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October 4, 2013          Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise
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Employee Benefits Jobs

Large Group Benefit Consultant
Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA

401k Recordingkeeping Specialist
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in NY

Sales Representative
FBMC Benefits Management, Inc.
in FL

Employee Benefits Account Manager
Johnson & Dugan
in CA

Director, ERISA Consulting
Goldleaf Partners
in MN

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Webcasts and Conferences

Retirement in 2050: Generation Y Planning
October 17, 2013 WEBCAST
(Center for State and Local Government Excellence)

M&A Transactions & Underfunded Benefit Plan Issues Explored
October 17, 2013 WEBCAST
(Knowledge Group)

RMD Intricacy
October 17, 2013 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Ethics Case Studies One
October 22, 2013 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Health Reform: Beyond the Basics of Plan Selection and Enrollment
October 25, 2013 WEBCAST
(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Affordable Care Act 101 Webinar
October 31, 2013 WEBCAST
(U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA))

7th Annual Opportunities in the DCIO Market Summit
January 14, 2014 in MA
(Financial Research Associates)

View All Webcasts and Conferences


  LinkedIn   Twitter   Facebook Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles,
official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.

Are These Recordkeeping Fees Unreasonable?
"[This] report benchmarks the [recordkeeping] fees paid by a retirement plan for the services rendered against other plans of similar size by plan assets or participant count using a proprietary, independent and objective database.... [T]his chart is especially relevant this week with the proposed settlement in the excessive fee case filed against International Paper. One of the allegations there was that the plan overpaid for recordkeeping by $58 million because it was paying $112 a head rather than $52." (FRA PlanTools, LLC)  


[Advert.]

DATAIR! More Choices -- Better Guidance -- Less Cost

Sponsored by DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

Documents, SPDs, Amendments, Administrative Forms
401(k)/Profit Sharing, 403(b), DB and Cash Balance Plans
(888) 328-2474    Sales@DATAIR.com    www.DATAIR.com



Seven Retirement Myths That Could Produce a 'Lost Generation' of Millennials
"[1] Retirement planning is just for older people.... [2] I don't have to worry about it since I was automatically enrolled in my retirement plan.... [3] I need to pay my student loans off first....[4] I need to save for more immediate priorities like an emergency fund, a home purchase, or going back to school before saving for retirement.... [5] Investing is too complicated.... [6] I only need $500k to retire.... [7] I'll never be able to save enough for retirement. (Forbes)  

Collective Investment Trusts Increasingly Appear in Investment Lineups
"Collective investment trusts (CITs) have been around for more than half a century, most notably in defined benefit (DB) plans and as a vehicle for stable value investments in defined contribution (DC) plans. Traditionally, these comparatively low-cost investments were available only to large plans. Now, with technological advances, regulatory reforms and other changes in the retirement plan investment landscape, some of these funds are growing, providers report, and not just in the large-plan market but at medium-sized and even small plans, as well." (PLANSPONSOR.com)  

Recreating Retirement Sustainability
"[The authors] provide an in-depth analysis of the 'black swans' threatening pension plans around the world. Longevity risk, capital market shocks, regulatory and political risk, and model risk all have profound consequences for pension plan participants, plan sponsors, regulators, and consultants. This [article] sketches various ways to manage and finance these risks, with a view to rebuilding a more resilient retirement system." (Pension Research Council, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; free registration required)  

Minimizing Defined Contribution Plan Loan Leakage (PDF)
"Employers who have a loan direct debit repayment option have 22% fewer defaults. Plan sponsors who allow only one outstanding loan have an average loan balance that is $1,600 less than the average loan balance among sponsors who have two loans available to participants.... The average outstanding balance of loans that charged a loan origination of $50 or less is over $4,600 more than the average outstanding balance of loans that charged $100 or more." (Aon Hewitt)  

New Russian Pension Reform Fuels Nationalization Fears
"Changes to the law will prevent private funds from collecting payroll contributions until they have changed their legal status and been vetted by the central bank, a process that is expected to take at least a year. The move has raised concerns among market participants about nationalization of pension savings -- often a tempting measure for cash-strapped governments looking to plug holes in over-stretched state pension systems." (Reuters)  

[Opinion]

