Headlines about "Ret plans - design"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
America's Retirement Problem: Should We Ditch 401(k) Plans?
Video and transcript available on target page. Excerpt: "Over the past decades, defined-benefit plans have been replaced, for the most part, by defined-contribution plans like 401(k) plans. But the majority of Americans with access to 401(k) plans are not saving the maximum amount they can, and in may cases are not saving at all. Should the government play a greater - or different - role in getting Americans to save more for their retirement?" (Grace Creek Media and The George W. Bush Institute)

[Opinion] Public Sector Pensions: One of the Greatest Ponzi Schemes of all Times
Excerpt: "Public sector pension plans take a series of liberties that create an unrealistic financial scenario that can only be described as one of the greatest Ponzi schemes of all times. These include underestimating the raises that government workers may earn until they retire and overestimating the interest assumptions for funding. This collection of bogus assumptions is hidden away in 'off-the-balance-sheet' accounting practices . . . ." (The Free Enterprise Nation)

Top Vernon, California, City Attorneys Get Generous 'Public Safety' Pensions
Excerpt: "Vernon's top city attorneys, already among the highest-paid public employees in the state, have received an unusual pension deal under which they would get the same enhanced benefits as police officers and firefighters." (Los Angeles Times)

The Top Ten Major Misconceptions Plan Sponsors Have About Retirement Plans
2 pages. Excerpt: "[T]his list of major misconceptions about retirement plans is just a portion of the wrong advice that plan sponsors rely on, [but represents many misconceptions held by employers]." (The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. via JD Supra, LLC)

Avoid the Added Cost of Top-Heavy Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "A plan that tests as top heavy on the last day of the 2010 plan year will be subject to the top-heavy rules for the 2011 plan year." (KraftCPAs PLLC)

Problems With State-Local Final Pay Plans And Options for Reform
Excerpt: "[F]inal pay plans suffer from serious shortcomings: they (1) severely 'backload' benefits; (2) treat very differently workers on different career trajectories; and (3) invite mischief in terms of sudden late-career promotions. They are also riskier for workers than they appear... " (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

DOJ Sues Adviser Over Pension Plan Fraud
Excerpt: "According to the complaint, Alexander helps small-business owners adopt sham pension plans, falsely advising them that they can claim significant deductions for purported contributions to the plans in order to reduce or eliminate their federal income taxes. The complaint also alleges that Alexander fraudulently re-characterizes his customers??? non-deductible personal expenses as purported deductible pension-plan contributions." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)

University of California Retirement Funds Face a Shortfall of More Than $20 Billion, Report Says
Excerpt: "A panel recommends increasing contributions by employees, raising the retirement age for new hires and reducing some benefits." (Los Angeles Times)

[Opinion] Public Employee Pension Reforms Recipe for Disaster
Excerpt: "While many of the people, including the Daily News, calling for reform are acknowledging that private-sector workers have lost tremendous value on their retirement plans, incredibly they present that as a model for public-sector employees!" (Paul Weber in the Los Angeles Daily News)

Disparities in Automatic Enrollment Plan Availability
Excerpt: "Savings and thrift plans have become a popular retirement savings alternative to traditional pension plans; the inclusion of an automatic enrollment feature is gaining traction and is especially prevalent in certain worker and establishment groups." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

[Opinion] 10 Signs Your 401(k) Plan Is a Clunker
Excerpt: "High costs . . . . No investment advice . . . . Revenue-sharing and hidden mark-ups . . . . The plan adviser is not a 'real' fiduciary . . . ." (Daily Finance)

[Opinion] Only Thing Worse Than Not Telling 401(k) Participants How Much to Save Is Offering Reckless Target Date Funds
Excerpt: "[T]he biggest problem with target date funds is that they mislead 401(k) participants into thinking that the most important component of retirement adequacy is the investments you choose when it's the actually the size of the contribution to retirement savings relative to income along with the investment time horizon." (Jane White of Retirement Solutions)

