The Company maintains The Hartford Retirement Plan for U.S. Employees, a U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan (the “Plan”) that covers substantially all U.S. employees hired prior to January 1, 2013. The Company also maintains non-qualified pension plans to provide retirement benefits previously accrued that are in excess of Internal Revenue Code limitations.

The Plan includes two benefit formulas, both of which are frozen: a final average pay formula (for which all accruals ceased as of December 31, 2008) and a cash balance formula for which benefit accruals ceased as of December 31, 2012, although interest will continue to accrue to existing cash balance formula account balances. Participants as of December 31, 2012 continue to earn vesting credit with respect to their frozen accrued benefits if they continue to work. The Hartford Excess Pension Plan II, the Company's non-qualified excess pension benefit plan for certain highly compensated employees, is also frozen.

The Company provides certain health care and life insurance benefits for eligible retired employees. The Company’s contribution for health care benefits will depend upon the retiree’s date of retirement and years of service. In addition, the plan has a defined dollar cap for certain retirees which limits average Company contributions. The Hartford has prefunded a portion of the health care obligations through a trust fund where such prefunding can be accomplished on a tax effective basis. Effective January 1, 2002, Company-subsidized retiree medical, retiree dental and retiree life insurance benefits were eliminated for employees with original hire dates with the Company on or after January 1, 2002. The Company also amended its postretirement medical, dental and life insurance coverage plans to no longer provide subsidized coverage for employees who retire on or after January 1, 2014.

Assumptions

Pursuant to accounting principles related to the Company’s pension and other postretirement obligations to employees under its various benefit plans, the Company is required to make a significant number of assumptions in order to calculate the related liabilities and expenses each period. The two economic assumptions that have the most impact on pension and other postretirement expense are the discount rate and the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. In determining the discount rate assumption, the Company utilizes a discounted cash flow analysis of the Company’s pension and other postretirement obligations and currently available market and industry data. The yield curve utilized in the cash flow analysis reflects high-quality fixed income investments consistent with the maturity profile of the expected liability cash flows. Based on all available information, it was determined that 4.25% and 4.00% were the appropriate discount rates as of December 31, 2015 to calculate the Company’s pension and other postretirement obligations, respectively.

The Company determines the expected long-term rate of return assumption based on an analysis of actual compound rates of return earned over various historical time periods. The Company also considers the investment volatility, duration and total returns for various time periods related to the characteristics of the pension obligation, which are influenced by the Company's workforce demographics.In addition, the Company considers long-term market return expectations for an investment mix that generally anticipates 60% fixed income securities and 40% non fixed income securities (global equities, hedge funds and private market alternatives) to derive an expected long-term rate of return. Based upon these analyses, management determined the long-term rate of return assumption to be 6.90% and 7.10% for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. To determine the Company's 2016 expense, the Company is currently assuming an expected long-term rate of return on plan assets of 6.70%.

Weighted average assumptions used in calculating the Company's benefit obligations and the net amount recognized were as follows:



	Pension Benefits				Other Postretirement Benefits
	For the years ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Discount rate	4.25	%	4.00	%	4.00	%	3.75	%

Weighted average assumptions used in calculating the net periodic benefit cost for the Company’s pension plans were as follows:



	For the years ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Discount rate	4.00	%	4.75	%	4.00	%
Expected long-term rate of return on plan assets	6.90	%	7.10	%	7.10	%
Rate of increase in compensation levels	—	%	—	%	3.75	%

Weighted average assumptions used in calculating the net periodic benefit cost for the Company’s other postretirement plans were as follows:



	For the years ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Discount rate	3.75	%	4.25	%	3.50	%
Expected long-term rate of return on plan assets	6.90	%	7.10	%	7.10	%

Assumed health care cost trend rates were as follows:



	For the years ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013
Pre-65 health care cost trend rate	7.30	%	7.70	%	8.05	%
Post-65 health care cost trend rate	5.50	%	5.60	%	5.70	%
Rate to which the cost trend rate is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)	5.00	%	5.00	%	5.00	%
Year that the rate reaches the ultimate trend rate	2023		2023		2021

A one-percentage point change in assumed health care cost trend rates would have an insignificant effect on the amounts reported for other postretirement plans.

Obligations and Funded Status

The following tables set forth a reconciliation of beginning and ending balances of the benefit obligation and fair value of plan assets,

as well as the funded status of the Company's defined benefit pension and postretirement health care and life insurance benefit plans. International plans represent an immaterial percentage of total pension assets, liabilities and expense and, for reporting purposes, are combined with domestic plans.



