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22 Matching News Items

1.  Strategies to Reduce Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plan Costs (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
May 27, 2014
"Borrowing money to fund an underfunded pension plan may make economic sense when considering the additional cost of rising PBGC variable rate premiums ... potential tax efficiencies, and reduced annual pension expense and pension liability for organizations required to comply with ASC 715 accounting standards.... [L]ump sum cashouts not only save PBGC fixed rate premiums and other administrative costs but also 'downsize' the plan, hence reducing future pension cost volatility."
2.  Nondiscrimination Testing Changes for Pension Plans (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Mar. 9, 2016
"The proposed changes provide testing relief for frozen plans.... [T]he proposed changes may allow some sponsors who rely on testing their DB and DC plans together to lower DC plan contributions to non-highly compensated employees (NHCEs).... [W]hile current regulations allow providing higher benefits to HCEs if certain nondiscrimination tests are met, the proposed changes may limit this ability in some circumstances."
3.  The Dreaded Census Questionnaire: Fidelity Bond Requirements (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Feb. 11, 2016
"ERISA fidelity bond coverage is necessary protection for your employee benefit plan. Inadequate fidelity bond coverage, as listed on the annual Form 5500, could trigger a DOL audit. Your TPA is requesting this information ensure that your Plan's fidelity bond meets the bond amount requirements and that all plan officials requiring coverage are properly bonded."
4.  The Effects of Automatic Enrollment: A Comprehensive View (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Mar. 11, 2015
"When evaluating how automatic features will impact the Plan, use a holistic approach. If the goal of automatic enrollment is to increase participation and savings, ensure that the benefits of automatic enrollment are not being diminished by a decreased match or lower average deferral rate. When considering auto-enrollment, take into account how it will impact the goals you are trying to achieve and how it will affect the rest of the plan."
5.  Actively vs. Passively Managed Funds (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Sept. 10, 2014
"While the opportunity for outperformance of actively managed funds is appealing, the argument against actively managed funds is that management fees and transaction costs cut into the investor's profit.... The argument against passively managed funds is that in market downturns, the passively managed funds follow the overall market, missing the opportunity to customize investments for the specific market environment.... The best option ... may be to mix active and passive investments, benefiting from the advantages of both fund styles."
6.  Worker Retirement Confidence Waning (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Apr. 11, 2017
"Conducted in January, the survey polled 1,671 workers and retirees to judge their confidence in their ability to retire comfortably. Even with the stock market soaring to record highs and the economy showing signs of strength, the percentage of workers saying they are 'Very or Somewhat Confident' in their retirement prospects fell to only 60% from last year's 64%."
7.  Millennial Wealth Accumulation: A Plan Sponsor's Guide (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Mar. 5, 2017
"Members of this generation are less likely to have a pension than previous generations ... The Millennials who are investing to save for retirement may structure their portfolio too conservatively to minimize loss, but this also curtails potential gains in the process.... Millennials have two specific things working in their favor with regard to saving in your sponsored retirement plan, a long time horizon and the magic of compound interest."
8.  Self-Dealing Suits: The Latest Trend in Fee Litigation (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Feb. 9, 2017
"What can Plan Sponsors learn from these latest lawsuits? ... Review your investment offerings and processes to identify shortcomings. Consider the following: Are processes for investment selection and review prudent and recorded? Is the fund lineup properly diversified among asset classes and sizes? Are fees reasonable? Do the funds have strong long-term performance?"
9.  IRS Proposes New Mortality Rates (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Jan. 12, 2017
"The proposed regulations would increase funding requirements and PBGC premiums beginning in 2018 for single-employer plans. In addition, the regulations would likely result in higher single sum distributions which primarily impact plans with lump sum distribution options. The direct impact on multiemployer and governmental pension plans is minimal; however, the new mortality rates will put additional pressure on these plan sponsors to ensure the mortality rates used for funding and accounting purposes are best estimate assumptions."
10.  Time to Offer a Lump Sum Distribution Window in Your Corporate Pension Plan? (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
June 9, 2016
"For all but very well-funded plans, the variable rate premium is the largest portion of the total premium and, based on the same level of unfunded liability, is projected to increase over 80% from 2015 to 2019. However, there is a variable rate per participant premium cap that is based on the headcount of the plan.... [L]owering the headcount, such as through lump sum windows, would lower both the variable rate premium and the per participant premium[.]"
