Headlines about "Ret plans - cash balance, hybrid"
Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Louisiana Governor Proposes Pension Overhaul
"[T]he governor unveiled a detailed plan he says would both ease taxpayer burden and ensure that workers will receive promised benefits . . . . Jindal said the state's unfunded accrued liability has tripled to $18.5 billion over the past two decades, three times the current total payroll. For new hires, Jindal proposed a switch from a defined benefit plan to a cash-balance plan." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)
State Defined Contribution and Hybrid Retirement Plans
"This report lists state governments' defined contribution retirement plans designed as primary coverage for a group or class of state employees or state teachers: that is, it includes plans that eligible employees are required to join, or that are one of two or three alternative plans that employees choose among. Some states provide hybrid plans, in which employees are covered by both a defined benefit and a defined contribution plan. Hybrid is a generic, not a specific, term, and what are called hybrid plans in state government differ substantially." (National Conference of State Legislatures)
[Opinion] Explaining Plan Changes: Lessons from the Supreme Court in CIGNA v. Amara (PDF)
The lessons go beyond cash balance plan conversions and may apply to changes plan sponsors make in reaction to the health reform law. (Employee Relations Law Journal via Steptoe & Johnson LLP)
[Opinion] ASPPA/ACOPA Comments on Proposed Rule Relating to Benefit Determinations and Plan Valuations for Statutory Hybrid Plans
"ASPPA and ACOPA recommend that proposed regulations regarding ?4022 be temporary, effective only for plan terminations occurring before the effective date of final Treasury regulations regarding market rate of return. PBGC should re-propose these rules in a manner that is consistent with the final Treasury regulations after the final market rate of return regulations are issued." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries/ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries)
How to Determine If a Cash Balance Pension Plan Is Right for Your Company
"'If they have not maxed out their 401(k) plan, we recommend that they do so prior to establishing the cash balance pension plan. In combination, these two plans can enable the organization to cost effectively meet a variety of goals relative to the principles of the practice.'" (Smart Business Network Inc.)
Enrolled Actuaries Report, Winter 2011 (PDF)
Articles include: Research Projects Private Pension Funding Costs; Is 411(d)(6) Dead? and, Recent Developments for Hybrid Plans. (American Academy of Actuaries)
[Guidance Overview] PBGC's Proposed Regs on Benefit Determinations for Terminating Statutory Hybrid Plans (PDF)
"The PBGC proposed regulations provide certainty for terminating statutory hybrid plans and allow these plans to coordinate their calculations with those the PBGC will use." (Buck Consultants, LLC)
[Guidance Overview] Longer Wearaway Periods for Older Workers in Pre-PPA Cash Balance Plan Did Not Violate ADEA
"The ADEA is satisfied as long as an employer treats older and younger workers equally with respect to credits to their cash balance accounts, even if such treatment results in longer wearaways for older workers. In other words, to demonstrate age discrimination, workers must show that plan inputs --in this case, the pay and interest credits --are discriminatory, rather than pointing to disparate outputs such as the longer wearaway period." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)
Cash Balance Plan -- Technically a Defined Benefit System, but Looks and Feels Like a 401(k)
"The plans get special treatment from the Internal Revenue Service. Participants who are aged 50 or more can make a six-figure maximum contribution, far more than what's allowable to a 401(k)." (Sun-Times Media, LLC via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
State Hybrid Retirement Plans (PDF)
"This brief examines two types of hybrid plans in use in the public sector. The first is a cash balance plan, which marries elements of traditional pensions and individual accounts into a single plan . . . . The second combines a smaller traditional defined benefit (DB) pension with an individual defined contribution (DC) retirement savings account, referred to in this brief as a 'DB+DC plan' . . . ." (National Association of State Retirement Administrators)
SunTrust Banks Freezes Pension Plan and Enhances 401(k) Plan
"Participants in SunTrust's cash balance plan, which the Atlanta-based bank set up in 2008, will stop earning pay-related credits after Dec. 31 . . . . In addition, benefit accruals for long-service employees who opted to remain in SunTrust's traditional final average pay plan at the time of the cash balance plan conversion also will stop at end of this year." (Business Insurance)
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