	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits
	For the years ended December 31,
Change in Benefit Obligation	2015			2014			2015			2014
Benefit obligation — beginning of year	$	6,025		$	5,516		$	338		$	312
Service cost	2			2			—			—
Interest cost	235			258			12			14
Plan participants’ contributions	—			—			25			26
Actuarial loss (gain)	18			(8		)	—			38
Settlements	—			(319		)	—			—
Changes in assumptions	(236		)	846			(8		)	16
Benefits paid	(307		)	(268		)	(68		)	(70		)
Retiree drug subsidy	—			—			2			2
Foreign exchange adjustment	(3		)	(2		)	—			—
Benefit obligation — end of year	$	5,734		$	6,025		$	301		$	338

Settlements in 2014 were primarily the result of the Company's extension of a limited time voluntary lump sum offer to approximately 13,500 vested participants in the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan who had separated from service, but who had not yet commenced annuity benefits. The Company made lump sum benefit payments totaling $274 to approximately 5,600 vested participants. The Company also made lump sum payments of $45 to eligible cash balance participants independent of the voluntary lump sum offer.

Changes in assumptions in 2015 primarily included the effect of an increase in the discount rate. Changes in assumptions in 2014 included an increase of $279 related to the Company's use of updated mortality rates reflecting improved life expectancy and an increase of $567 related to a reduction in the discount rate.



	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits
	For the years ended December 31,
Change in Plan Assets	2015			2014			2015			2014
Fair value of plan assets — beginning of year	$	4,707		$	4,630		$	196		$	213
Actual return on plan assets	(72		)	565			2			16
Employer contributions	101			101			—			—
Benefits paid [1]	(282		)	(245		)	(36		)	(33		)
Expenses paid	(21		)	(24		)	—			—
Settlements	—			(319		)	—			—
Foreign exchange adjustment	(3		)	(1		)	—			—
Fair value of plan assets — end of year	$	4,430		$	4,707		$	162		$	196
Funded status — end of year	$	(1,304	)	$	(1,318	)	$	(139	)	$	(142	)


[1]	Other postretirement benefits paid represent non-key employee postretirement medical benefits paid from the Company's prefunded trust fund.

The fair value of assets for pension benefits, and hence the funded status, presented in the table above excludes assets of $127 and $129 as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, held in rabbi trusts and designated for the non-qualified pension plans. The assets do not qualify as plan assets; however, the assets are available to pay benefits for certain retired, terminated and active participants. Such assets are available to the Company’s general creditors in the event of insolvency. The rabbi trust assets consist of equity and fixed income investments. To the extent the fair value of these rabbi trusts were included in the table above, pension plan assets would have been $4,557 and $4,836 as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and the funded status of pension benefits would have been $(1,177) and $(1,189) as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The following table provides information for the Company's defined benefit pension plans with an accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets.



	As of December 31,
	2015		2014
Projected benefit obligation	$	5,734	$	6,025
Accumulated benefit obligation	5,732		6,024
Fair value of plan assets	4,430		4,707

As of December 31, 2015, pension and other postretirement benefits plan assets totaling $4.6 billion were invested in the separate accounts of HLIC.

Amounts recognized in the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:



	Pension Benefits				Other Postretirement Benefits
	As of December 31,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Other liabilities	$	1,304	$	1,318	$	139	$	142

Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost (Benefit) and Other Amounts Recognized in Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Net periodic benefit cost (benefit) includes the following components:



	Pension Benefits									Other Postretirement Benefits
	For the years ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013			2015			2014			2013
Service cost	$	2		$	2		$	1		$	—		$	—		$	—
Interest cost	235			258			238			12			14			11
Expected return on plan assets	(311		)	(325		)	(315		)	(12		)	(14		)	(14		)
Amortization of prior service credit	—			—			—			(7		)	(7		)	(7		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	60			45			59			5			5			2
Settlements	—			128			—			—			—			—
Net periodic benefit cost (benefit)	$	(14	)	$	108		$	(17	)	$	(2	)	$	(2	)	$	(8	)

Amounts recognized in other comprehensive income (loss) were as follows:



	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits
	For the years ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
Amortization of actuarial loss	$	60		$	45		$	5		$	5
Settlement loss	—			128			—			—
Amortization of prior service credit	—			—			(7		)	(7		)
Net loss arising during the year	(185		)	(622		)	(3		)	(51		)
Total	$	(125	)	$	(449	)	$	(5	)	$	(53	)

