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Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles, official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
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Judge Hints Bankruptcy Code Does Not Provide Preferred Status to Detroit Pension Funds
"The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy filing called the city's pension funds 'unsecured creditors' and stated that any special protections for them would violate federal bankruptcy law. The statement by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, in an exchange with an attorney representing Detroit's two pension funds, came in the closing session of a three-day hearing examining legal issues in the bankruptcy case."
(Reuters)
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Is Benchmarking Really the Answer to Determining the Reasonableness of Fees?
"[C]onsiderations when reviewing a benchmarking report: Sample sizes may be too small to produce useful comparisons and any benchmarking must be scrutinized with this potential weakness in mind. All benchmarking relies on old information that does not reflect current market conditions.... A benchmarking study provided by a current provider must be viewed very skeptically as it could incorporate biases that favor that provider. Benchmarking provided through an independent expert is really the only way to go."
(Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)
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New Bill Would Protect Federal Retirement Plan Participants from Predatory Lenders
"The Annuity Safety and Security Under Reasonable Enforcement -- or ASSURE -- Act ... would expand the 1968 Truth in Lending Act's disclosure provisions to cover lenders who issue loans on federal pensions.... The bill would increase transparency on any payment to a retiree that 'diminishes the benefit recipient's ability to control the payments from their federal or military pension in any way,' and would task the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with oversight authority."
(Government Executive)
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80 Is the New 60 (PDF)
"As people are living longer, the definition of 'old' is changing. Investors feel that for their parents' generation, 62 was the age when someone became old; this was also close to traditional retirement age. However, today, most people do not feel old until they are in their 80s.... Eighty-four percent of investors say retirement is not a sign of being old. If 80 is the new 60, and retirement [does not equal] old, then what does retirement look like going forward?"
(UBS Global Asset Management)
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Even a Monkey Would Struggle with a Decision to Defer
"401(k) concepts like auto escalation and stretch match are both ideas that feel less like an immediate give up, but both have the potential to provide a better retirement outcome over the long term. For an individual who typically gets a 3-4% annual raise, a 1-2% auto-escalation of a 401(k) contribution during next year's performance cycle could drive a much different result than trying to get that same individual to change his or her deferral percentage 1-2% right now."
(The Principal Blog)
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[Opinion]
New Study on the Benefits of DB Pensions
"Apart from pooling longevity risk and asset risk, the study shows DB pensions reduce the annual payout of [the Canadian government's Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)] by approximately $2-3 billion a year. The study also finds that defined benefit recipients contribute $14-$16 billion annually to government coffers across Canada through income, sales and property taxes. So I ask business groups warning of Canada's two-tier retirement system, where are you getting your facts? Do you really think we can't afford enhancing the [Canada Pension Plan] because it will crush public debt?"
(Pension Pulse)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Guidance Overview]
Q&As on the SEC's Proposed CEO Pay Ratio Rules
6 pages. "While it's unlikely (although possible) that companies will be required to disclose the CEO pay ratio before the 2016 proxy season, companies should begin to think about how they will comply, and should consider expressing their views and concerns about the proposed rules to the SEC during the formal comment period, which closes December 2." [Article includes answers to 15 questions about the proposed pay ratio requirements.]
(Towers Watson)
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[Opinion]
Four Reasons the SEC's New Ratio Test Will Not Decrease CEO Pay
"[1] This rule ... doesn't actually require companies to change anything about the compensation structure of their CEO and other executives.... All it requires is disclosure.... [2] The rule does not provide a specific methodology for companies to use in calculating a 'pay ratio' ... [3] [The disclosures] will provide CEOs with lower 'pay ratios' an additional piece of evidence to use to argue that they are underpaid relative to their peers.... [4] Executing these calculations, running these ratios, and putting together these disclosure reports ... will cost money and it will be a cost that will most likely be passed along to shareholders."
(The Huffington Post)
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Press Releases
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