Weyerhaeuser logo

Pension Investments

12
Average number of years with the company (North American employees as of March 2007)
12%
North American employees younger than 30 years (as of March 2007)
42
Average age of North American employees (as of March 2007)

The company continues to sponsor defined pension plans covering most of its employees to provide them with ongoing income after retirement. Both the U.S. and Canadian plans covering salaried employees provide pension benefits based on each employee's highest monthly earnings for five consecutive years during the final 10 years before retirement. Plans covering hourly employees generally provide benefits of stated amounts for each year of service. The benefit levels for these plans are typically set through collective bargaining agreements with the unions representing the employees participating in the plans. Retiree medical and life plans are also offered in both countries. These plans are typically not prefunded.

Financial Security

Due to the strength of the pension plans, Weyerhaeuser employees can look forward to receiving benefits from plans that are well funded, adding to their own financial security in retirement. Weyerhaeuser's pension plan assets perform in the top quartile when compared with other companies with pension plans greater than $1 billion. (Based on fourth quarter 2006 data from Russell Mellon Analytic Services. All rights reserved.) The 2006 year-end estimated fair value of our combined pension plans' assets was $6.2 billion compared with a $5.4 billion combined benefit obligation, as of the end of 2006, measured on the basis of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 158.

Over the period of 22 years during which we've pursued our current investment strategy, the U.S. fund has achieved a net compound annual return of 17.8 percent. We've achieved first-quartile performance in the U.S. pension trust by investing in a diversified mix of nontraditional strategies, including hedge funds, private equity, opportunistic real estate and other externally managed alternative investment funds. The Canadian pension trust has a similar investment strategy.

Company Contributions

Company contributions to U.S. pension plans are based on funding standards established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Contributions to Canadian pension plans are based on funding standards established by the applicable Provincial Pension Benefits Act and by the Income Tax Act.

We fund our qualified and registered pension plans and a portion of our nonregistered plans. The company accrues for nonqualified pension benefits and health and life postretirement benefits. We do not expect to have an obligation to fund our U.S. qualified pension plans in 2007, but we do expect to contribute approximately $8 million to our Canadian pension plans (registered and nonregistered) in 2007.

Weyerhaeuser has adopted the provisions of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 158, which requires that the funded status of pension and other postretirement benefit plans be presented on the balance sheet. For more information, see Page 72 of our 2006 Annual Report and Form 10-K at investor.weyerhaeuser.com.

Last updated Oct. 7, 2007.