Amounts in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) on a before tax basis that have not yet been recognized as components of net periodic benefit cost consist of:



	Pension Benefits						Other Postretirement Benefits
	As of December 31,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
Net loss	$	(2,553	)	$	(2,428	)	$	(123	)	$	(124	)
Prior service credit	—			—			91			97
Total	$	(2,553	)	$	(2,428	)	$	(32	)	$	(27	)

The estimated net loss for the defined benefit pension plans that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) into net periodic benefit cost during 2016 is $55. The estimated prior service cost for the other postretirement benefit plans that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) into net periodic benefit cost during 2016 is $(7). The estimated net loss for the other postretirement plans that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net periodic benefit cost during 2016 is $5.

Plan Assets

Investment Strategy and Target Allocation

The overall investment strategy of the Plan is to maximize total investment returns to provide sufficient funding for present and anticipated future benefit obligations within the constraints of a prudent level of portfolio risk and diversification. With respect to asset management, the oversight responsibility of the Plan rests with The Hartford’s Pension Fund Trust and Investment Committee composed of individuals whose responsibilities include establishing overall objectives and the setting of investment policy; selecting appropriate investment options and ranges; reviewing the asset allocation mix and asset allocation targets on a regular basis; and monitoring performance to determine whether or not the rate of return objectives are being met and that policy and guidelines are being followed. The Company believes that the asset allocation decision will be the single most important factor determining the long-term performance of the Plan.

The Company’s pension plan and other postretirement benefit plans’ target allocation by asset category is presented in the table below.



	Target Asset Allocation
	Pension Plans				Other Postretirement Plans
	(minimum)		(maximum)		(minimum)		(maximum)
Equity securities	5	%	20	%	15	%	45	%
Fixed income securities	50	%	70	%	55	%	85	%
Alternative assets	10	%	45	%	—	%	—	%

Divergent market performance among different asset classes may, from time to time, cause the asset allocation to deviate from the desired asset allocation ranges. The asset allocation mix is reviewed on a periodic basis. If it is determined that an asset allocation mix rebalancing is required, future portfolio additions and withdrawals will be used, as necessary, to bring the allocation within tactical ranges.

The Company’s pension plan and other postretirement benefit plans’ weighted average asset allocation is presented in the table below.



	Pension Plans				Other Postretirement Plans
	Percentage of Assets				Percentage of Assets
	at Fair Value				at Fair Value
	As of December 31,
	2015		2014		2015		2014
Equity securities	20	%	21	%	25	%	25	%
Fixed income securities	66	%	62	%	75	%	75	%
Alternative assets	14	%	17	%	—	%	—	%
Total	100	%	100	%	100	%	100	%

The majority of the Plan assets are invested in separate accounts managed by HIMCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. The Plan invests in commingled funds and partnerships managed by unaffiliated managers for emerging markets, equity, hedge funds and other alternative investments. These portfolios encompass multiple asset classes reflecting the current needs of the Plan, the investment preferences and risk tolerance of the Plan and the desired degree of diversification. These asset classes include publicly traded equities, bonds and alternative investments and are made up of individual investments in cash and cash equivalents, equity securities, debt securities, asset-backed securities and hedge funds. Hedge fund investments represent a diversified portfolio of partnership investments in absolute-return investment strategies.

In addition, the Company uses U.S. Treasury bond futures contracts and U.S. Treasury STRIPS in a duration overlay program to adjust the duration of Plan assets to better match the duration of the benefit obligation.

Investment Valuation

For further discussion of the valuation of investments, see Note 4 - Fair Value Measurements of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Pension Plan Assets

The fair values of the Company’s pension plan assets by asset category are as follows:



	Pension Plan Assets at Fair Value as of December 31, 2015
Asset Category	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Short-term investments:	$	7	$	274	$	—	$	281
Fixed Income Securities:
Corporate	—		922		19		941
RMBS	—		242		24		266
U.S. Treasuries	16		1,029		3		1,048
Foreign government	—		49		5		54
CMBS	—		183		—		183
Other fixed income [1]	—		105		1		106
Mortgage Loans	—		—		54		54
Equity Securities:
Large-cap domestic	500		11		1		512
International	298		87		—		385
Other investments:
Hedge funds	—		566		54		620
Private Market Alternatives	—		—		20		20
Total pension plan assets at fair value [2]	$	821	$	3,468	$	181	$	4,470


[1]	Includes ABS, municipal bonds, and foreign bonds.