[Opinion] Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future
Excerpt: "Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that's effectively the retirement account [guaranteed] to many government employees." (Arnold schwarzenegger via The Wall Street Journal)

[Opinion] Pension Time Bomb: The Shadow Hanging Over GM's Turnaround
Excerpt: "The net effect is that the pension time bomb is still ticking. If GM earns robust profits, . . . the bomb won't detonate. Otherwise -- well, in a worst-case scenario, GM winds up back in bankruptcy, with PBGC intervention both unavoidable and more expensive than it would have been last year. And that could necessitate a bailout from Congress, because of the PBGC's own deficits. " (The Washington Post; free registration required)

FASB Proposed Accounting Standards Update Re: DC Plan Loans (PDF)
16 pages. Comments due by September 7, 2010. (FASB via The SPARK Institute)

States Watching Minnesota Pension Lawsuit
Excerpt: "A legal battle in Minnesota next month will test the ability of states to change benefits of current retirees. The outcome could prompt other cash-strapped states to follow suit or grind a fleeting movement to a sharp halt." (Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity)

IRS Handout on Abusive Tax Avoidance Transactions and Emerging Issues Presentation (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "The [August 27, 2010 phone] Forum will focus on potential abusive schemes and new emerging issues including insurance funded plans, schemes involving defined benefit pension plans, S Corporation ESOP abuses, ROBS compliance issues, reversion and distribution schemes, management company promotions, abuses involving union plans and other issues of concern. IRS EP will also discuss strategies to proactively detect and deter abuse, including the use of Promoter Investigations." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

Caterpillar to Move Non-Union Workers to 401(k) Plan
Excerpt: "Caterpillar Inc. . . . will switch more than half its 50,000 U.S. employees to 401(k) accounts from defined benefit plans to save the company money." (Pensions & Investments; registration may be required)

[Guidance Overview] Technical Questions and Answers Regarding 403(b) Plans Information Sharing: Minimum and Comprehensive Data Elements, Updated August 25, 2010
Excerpt: "The SPARK Institute created a standing panel, made up of representatives from various member companies that played a significant role in developing the Data Elements. The SPARK Institute and the panel review questions that are submitted and develop answers which are posted . . . . Answers are made widely available in order to assist all organizations that are adhering to the Data Elements Best Practices and to the Remittance and Census Data Elements." (The SPARK Institute)

[Opinion] The Roth Plan is Wrong for Some People
Excerpt: "The proper way to evaluate Roth versus regular deferrals is to estimate the point at which the marginal tax rate at the time of the deferral is the same as the marginal rate on the distributions. In other words, you want to pay taxes at the lowest rate, comparing actual taxes at the time of deferral to estimated taxes at the time of distribution." (PLANSPONSOR.com via Reish & Reicher)

NAGDCA 2010 Survey of Defined Contribution Plans: Stable Value
Excerpt: "This report contains two sections. The National Summary provides a narrative overview of the key areas involved in administering governmental 457, 401(k), 401(a), and 403(b) plans. The survey also provides a pdf of the Overall Survey Results, which offers a look at the survey through charts and responses from all participating entities." (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators)

IRS Official Clarifies When Forfeitures Can Be Used as Plan QNECs
Excerpt: "Employers will no longer be permitted to use forfeitures, or nonvested amounts left in employee accounts, for correcting certain kinds of retirement plan qualification errors, an IRS official says. Forfeitures can be a source of qualified nonelective contributions for some corrections but not others . . . ." (Tax Management Inc.)

