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March 14 - 17, 2003 - 13,088 subscribers
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Schwab to End Match to Employees' 401(k) Plans (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Excerpt: "[T]he Charles Schwab Corporation, which is struggling through the worst slump in its history, [on March 13] became the latest company to tell employees that it would stop making matching contributions to their retirement plans. The decision follows extensive layoffs at Schwab and is a painful cost-cutting move for its chairman, Charles R. Schwab, who has been a champion of the 401(k) plan, a retirement instrument that has been replacing traditional pensions for more than a decade."
Social Security Loophole Debated (Washington Post)
Excerpt: "Thousands of retiring Texas teachers in recent years have done a curious thing on their last day of work: served as janitors, cafeteria employees or other blue-collar workers. The one-day service qualified them for thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits they otherwise would forego."
The Teachers' Side of the Social Security Loophole Story (Alliance AFT)
Excerpt: "The vast majority of Texas school employees are potential victims of this 'blunt instrument' -- as the Congressional Budget Office has described the offset provision. Its harsh effect is felt disproportionately by a specific group: lower-income women."
Blueprint Emerges for New Pension Plan for Oregon State Workers (The [Portland] Oregonian)
Excerpt: "Public employee and government negotiators offered a first glimpse Thursday of what a new pension plan for Oregon workers might look like. The eight negotiators, who began meeting last week, told a House committee that they've reached general agreement on 18 issues for reforming the state's Public Employees Retirement System."
How Oddball Guru Louis Kelso Brought Capitalism To the Masses via ESOPs (The Boston Globe)
Excerpt: "When United Airlines declared bankruptcy last December, the finger-pointing began. The pilots blamed the mechanics. The mechanics blamed greedy executives. And everyone, it seemed, pointed to the failure of United's Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which in 1994 made the airline one of the largest employee-owned businesses in the world. But no one, so far, has blamed Louis O. Kelso."
Updated Retirement Legislative Tracking Chart from Towers Perrin (Towers Perrin)
Updated March 7, 2003.
ERIC Submits Additional Comments on Cash Balance/Age Discrimination Proposed Regs (PDF) (ERISA Industry Committee)
6 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed regulations raise profound issues with enormous economic consequences. The issues raised by the proposed regulations involve nothing less than the future of defined benefit retirement plans in the United States, the financial stability of many of the largest defined benefit retirement plans in the nation and their sponsoring employers, and the ability of the U.S. economy to recover from the current downturn."
2003 Wilshire Report on State Retirement Systems: Funding Levels and Asset Allocation (PDF) (Wilshire Associates, Inc.)
Excerpt: "The ratio of pension assets-to-liabilities, or funding ratio, for all state pension plans combined declined from 106% in 2001 to 91% in 2002.... Our findings of asset shortfall for state pension plans are similar to corporate pension plans."
Analysis: DOL and SEC Adopt Final Rules on Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions (PDF) (CIGNA's Pension Analyst)
Excerpt: "On January 24, 2003, the DOL published final rules regarding the blackout period notices required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA). The final rules are similar to the interim rules issued in October, but contain a few important amendments.... In addition, on January 22, 2003, the SEC adopted final rules regarding insider trading restrictions."
Who Needs To Be a Millionaire? You, If You Want To Retire (Retirement Solutions Foundation)
Excerpt: "To hear the media tell it, the biggest threat to the nation's nest eggs is either corporate chicanery or the current stock market slump. But if you do the math, you realize that even during the market's 1995-99 bull run, the nation's nest egg was woefully inadequate."
Trend is for Retirement Plan Calculators to Use Monte Carlo Simulation (BenefitNews.com)
Excerpt: "For 401(k) advice, Monte Carlo randomly generates hundreds or thousands of possible values for key variables such as investment returns, inflation and interest rates. A statistical trend emerges to represent a range of probable investment outcomes, based on a participant's investments, contribution rate and desired retirement age."
American Benefits Council Submits Comments on Proposed Cash Balance/Age Discrimination Regs (PDF) (American Benefits Council)
17 pages. Excerpt: "We believe that the main thrust of the Proposed Regulations is very positive because the Proposed Regulations reconfirm that cash balance plans are legitimate defined benefit plans and are not age discriminatory.... The main problems with the Proposed Regulations are attributable to the adoption of an overly mechanical general test for determining whether a plan is age discriminatory."
Analysis: Minimum Gateway and Safe Harbor Minimum Contribution Requirements (SunGard Corbel)
Excerpt: "Recently, we have received a number of questions regarding whether a safe harbor 401(k) plan that provides for immediate or early eligibility must provide a safe harbor 401(k) contribution to an employee that has not completed one year of service and who has not attained one year of service (standard eligibility conditions)."
Congress Finds Hidden Fees for Mutual Funds (AP via the St. Petersburg Times)
Excerpt: "Fees paid by investors in mutual funds are rising despite intense competition in the $6-trillion industry, and some fees are hidden so that it's difficult to compare funds, a key House lawmaker said Wednesday."
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Stock Option Vote by FASB Nears (USA Today via Yahoo! News)
Excerpt: "It's crunch time in the quiet, tree-lined suburb of Norwalk, Connecticut, where the brightest minds in accounting rulemaking are on the threshold of reopening a political battle on stock options. Far from the loud debate on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting rules in the U.S., will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to add stock options to its agenda."
Investors Hit FASB with Questions About Stock Options (Reuters)
Excerpt: "[R]etail investors are bombarding the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) with letters and e-mails on the contentious issue of stock option expensing."
The Other War Over Stock Options: How Many to Allow (The [San Jose, Calif.] Mercury News)
Excerpt: "The fundamental issue ... is just how much dilution, or new options, investors are willing to swallow-- and how much clout they're willing to exercise. A quick primer here: Savvy investors have always known there was a real cost to options, primarily because they create more shares and thus depress cash flow per share."
Tax Expenditures and Employee Benefits: An Update From the FY 2004 Budget (PDF) (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The following is a listing of the employee benefits tax expenditures, as published in President Bush's Fiscal Year 2004 budget, prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, using a methodology that is flawed but mandated by Congress."
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Consultant
for Kraft CPAs
in TN
Senior Benefits Analyst
for Colgate-Palmolive
in NY
DC/401(k) Administrator
for BMI
in MO
DB/HW Implementation Consultant
for Northern NJ Consulting Firm
in NJ
Compliance Analyst
for Transamerica-The Winning Organization
in CA
401K Enroller/ Field Service Representative
for RSM McGladrey, Inc.
in IL
Vice President, National Sales - Self Funded Products
for Corporate Benefit Services of America, Inc. - Third Party Administrator
in ALL STATES
Administrative Assistant / Office Assistant
for Benefits Integrity
in CO
Retirement Plan Senior Consultant
for One of New England's leading professional services firms
in MA
Extraordinary & Fun Defined Benefit Consulting Opportunities in So. Calif.
for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc.
in CA
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Romanow and Kirby Reports
on March 20, 2003
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Executive Compensation - Strategizing in a Changing Environment
on March 27, 2003
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Benefits Forum
in IL
June 12, 2003
Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Most High-Tech Companies Provide Alternative Work Schedules
(Culpepper and Associates, Inc.)
Culpepper Releases Employee Benefits Survey for Technology Companies
(Culpepper and Associates, Inc.)
Pension Reform: Why Congress Still Doesn't Get It
(Retirement Solutions Foundation)
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