[2]	Excludes approximately $67 of investment payables net of investment receivables that are excluded from this disclosure requirement because they are trade receivables in the ordinary course of business where the carrying amount approximates fair value. Also excludes approximately $27 of interest receivable.

The fair values of the Company’s pension plan assets by asset category are as follows:



	Pension Plan Assets at Fair Value as of December 31, 2014
Asset Category	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Short-term investments:	$	56	$	252	$	—	$	308
Fixed Income Securities:
Corporate	—		919		34		953
RMBS	—		181		28		209
U.S. Treasuries	24		1,198		5		1,227
Foreign government	—		65		5		70
CMBS	—		156		—		156
Other fixed income [1]	—		93		4		97
Equity Securities:
Large-cap domestic	526		—		—		526
Mid-cap domestic	—		—		—		—
Small-cap domestic	—		—		—		—
International	435		3		—		438
Other investments:
Hedge funds	—		562		181		743
Total pension plan assets at fair value [2]	$	1,041	$	3,429	$	257	$	4,727


[1]	Includes ABS and municipal bonds.


[2]	Excludes approximately $42 of investment payables net of investment receivables that are excluded from this disclosure requirement because they are trade receivables in the ordinary course of business where the carrying amount approximates fair value. Also excludes approximately $22 of interest receivable.

The tables below provide fair value level 3 rollforwards for the Pension Plan Assets for which significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) are used in the fair value measurement on a recurring basis. The Plan classifies the fair value of financial instruments within Level 3 if there are no observable markets for the instruments or, in the absence of active markets, if one or more of the significant inputs used to determine fair value are based on the Plan’s own assumptions. Therefore, the gains and losses in the tables below include changes in fair value due to both observable and unobservable factors.



Pension Plan Asset Fair Value Measurements Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets	Corporate			RMBS			Foreign government			Mortgage loans		Other [1]			Hedge funds			Private Market Alternatives		Totals
Fair Value as of January 1, 2015	$	34		$	28		$	5		$	—	$	9		$	181		$	—	$	257
Realized gains (losses), net	—			—			—			—		—			—			—		—
Changes in unrealized gains (losses), net	(2		)	—			(1		)	—		(1		)	—			3		(1		)
Purchases	12			14			1			54		3			2			17		103
Settlements	—			(14		)	—			—		(3		)	—			—		(17		)
Sales	(11		)	(2		)	—			—		(1		)	(24		)	—		(38		)
Transfers into Level 3	—			4			—			—		1			—			—		5
Transfers out of Level 3	(14		)	(6		)	—			—		(3		)	(105		)	—		(128		)
Fair Value as of December 31, 2015	$	19		$	24		$	5		$	54	$	5		$	54		$	20	$	181


[1]	"Other" includes U.S. Treasuries, Other fixed income and Large-cap domestic equities investments.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, transfers into and (out) of Level 3 are primarily attributable to the appearance of or lack thereof of market observable information and the re-evaluation of the observability of pricing inputs.



Pension Plan Asset Fair Value Measurements Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets	Corporate			RMBS			Foreign government			Other fixed income			Hedge funds			Totals
Fair Value as of January 1, 2014	$	12		$	2		$	4		$	12		$	361		$	391
Realized gains (losses), net	—			—			—			—			4			4
Changes in unrealized gains (losses), net	—			7			1			(5		)	4			7
Purchases	12			3			2			6			219			242
Sales	(5		)	(1		)	(2		)	(2		)	(183		)	(193		)
Transfers into Level 3	20			17			—			7			—			44
Transfers out of Level 3	(5		)	—			—			(9		)	(224		)	(238		)
Fair Value as of December 31, 2014	$	34		$	28		$	5		$	9		$	181		$	257

During the year ended December 31, 2014, transfers in and/or (out) of Level 3 are primarily attributable to the availability of market observable information and the re-evaluation of the observability of pricing inputs.

There was no Company common stock included in the Plan’s assets as of December 31, 2015 and 2014.

The fair value of the Company’s other postretirement plan assets by asset category are as follows:



	Other Postretirement Plan Assets at Fair Value as of December 31, 2015
Asset Category	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Short-term investments	$	—	$	16	$	—	$	16
Fixed Income Securities:
Corporate	—		36		2		38
RMBS	—		27		3		30
U.S. Treasuries	—		23		—		23
Foreign government	—		2		—		2
CMBS	—		14		—		14
Other fixed income	—		7		—		7
Equity Securities:
Large-cap	41		—		—		41
Total other postretirement plan assets at fair value [1]	$	41	$	125	$	5	$	171


[1]	Excludes approximately $10 of investment payables net of investment receivables that are excluded from this disclosure requirement because they are trade receivables in the ordinary course of business where the carrying amount approximates fair value. Also excludes approximately $1 of interest receivable.

