Enthusiasm seems to be growing to reopen—or at least to stop closing and freezing—defined benefit retirement plans. The impetus comes from a more benign regulatory environment and the improved funded status of these plans, even before the recent rise in interest rates. Reopening plans allows employers to use surplus assets, which if reverted to the sponsor would be subject to a 50-percent excise tax in addition to the employer income tax. The most dramatic manifestation of this enthusiasm for reopening plans has been IBM’s announcement to shift its 401(k) match to an automatic contribution to the cash balance component of its previously frozen defined benefit plan.