11.  Retirement Plan Fees Are Falling ... Right? (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
May 12, 2016
"In comparing the cost data from 2015 to the previous year ... the net investment expense decreased ... [T]his is most likely due to consumer demand for lower cost funds.... Another common trend ... is increasing revenue sharing expenses. Except in the scenarios with more than 1,000 participants and $50,000 average account balances, revenue sharing expense increased ... For the small plan scenarios with fewer than 25 participants and $250,000 or less in total assets, revenue sharing expense increased more than 0.10% of plan assets, on average."
12.  Permissible Normal Retirement Ages: Proposed Regs for Governmental Pension Plans (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Feb. 28, 2016
"For plans that do not allow in-service distributions prior to age 62, it appears that they would not need to comply with the reasonably representative requirement and therefore would not need to be concerned with meeting any of the safe harbors. Even though it may be unnecessary to consider any changes to the Normal Retirement Age from a legal perspective ... this would be a time to review the Normal Retirement Age to ensure that it appropriately balances the needs of the plan sponsor, employees, and taxpayers."
13.  To Roth, or Not to Roth? (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Jan. 14, 2016
"Many alleged mathematical analyses have been published ... which incorrectly claim Roth 401(k)s to be superior. It's easy to see why we were fooled. In 20 years the Roth accumulates to an amount over 10% higher than the traditional.... This analysis is flawed because the creators erroneously assume that the two options have equal financial outlays. They do not! ... Because the Roth starts with almost 10% more value, voila it ends up that way."
14.  2016 IRS Priorities and Top Audit Triggers (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Dec. 17, 2015
"The agency ... will allocate higher grade resources to Plan types which display a historical pattern of increased non-compliance [including]: ... [1] Plans with more than 2,500 participants. They pose the greatest risk to the largest number of people. 60% of all Plan Participants and 70% of all Plan assets are in these large Plans. [2] Multiemployer Plans ... [3] IRC 403(b) Plans."
15.  Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 Affects DB Plans in Several Ways (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Nov. 13, 2015
"In [one] illustration, premiums would increase slightly even though the plan becomes significantly better funded over the period.... Planning ahead for these premium increases is crucial for plan sponsors. Sponsors must consider ways to reduce these costs including additional pension funding and consideration of annuity or lump sum buyouts. However, annuity and lump sum buyouts, which reduce PBGC per participant premiums but not variable premiums, are still costly given the continued low level of interest rates."
16.  The Dreaded Census Questionnaire, Part One: Employee Information (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Oct. 9, 2015
"The census questionnaire concerns both current and terminated employees, participating or not, who received a Form W-2 for the year. Typical requests include an entire database of information ... How can information about employees that aren't even participating in your Plan and people that are no longer employed by your firm be necessary to Plan compliance?"
17.  Correcting 403(b) Plan Mistakes: Salary Deferral Opportunity Not Offered to All Eligible Employees (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Mar. 11, 2015
"If a participant should have been excluded based on written provisions, the excluded participant group may need to be included based on the Universal Availability Rule. Errors regarding Universal Availability may be corrected without sanction using the Self-Correction program as long as sufficient compliance procedures are in place and the error is considered insignificant to the Plan as a whole."
18.  Motivating Millennials to Save for Retirement (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Jan. 6, 2015
"If Plan Sponsors want Millennials to get serious about saving for their future, retirement education must be conveyed in a format Millennials relate to and are comfortable with.... Give them access to technology that will depict the amount of savings they will need at retirement.... Participants should be given the tools they need to assess their risk tolerance and build an investment strategy that they are both comfortable with and confident will produce the savings needed over the long term."
19.  Results of the IRS 401(k) Compliance Check (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
Aug. 13, 2014
"In 2010, 1200 401(k) Plans were randomly selected to complete a compliance check questionnaire instituted by the IRS to ensure proper operation of this popular plan type. Are more reviews to come? ... The Roth 401(k) Compliance Project is among more than 20 projects approved by the [Employee Plans Compliance Unit] Project Selection Committee. While approval does not mean that the project will start immediately, the Roth 401(k) Project is a likely successor to the 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire."
20.  Fiduciary Best Practices: Investment Diversification for Self-Directed Accounts (PDF)
Ekon Benefits Link to more items from this source
June 5, 2014
"Fiduciaries have the responsibility to provide participants with an adequate fund line-up in order to allow participants to diversify their retirement savings.... Because of the law of diminishing returns, 15-20 funds are adequate for proper diversification. Additionally, 7 asset classes may allow for the best diversification opportunity along with a real estate investment component. Further more, the number, style, and size of funds should be organized so that investors would still be diversified if they evenly divide their capital."
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