[Opinion] Letters to the Editor: Let Congress Fix the Multi-Employer Pensions It Broke
Excerpt: "Your editorial 'The Next Pension Bailout' (Aug. 16) ignores the real issue: equity and fairness for small employers. Sen. Robert Casey's bill is not a bailout, it simply addresses a problem Congress created." (The Wall Street Journal)

Schwab 401(k) Survey Says Automatic Features, Advice Continue to Gain Ground
Excerpt: "According to data collected from 401(k) plans serviced by Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. through the first half of 2010, nearly three-quarters (74%) of employers make 401(k) advice available to plan participants, as compared to 42% in 2005." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

How to Tell if You Have a Good 401(k) Plan
Excerpt: "A generous employer contribution and low-cost investment options coupled with the tax deferral will help your savings grow. Conversely, an expensive 401(k) plan with poor investment choices will make it more difficult to save for retirement. Here's how to tell if your company has a competitive 401(k) plan . . . ." (U.S. News & World Report)

PBGC Data Book Expands Coverage on Growing Multiemployer Liability
Excerpt: "The PBGC report notes that the multiemployer program has a smaller scope (it insures only 1,500 plans, about one-twentieth as many as the 27,600-plan single-employer program), and it covers only about one-third as many participants (10.4 million versus 33.6 million). However, insured multiemployer plans are about six times as large, on average, as insured single employer plans." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

Text of Pension Insurance Data Book 2009 (PDF)
120 pages. Excerpt: "The new edition features a detailed article on the smaller of the agency's two pension insurance programs, which provides financial assistance to insolvent multiemployer pension plans." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

[Official Guidance] Post April 30, 2010, Issues Impacting Adopting Employers Who Use IRS Pre-Approved Plan Documents
Excerpt: "This article is separated into two parts. Part I discusses the actions that need to be taken if an EGTRRA pre-approved DC restated plan document was not timely adopted by April 30, 2010. Part II addresses determination letter processing issues that apply to Form 5307/5300 determination letter applications made after April 30, 2010, in regard to pre-approved DC plans." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

[Opinion] Hardship Withdrawals from 401(k) Plans and Reduced Employer Contributions Indicative of Trend?
Excerpt: "These 401(k) withdrawals are a result of the increasing unemployment in the country as well as companies cutting back on 'overtime or overall hours' of their workers." (American Thinker)

Key Votes in 1996 and 2002 Boosted Top 20 Pensions for San Diego City Workers by 176 Percent
Excerpt: "The deals struck by labor leaders and city officials in 1996 and 2002 created a financial windfall for thousands of city workers, some of whom enjoy double or triple the pensions they would have under the previous program, according to an analysis of pension records by The Watchdog." (The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC)

Upper-Income Taxpayers Plan for Tax Hike
Excerpt: "It is hard to determine how many people are converting to Roth IRAs for this reason, however. While conversions are up this year, this was also the first year in which taxpayers earning more than $100,000 annually could take advantage of the Roth, so some people might have converted even without the threat of tax increases next year." (The Wall Street Journal)

In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Council Members Weigh in on DROP
Excerpt: "DROP has become one of the most contentious political issues in the city. This month, a report commissioned by Mayor Nutter said the program had cost the city an extra $258 million in pension expenses over the last 10 years." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

CalPERS Committee Approves Policy Change to Lower Pension Costs
Excerpt: "A key committee of the California Public Employees' Retirement System [has approved a] recommendation that would change the pension fund's policies to immediately recognize benefit changes. A CalPERS news release said the shift in policy, requested by the employer and some unions, could save the State's General Fund budget up to $500 million this fiscal year if the Governor and Legislature enact higher contributions for existing members and new hires." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

DC Plans Shouldn't Classify Participant Loans As Investments, According to FASB
Excerpt: "According to the proposal, 'If a participant were to default, the participant's account would be reduced by the unpaid balance of the loan, and there would be no effect on the plan's investment returns or any other participant's account balance.'" (Pensions & Investments; registration may be required)

Colorado Pension Program on Way to Recovery After Landmark Legislation, According to Auditors
Excerpt: "Colorado's pension fund is back on track toward solvency after state lawmakers became the first in the nation to cut retiree benefits to prevent its pension system from going broke, auditors said Monday." (Huffington Post, Inc.)

