,183		$	133,900
Return on assets	849			1,083			1,932
Purchases from contributions to Plans	39,188			3,118			42,306
Proceeds from sales of investments	(54,479		)	—			(54,479		)
Settlements paid in cash	(1,290		)	(1,985		)	(3,275		)
Foreign currency translation	—			(3,463		)	(3,463		)
Balance at October 3, 2015	87,985			28,936			116,921
Return on assets	(704		)	11,723			11,019
Purchases from contributions to Plans	12,366			3,472			15,838
Proceeds from sales of investments	(30,695		)	—			(30,695		)
Settlements paid in cash	(2,682		)	(2,231		)	(4,913		)
Foreign currency translation	—			714			714
Balance at October 1, 2016	$	66,270		$	42,614		$	108,884

The valuation methodologies used for pension plan assets measured at fair value have been applied consistently. Cash and cash equivalents consist of direct cash holdings and institutional short-term investment vehicles. Direct cash holdings are valued at cost, which approximates fair value. Institutional short-term investment vehicles are valued daily. Investments in U.S. Government obligations are valued by a pricing service based upon closing market prices at year end. Shares of registered investment companies are valued at net asset value of shares held by the plan at year end. Common stocks traded on national exchanges are valued at the last reported sales price. Investments denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars using the last reported exchange rate. Fixed income funds are valued using methods, such as dealer quotes, available trade information, spreads, bids and offers provided by a pricing vendor. Investments in insurance contracts are valued at contract value, which is the fair value of the underlying investment of the insurance company. Securities or other assets for which market quotations are not readily available or for which market quotations do not represent the value at the time of pricing (including certain illiquid securities) are fair valued in accordance with procedures established under the supervision and responsibility of the Custodian of that investment. Such procedures may include the use of independent pricing services or affiliated advisor pricing, which use prices based upon yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type, indications as to values from dealers, operating data and general market conditions.

The following table summarizes investments measured at fair value based on net asset value (NAV) per share as of October 1, 2016:



	Unfunded Commitments		Redemption Frequency	Redemption Notice Period
Interest in common collective trusts (1)	$	—	Daily, Weekly	0-5 days
Insurance contracts and other (2)	—		Quarterly	60-90 days
Limited partnerships (3)	7,052		Varies	10-45 days
Total	$	7,052


(1)	Interest in common collective trusts consist of pools of investments used by institutional investors to obtain exposure to equity and fixed income markets. Common collective trusts held by us invest primarily in investment grade fixed income securities, common stock and real property assets.


(2)	Insurance contracts and other includes hedge funds held by us, which invest primarily in global equity long and short positions. The primary strategy for the hedge funds is to seek risk-adjusted returns with volatility lower than the broad equity markets primarily through long and short investment opportunities in the global markets.


(3)	Investments in limited partnerships held by us invest primarily in emerging markets, equity and equity related securities. The strategy for the partnerships is to have exposure to certain markets or to securities that are judged to achieve superior earnings growth and/or judged undervalued relative to intrinsic value.

The preceding methods may produce a fair value calculation that may not be indicative of net realizable value or reflective of future fair values. Furthermore, although we believe the valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different fair value measurement at the reporting date.

Pension expense for all defined benefit plans is as follows:



	U.S. Plans									Non-U.S. Plans
	2016			2015			2014			2016			2015			2014
Service cost	$	23,637		$	23,635		$	21,571		$	5,204		$	6,087		$	5,533
Interest cost	37,659			34,031			33,354			4,928			4,814			5,984
Expected return on plan assets	(50,383		)	(47,136		)	(43,374		)	(4,862		)	(5,166		)	(4,487		)
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)	187			149			149			(103		)	(70		)	(57		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	26,168			22,355			16,346			2,600			2,289			1,398
Settlement loss	59			54			37			131			77			—
Pension expense for defined benefit plans	$	37,327		$	33,088		$	28,083		$	7,898		$	8,031		$	8,371

The estimated net prior service cost and net actuarial loss that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive loss into net periodic benefit cost for pension plans in 2017 are $71 and $38,264, respectively.

Benefits expected to be paid to the participants of the plans are:



	U.S. Plans		Non-U.S. Plans
2017	$	31,020	$	5,305
2018	34,368		5,814
2019	37,030		6,229
2020	40,106		5,692
2021	43,557		6,476
Five years thereafter	266,881		42,631

We presently anticipate contributing approximately $63,200 to the U.S. plans and $7,000 to the non-U.S. plans in 2017.

Pension expense for the defined contribution plans consists of:



	2016		2015		2014
U.S. defined contribution plans	$	14,128	$	13,621	$	13,196
Non-U.S. defined contribution plans	6,029		6,570		6,458
Total pension expense for defined contribution plans	$	20,157	$	20,191	$	19,654

We provide postretirement health care benefits to certain domestic retirees, who were hired prior to October 1, 1989. There are no plan assets. The changes in the accumulated benefit obligation of this unfunded plan for 2016 and 2015 are shown in the following table:



	October 1, 2016			October 3, 2015
Change in Accumulated Postretirement Benefit Obligation (APBO):
APBO at prior year measurement date	$	12,532		$	15,331
Service cost	161			226
Interest cost	468			576
Contributions by plan participants	1,944			2,228
Benefits paid	(3,043		)	(2,795		)
Actuarial losses (gains)	763			(3,034		)
APBO at measurement date	$	12,825		$	12,532
Funded status	$	(12,825	)	$	(12,532	)
Accrued postretirement benefit liability	$	12,825		$	12,532
Amount recognized in AOCIL, before taxes:
Actuarial gains	3,896			5,232
Amount recognized in AOCIL, before taxes	$	3,896		$	5,232

The cost of the postretirement benefit plan is as follows:



	2016			2015			2014
Service cost	$	161		$	226		$	225
Interest cost	468			576			624
Amortization of actuarial gain	(572		)	(106		)	(261		)
Net periodic postretirement benefit cost	$	57		$	696		$	588

As of the measurement date, the assumed discount rate used in the accounting for the postretirement benefit obligation was 3.2% in 2016, 3.9% in 2015 and 3.9% in 2014. As of the measurement date, the assumed discount rate used in the accounting for the net periodic postretirement benefit cost was 3.9% in 2016, 4.5% in 2015 and 4.5% in 2014.

For measurement purposes, a 6.8%, 6.6% and 6.9% annual per capita rate of increase of medical and drug costs before age 65, medical costs after age 65 and drug costs after age 65, respectively, were assumed for 2017, all gradually decreasing to 4.5% for 2028 and years thereafter. A one percentage point increase in this rate would increase our accumulated postretirement benefit obligation as of the measurement date in 2016 by $358, while a one percentage point decrease in this rate would decrease our accumulated postretirement benefit obligation by $311. There would be no material effect on the total service cost and interest cost components of the net periodic postretirement benefit cost given a one percentage point increase or decrease in this rate.

Employee and management profit sharing reflects a discretionary payment based on our financial performance. Profit share expense was $16,656, $13,188 and $22,030 in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.