In general, the participant's share in the surplus depends on the total of his contributions. Other considerations, such as the actual investment income received on his contributions or the years of service, may influence the distribution of the surplus. It may even appear desirable to take account of the accrued liability. After reviewing the related literature, the author brushes up on pension mathematics. To do so, she focuses on three particularly simple types of pension plans.
Some assumptions are varied so as to study their impact on the two variables of interest.
Results are also presented for other sets of assumptions, which are deemed to be somewhat more realistic.