The fair value of the Company’s other postretirement plan assets by asset category are as follows:



	Other Postretirement Plan Assets at Fair Value as of December 31, 2014
Asset Category	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Short-term investments	$	8	$	5	$	—	$	13
Fixed Income Securities:
Corporate	—		41		3		44
RMBS	—		22		3		25
U.S. Treasuries	1		44		—		45
Foreign government	—		2		—		2
CMBS	—		15		—		15
Other fixed income	—		7		—		7
Equity Securities:
Large-cap	49		—		—		49
Total other postretirement plan assets at fair value [1]	$	58	$	136	$	6	$	200


[1]	Excludes approximately $5 of investment payables net of investment receivables that are not carried at fair value and approximately $1 of interest receivable carried at fair value.



Other Postretirement Plan Asset Fair Value Measurements Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets	Corporate			RMBS			Foreign Government		Other Fixed Income		Totals
Fair Value as of January 1, 2015	$	3		$	3		$	—	$	—	$	6
Changes in unrealized gains (losses), net	—			—			—		—		—
Purchases	1			1			—		—		2
Settlements	—			(1		)	—		—		(1		)
Sales	(1		)	—			—		—		(1		)
Transfers into Level 3	—			—			—		—		—
Transfers out of Level 3	(1		)	—			—		—		(1		)
Fair Value as of December 31, 2015	$	2		$	3		$	—	$	—	$	5



Other Postretirement Plan Asset Fair Value Measurements Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets	Corporate		RMBS		Foreign Government		Other Fixed Income		Totals
Fair Value as of January 1, 2014	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—
Realized gains (losses), net	—		—		—		—		—
Changes in unrealized gains (losses), net	—		—		—		—		—
Purchases	3		3		—		—		6
Sales	—		—		—		—		—
Transfers into Level 3	—		—		—		—		—
Transfers out of Level 3	—		—		—		—		—
Fair Value as of December 31, 2014	$	3	$	3	$	—	$	—	$	6

There was no Company common stock included in the other postretirement benefit plan assets as of December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Concentration of Risk

In order to minimize risk, the Plan maintains a listing of permissible and prohibited investments. In addition, the Plan has certain concentration limits and investment quality requirements imposed on permissible investment options. Permissible investments include U.S. equity, international equity, alternative asset and fixed income investments including derivative instruments. Derivative instruments include future contracts, options, swaps, currency forwards, caps or floors and will be used to control risk or enhance return but will not be used for leverage purposes.

Securities specifically prohibited from purchase include, but are not limited to: shares or fixed income instruments issued by The Hartford, short sales of any type within long-only portfolios, non-derivative securities involving the use of margin, leveraged floaters and inverse floaters, including money market obligations, natural resource real properties such as oil, gas or timber and precious metals.

Other than U.S. government and certain U.S. government agencies backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, the Plan does not have any material exposure to any concentration risk of a single issuer.

Cash Flows

The following table illustrates the Company’s contributions.



Employer Contributions	Pension Benefits		Other Postretirement Benefits
2015	$	101	$	—
2014	$	101	$	—

In 2015, the Company, at its discretion, made $100 in contributions to the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan. The Company does not have a 2016 required minimum funding contribution for the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan. The Company has not determined whether, and to what extent, contributions may be made to the U. S. qualified defined benefit pension plan in 2016. The Company will monitor the funded status of the U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plan during 2016 to make this determination.

Employer contributions in 2015 and 2014 were made in cash and did not include contributions of the Company’s common stock.

Benefit Payments

The following table sets forth amounts of benefits expected to be paid over the next ten years from the Company’s pension and other postretirement plans as of December 31, 2015:



	Pension Benefits		Other Postretirement Benefits
2016	$	327	$	40
2017	332		38
2018	338		35
2019	345		32
2020	346		29
2021 - 2025	1,738		113
Total	$	3,426	$	287

In addition, the following table sets forth amounts of other postretirement benefits expected to be received under the Medicare Part D Subsidy over the next ten years as of December 31, 2015:



2016	$	3
2017	3
2018	3
2019	3
2020	3
2021 - 2025	18
Total	$	33