MASTERCARD INCORPORATED NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued) (In thousands, except percent and per share data) The following table summarizes expected benefit payments through 2018 including those payments expected to be paid from the Company’s general assets.
Since the majority of the benefit payments are made in the form of lump-sum distributions, actual benefit payments may differ from expected benefits payments.
## Table 0 ##
Substantially all of the Company’s U. S.  employees are eligible to participate in a defined contribution savings plan (the “Savings Plan”) sponsored by the Company.
The Savings Plan allows employees to contribute a portion of their base compensation on a pre-tax and after-tax basis in accordance with specified guidelines.
The Company matches a percentage of employees’ contributions up to certain limits.
In 2007 and prior years, the Company could also contribute to the Savings Plan a discretionary profit sharing component linked to Company performance during the prior year.
Beginning in 2008, the discretionary profit sharing amount related to 2007 Company performance was paid directly to employees as a short-term cash incentive bonus rather than as a contribution to the Savings Plan.
In addition, the Company has several defined contribution plans outside of the United States.
The Company’s contribution expense related to all of its defined contribution plans was $35,341, $26,996 and $43,594 for 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively.
The Company had a Value Appreciation Program (“VAP”), which was an incentive compensation plan established in 1995.
Annual awards were granted to VAP participants from 1995 through 1998, which entitled participants to the net appreciation on a portfolio of securities of members of MasterCard International.
In 1999, the VAP was replaced by an Executive Incentive Plan (“EIP”) and the Senior Executive Incentive Plan (“SEIP”) (together the “EIP Plans”) (See Note 16 (Share Based Payments and Other Benefits)).
Contributions to the VAP have been discontinued, all plan assets have been disbursed and no VAP liability remained as of December 31, 2008.
The Company’s liability related to the VAP at December 31, 2007 was $986.
The expense (benefit) was $(6), $(267) and $3,406 for the years ended December 31, 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively.
Note 12.
Postemployment and Postretirement Benefits The Company maintains a postretirement plan (the “Postretirement Plan”) providing health coverage and life insurance benefits for substantially all of its U. S.  employees and retirees hired before July 1, 2007.
The Company amended the life insurance benefits under the Postretirement Plan effective January 1, 2007.
The impact, net of taxes, of this amendment was an increase of $1,715 to accumulated other comprehensive income in 2007.
In December 2007, the FASB issued SFAS No.160, “Noncontrolling Interests in consolidated financial statements—an amendment of ARB No.51” (“SFAS 160”).
SFAS 160 amends ARB No.51 “Consolidated Financial Statements” and establishes accounting and reporting standards that require non-controlling interests (previously referred to as minority interests) to be reported as a component of equity.
In addition, changes in a parent’s ownership interest while the parent retains its controlling interest are accounted for as equity transactions, and upon a loss of control, retained ownership interests are remeasured at fair value, with any gain or loss recognized in earnings.
SFAS 160 is effective for the Company on January 1, 2009, except for the presentation and disclosure requirements, which will be applied retrospectively.
Early adoption is not allowed.
The Company does not expect that the adoption of SFAS 160 will have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated results of operations or financial position.
In February 2008, the FASB issued Staff Position 157-2 (“FSP 157-2”).
FSP 157-2 permits delayed adoption of SFAS 157 for certain non-financial assets and liabilities, which are not recognized at fair value on a recurring basis, until fiscal years and interim periods beginning after November 15, 2008.
As permitted by FSP 157-2, the Company has elected to delay the adoption of SFAS 157 for qualifying non-financial assets and liabilities, such as property, plant and equipment, goodwill and intangible assets.
The Company does not believe the adoption of SFAS 157 for its non-financial assets and liabilities, that are not recognized at fair value on a recurring basis, will have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated results of operations or financial position.
In March 2008, the FASB issued SFAS No.161, “Disclosures about Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities an amendment of FASB Statement No.133” (“SFAS 161”).
SFAS 161 requires enhanced disclosures about an entity’s derivative and hedging activities in an effort to improve the transparency of financial reporting and is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after November 15, 2008.
SFAS 161 will not impact the Company’s consolidated results of operations or financial position as its requirements are disclosureonly in nature.
In June 2008, the FASB issued Staff Position Emerging Issues Task Force 03-6-1, “Determining Whether Instruments Granted in Share-Based Payment Transactions Are Participating Securities” (“FSP EITF 03-6-1”).