Issue Brochure: Evolution of the Government Deferred Compensation Plan Market (PDF)
4 pages. (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators)

Supporters of Reforming California Public Pensions Say Bill Would Not Be Effective
Excerpt: "Pension reform advocates said that amendments added to the bill have weakened the bill's overall purpose. The amendments, which are supported by unions, would allow negotiations on issues such as education incentives and shift changes to determine a final pay figure." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Bills to Require Automatic Employer-Provided IRAs Proposed in House and Senate
Excerpt: "Both bills would provide incentives for the establishment of qualified retirement plans. These would include increasing the maximum start up credit for qualified plans from $500 to $1,000 (which would be available for the first three years, instead of only the $250 credit available for first two years for providing the Automatic IRAs)." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

Colorado PERA Cutbacks Bolstering Plan's Finances
Excerpt: "A move by Colorado's state pension fund to cut retiree benefits to avoid going broke has apparently returned the system on a path toward solvency, according to a new audit." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Guidance Overview] The Impact of Mergers, Acquisitions and Dispositions on Your Retirement Plan
20 pages. Excerpt: "A slight variation in details surrounding a purchase or sale transaction may present different legal and regulatory issues for your retirement plan(s). Use this white paper to guide and enhance discussions about your retirement plan(s)." (The Principal Financial Group)

Auto-IRA Legislation Introduced in Both Houses of Congress
Excerpt: "The bills set the stage for serious work on the proposals in the next Congress. Auto-IRAs are a key plank in the Obama administration's retirement policy agenda, and the bills may draw support from Republicans who have backed prior auto-IRA bills." (Mercer)

What the Experts Are Doing With Their Own Roth IRAs
Excerpt: "Three [experts] say they have either made Roth conversions or plan to do so soon, and the fourth says he will do so if the market tanks. Thus, all believe their own tax rates will be the same or higher in the future, and they aren't worried that Congress will curtail Roth benefits enough to make them rue the move. In addition, all say they will use non-IRA funds to pay any conversion taxes." (The Wall Street Journal)

Public Pensions and Its Retirees
Excerpt: "Illinois is hardly the only state to put retirees' teeth on edge. Pew found that as of fiscal 2009, only 4 states had pensions that were 'fully funded,' with enough money on hand to pay future benefits. Many states are legally barred from reducing payments to current retirees, but some are breaking that mold." (SmartMoney)

America's Most Generous Public Pension
Excerpt: "[One of the most generous defined-benefits public-employee pension plans in the country is from] a branch of the federal government that lets you retire after 20 years on the job, even if you're under age 40, and guarantees immediate benefits of 50% of your final salary for the rest of your life. That branch is the military." (The Economist)

[Opinion] Read This If Considering Moving to a Prototype Plan
Excerpt: "When prototype plans are used with proper legal oversight, they may be adequate for simple plans. But, often they are unable to accommodate more complex plans because legal limits apply to the changes that can be made to them. These documents also present increased compliance risks that don't arise with documents drafted by a plan's attorney, such as volume submitter or individually-designed retirement plans." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

[Guidance Overview] Take Care When Calculating Pensions
Excerpt: "In Bloemker v. Laborers' Local 265 Pension Fund, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which covers Michigan and several other Midwest states, recently ruled that 'equitable estoppel' claims may now be made against a pension benefit plan. So what is equitable estoppel? Essentially, equitable estoppel allows a court to bind a party to its intentional misrepresentations when another party unknowingly relies on those misrepresentations and is injured by that reliance." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

[Guidance Overview] Equitable Reformation of Plan Permitted As ? 502(a)(3) Relief
Excerpt: "In the typical ERISA case, the scope of relief under ? 502(a)(3) poses a challenge for plan claimants. In Young v. Verizon, however, the plan sought relief under (a)(3) to avoid paying benefits according to a benefit formula that it contended contained an error." (Roy Harmon via Health Plan Law)

California State Worker Contracts Modifying Pension Benefits Get Assembly OK
Excerpt: "The Assembly voted 61-4 Thursday to ratify contracts with three state employee bargaining units that include some modifications to pension benefits ? agreements that the Schwarzenegger administration worked out with the affected unions." (The Sacramento Bee)