Are Millennials Really the Lost Retirement Generation?
"Millennials face serious economic obstacles that their parents didn't experience: crippling student debt, lack of jobs, and the decline of defined-benefit plans taking place all over the world as companies race to de-risk pensions, shifting retirement risk entirely onto their employees.... The [Forbes article] quotes Erik Carter, a certified financial planner, who rightly notes Millennials aren't saving enough but fails to understand they can't save much because they're working at low paying jobs and paying off huge student loans. An even bigger problem with [this article] is that it fails to examine the failures of 401(k) plans to provide adequate retirement security and coverage." (Pension Pulse)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by ASPPA to IRS on Further Guidance for Retirement Plans after Windsor Decision
"Plan documents should not require interim amendments ... Plan distributions under pre-Windsor rules should be deemed compliant ... Pre-Windsor actuarial valuations should not be required to be revised ... Participant and spouse notifications should not be required ... No changes should be required to testing results for prior plan years." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA])  

[Opinion]

ACLI Statement to the House Small Business Committee's Hearing on 'The Challenge of Retirement Savings for Small Employers' (PDF)
"ACLI urges the Committee and Congress, first and foremost, to do no harm to the existing retirement system as it may be considered in the context of tax reform. Policy-makers should avoid disrupting a retirement savings system that helps millions of Americans s ave for retirement and instead focus on enhancing the system so that it reaches more Americans." (American Council of Life Insurers [ACLI])  

[Opinion]

This Week's Other Huge (But Little-Noticed) Fight: Wall Street's Newest Scheme
"When ... people seek expert guidance in rolling over their 401(k) accounts into other investment vehicles, many are unaware that financial professionals they consult are often acting as salesmen, operating under 'suitability' legal standards which too often allow these advisors to offer biased and self-interested advice. A clear 'fiduciary' standard would require these professionals to provide optimal guidance from the client's perspective. That's what the debate over measures such as [the Retail Investor Protection Act (H.R. 2374)] is really about." (Salon)  

[Opinion]

The Real Reasons America's Pensions Are Hurting
"The advantage of DB plans is that they spread investment risk across different cohorts. High-return cohorts subsidize the low-return ones. Everyone is protected from a poorer retirement by giving up the upside. If you adequately fund the plans it can be an efficient form of risk sharing. The recent revelation of why Detroit's plans ran into trouble is an example of how this can go wrong. When returns were very high retirees and workers were given bonus money. But this undermines the risk-sharing aspect of a DB plan. You can't have certainty and upside without paying for it." (Reuters)  

[Opinion]

BlackRock Is Taking a Second Shot at the 401(k) Market, This Time with a Whiter Hat
"BlackRock ... is planning to leverage its sheer might as the manager of nearly $4 trillion of assets and its unmatched experience in managing defined-benefit plans to eliminate much the sense of chaos that surrounds some 401(k) investing.... The idea is to give investors a solid income amount that they can count on upon retirement -- and a sense of a professional process that can bring about that result.... It resembles what some RIAs and advisors know as a financial plan integrated with an investment plan." (RIABiz)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by American Academy of Actuaries to PBGC on Premium Rates, Payment of Premiums, and Reducing Regulatory Burdens (PDF)
"[We] agree that eliminating the estimated filing removes an unnecessary task from plan sponsors with no material detriment to PBGC. We also agree that providing uniform due dates will eliminate confusion and help mitigate the possibility of errors. The PBGC rightly points out the difficulties that timing changes might cause to certain plans. However, the proposal creates new look-back rules that, in the view of the committee, provide a practical and workable way to address the issue." (Pension Committee, American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by American Academy of Actuaries to EBSA on Annual Funding Notice (PDF)
"[We] respectfully suggest that the [DOL] amend its interpretation of 'current plan year' to mean the year to which the [Annual Funding Notice (AFN)] relates. Further, we suggest that a material event's impact be disclosed using the same basis as the estimated year-end liabilities.... Alternatively, DOL should explicitly permit sponsors to disclose material events during the plan year to which the plan year relates by providing suggested language for such a disclosure. Such explicit permission would ease the concerns of plan sponsors who are reluctant to add any material to the AFN for fear of losing safe harbor protection." (Pension Committee, American Academy of Actuaries)  

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