FSP EITF 03-6-1 requires entities to allocate earnings to unvested and contingently issuable share-based payment awards that have non-forfeitable rights to dividends or dividend equivalents when calculating EPS and also present both basic EPS and diluted EPS pursuant to the two-class method described in SFAS No.128, “Earnings per Share”.
FSP EITF 03-6-1 is effective January 1, 2009 and requires retrospective application.
The Company will adopt FSP EITF 03-6-1 during 2009 and is not able to project its impact on future presentations of EPS due to the inherent complexities associated with projecting future financial performance.
The Company’s calculation of the expected impact of FSP EITF 03-6-1 on EPS for the years ended December 31 is as follows:
## Table 1 ##
In December 2008, the FASB issued Staff Position 132(R)-1, “Employers’ Disclosures about Postretirement Benefit Plan Assets” (“FSP SFAS 132R-1”).
FSP SFAS 132R-1 provides guidance on an employer’s disclosures about plan assets of a defined benefit pension plan or other postretirement plan, including disclosure of how investment allocation decisions are made, major categories of plan assets, inputs and valuation techniques used to
MASTERCARD INCORPORATED NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued) (In thousands, except percent and per share data) Upon termination of employment, excluding retirement, all of a participant’s unvested awards are forfeited.
However, when a participant terminates employment due to retirement, the participant generally retains all of their awards without providing additional service to the Company.
Eligible retirement is dependent upon age and years of service, as follows: age 55 with ten years of service, age 60 with five years of service and age 65 with two years of service.
Compensation expense is recognized over the shorter of the vesting periods stated in the LTIP, or the date the individual becomes eligible to retire.
There are 11,550 shares of Class A common stock reserved for equity awards under the LTIP.
Although the LTIP permits the issuance of shares of Class B common stock, no such shares have been reserved for issuance.
Shares issued as a result of option exercises and the conversions of RSUs are expected to be funded with the issuance of new shares of Class A common stock.
Stock Options The fair value of each option is estimated on the date of grant using a Black-Scholes option pricing model.
The following table presents the weighted-average assumptions used in the valuation and the resulting weightedaverage fair value per option granted for the years ended December 31:
## Table 2 ##
The risk-free rate of return was based on the U. S.  Treasury yield curve in effect on the date of grant.
The Company utilizes the simplified method for calculating the expected term of the option based on the vesting terms and the contractual life of the option.
The expected volatility for options granted during 2009 was based on the average of the implied volatility of MasterCard and a blend of the historical volatility of MasterCard and the historical volatility of a group of companies that management believes is generally comparable to MasterCard.
The expected volatility for options granted during 2008 was based on the average of the implied volatility of MasterCard and the historical volatility of a group of companies that management believes is generally comparable to MasterCard.
As the Company did not have sufficient publicly traded stock data historically, the expected volatility for options granted during 2007 was primarily based on the average of the historical and implied volatility of a group of companies that management believed was generally comparable to MasterCard.
The expected dividend yields were based on the Company’s expected annual dividend rate on the date of grant.
The significant components of our general and administrative expenses were as follows:
## Table 3 ##
Note: Table may not sum due to rounding.
** Not meaningful.1 See “Non-GAAP Financial Information” for further information on Special Items.
The primary drivers of changes in general and administrative expenses in 2017 and 2016 were: ?
Personnel expenses increased 21% and 6% in 2017 and 2016, respectively, versus the prior year.
Excluding the impact of U. S.  Employee Pension Plan Settlement Charge of $79 million recorded in 2015, personnel expense grew 10% for 2016 versus 2015.
The 2017 and 2016 increases were driven by a higher number of employees to support our continued investment in the areas of real-time account payments, digital, services, data analytics and geographic expansion.
The impact of acquisitions contributed 6 and 1 percentage points of growth for 2017 and 2016, respectively.  ?
Professional fees consist primarily of third-party services, legal costs to defend our outstanding litigation and the evaluation of regulatory developments that impact our industry and brand.
The increase in 2017 was primarily due to merger and acquisition related consulting costs.
The increase in 2016 was primarily due to higher legal costs to defend litigation.  ?
Data processing and telecommunication charges consist of expenses to support our global payments network infrastructure, expenses to operate and maintain our computer systems and other telecommunication systems.
These expenses increased in both 2017 and 2016 due to capacity growth of our business and higher third-party processing costs.  ?