[Opinion] California Governor Calls for a State Budget That Cuts Spending and Does Not Raise Taxes
Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California. Excerpt: "We must also reform California's pension system for government employees, whose costs to taxpayers for just one of our major pension funds have skyrocketed from $150 million a year a decade ago to almost $4 billion this year. Private-sector workers already struggle to pay for their own retirement. Now they are being forced to pay more and more for the government workers' retirement, at the very time their own retirement accounts have declined. What is worse, in five years those pension costs will grow to well over $10 billion per year, and keep growing from there." (Los Angeles Times)

San Francisco Labor Unions Sue to Stop Pension Ballot Measure
Excerpt: "San Francisco's largest city labor unions have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to strip a measure from the November ballot that calls for city employees pay more into the retirement system and to pick up more of the health care costs for their dependents." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

Can the Illinois Public Pension Catastrophe Be Stopped?
Excerpt: "Public pension systems in Illinois have long served as vehicles for the government to borrow money out of the view of taxpayers. In place of even higher public employee salaries, politicians have made unfunded pension promises extending far beyond their own terms in office. These debts are coming due, placing a massive burden on state and local budgets." (Chicago Tribune)

Can the Illinois Public Pension Catastrophe Be Stopped?
Excerpt: "Public pension systems in Illinois have long served as vehicles for the government to borrow money out of the view of taxpayers. In place of even higher public employee salaries, politicians have made unfunded pension promises extending far beyond their own terms in office. These debts are coming due, placing a massive burden on state and local budgets." (Chicago Tribune)

New Pension Rules May Depend on Where You Work, When You Started Work and If You Were Elected
Excerpt: "In a handful of states, employees will increase their personal contributions to the plan, or begin contributing for the first time." (Governing)

[Guidance Overview] Options for Obtaining a Determination Letter for Your Prototype Plan
Excerpt: "Sponsors of prototype plans had their profit sharing and 401(k) plan documents approved by the IRS and received Opinion Letters from the IRS on or before April 30, 2008. Employers can rely upon the Opinion Letters and do not need to obtain individual determination letters." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)

The U.S. Retirement Market, First Quarter 2010 (PDF)
33 pages. Excerpt: "A separate report . . . shows that between December 2009 and March 2010, retirement assets rose 2.6 percent, from $16.1 trillion to $16.5 trillion. The report includes assets held in private-sector defined benefit (DB) plans, government pension plans, DC plans -- including 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans -- annuities, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs)." (Investment Company Institute)

Philadelphia, PA, Public Workers Rush to Get DROP Pension While They Can
Excerpt: "The Deferred Retirement Option Program allows employees eligible for retirement to pick a retirement date four years in the future. That decision freezes the employee's pension benefit and prompts the city to start putting the person's pension payment aside in an account with a 4.5 percent yearly interest rate." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Majority of ESOP Sponsors Offer Additional Retirement Plan
Excerpt: "Approximately 90% of ESOP Association members surveyed reported having retirement savings plans in addition to the ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) including 401(k) plans, pension plans, stock purchase plans, and stock options." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Opinion] Corporate Pension Bomb Set to Explode: Earnings to Take a Big Hit As Firms Are Forced to Top Off Unfunded Pension Plans
Excerpt: "Among companies with obligations to pay defined benefit pensions, the big risk has always been the discount rate, which is the interest rate used to determine the present value of a pension fund's future liabilities." (Forbes.com)

Ohio Public Pension Systems' Refusal to Disclose Records Draws Attention of State Lawmakers
Excerpt: "Two state lawmakers want to open up state retirement records to public scrutiny after The Plain Dealer and seven other Ohio newspapers were denied access to the information." (Cleveland Live, Inc.)

[Opinion] DC Limits and Profit Sharing
Excerpt: "Since most DC plans now include a 401(k) feature and over 80% of these include matching contributions, we need to preserve the current Section 415 annual additions limit of $49,000 if profit sharing and other non-elective contributions of any significance are to continue." (Profit Sharing / 401k Council of America)

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