Foreign exchange activity includes gains and losses on foreign exchange derivative contracts and the impact of remeasurement of assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies.
See Note 20 (Foreign Exchange Risk Management) to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 for further discussion.
During 2017, foreign exchange activity negatively impacted general and administrative expense growth by 2 percentage points versus the comparable period in 2016, due to greater losses from foreign exchange derivative contracts versus the prior year.
During 2016, foreign exchange activity negatively impacted general and administrative expense growth by 4 percentage points versus the comparable period in 2015, due to the impact from foreign exchange derivative contracts and the lapping of balance sheet remeasurement gains in the prior year.  ?
Other expenses include costs to provide loyalty and rewards solutions, travel and meeting expenses and rental expense for our facilities and other miscellaneous charges.
Other expenses increased 25% and 8% in 2017 and 2016, respectively, versus the prior year.
In 2017, other expenses increased due to the impact of the Venezuelan Charge of $167 million.
In 2016, other expenses increased primarily due to higher cardholder services and loyalty costs.
Advertising and Marketing In 2017, advertising and marketing expenses increased 11% versus 2016, mainly due to higher marketing spend primarily related to Masterpass.
Advertising and marketing expenses decreased 1% in 2016, mainly due to lower sponsorship promotions compared to 2015.

<table><tr><td>2009</td><td>$19,766</td></tr><tr><td>2010</td><td>18,182</td></tr><tr><td>2011</td><td>25,518</td></tr><tr><td>2012</td><td>21,029</td></tr><tr><td>2013</td><td>24,578</td></tr><tr><td>2014 – 2018</td><td>118,709</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td></tr><tr><td> Earnings (Loss) per Share:</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Basic—as originally reported</td><td>$-1.95</td><td>$8.05</td></tr><tr><td>Basic—impact of EITF 03-6-1</td><td>0.01</td><td>-0.07</td></tr><tr><td>Basic—as will be reported in 2009</td><td>$-1.94</td><td>$7.98</td></tr><tr><td>Diluted—as originally reported</td><td>$-1.95</td><td>$8.00</td></tr><tr><td>Diluted—impact of EITF 03-6-1</td><td>0.01</td><td>-0.04</td></tr><tr><td>Diluted—as will be reported in 2009</td><td>$-1.94</td><td>$7.96</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>2009</td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td></tr><tr><td>Risk-free rate of return</td><td>2.5%</td><td>3.2%</td><td>4.4%</td></tr><tr><td>Expected term (in years)</td><td>6.17</td><td>6.25</td><td>6.25</td></tr><tr><td>Expected volatility</td><td>41.7%</td><td>37.9%</td><td>30.9%</td></tr><tr><td>Expected dividend yield</td><td>0.4%</td><td>0.3%</td><td>0.6%</td></tr><tr><td>Weighted-average fair value per option granted</td><td>$71.03</td><td>$78.54</td><td>$41.03</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">For the Years Ended December 31,</td><td colspan="2">Percent Increase (Decrease)</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td><td>2015</td><td>2017</td><td>2016</td></tr><tr><td></td><td colspan="5">(in millions, except percentages)</td></tr><tr><td>Personnel</td><td>$2,687</td><td>$2,225</td><td>$2,105</td><td>21%</td><td>6%</td></tr><tr><td>Professional fees</td><td>355</td><td>337</td><td>310</td><td>5%</td><td>9%</td></tr><tr><td>Data processing and telecommunications</td><td>504</td><td>420</td><td>362</td><td>20%</td><td>16%</td></tr><tr><td>Foreign exchange activity</td><td>106</td><td>34</td><td>-82</td><td>**</td><td>**</td></tr><tr><td>Other</td><td>874</td><td>698</td><td>646</td><td>25%</td><td>8%</td></tr><tr><td>General and administrative expenses</td><td>4,526</td><td>3,714</td><td>3,341</td><td>22%</td><td>11%</td></tr><tr><td>Special Item<sup>1</sup></td><td>-167</td><td>—</td><td>-79</td><td>-5%</td><td>3%</td></tr><tr><td>Adjusted general and administrative expenses (excluding Special Item)<sup>1</sup></td><td>$4,359</td><td>$3,714</td><td>$3,262</td><td>17%</td><td>14%</td></tr></table>

Question: considering the years 2007-2008 , what was the increase observed in the expense related to all of the defined contribution plans?
Answer: 0.30912