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June 4, 2003 - 13,189 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation
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ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including: DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries before joining ASC -- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Helping Employees Work With Their 401(k)s
Excerpt: "The lackluster performance of 401(k) plans during the past few years has made many employee participants jittery, and increasingly they're looking for employer-sponsored help on handling retirement investments." (HR Magazine)
More Earnings Trouble On Horizon Due To Pension Underfunding, Study Finds
Excerpt: "Underfunded retirement plans may cause companies more earnings trouble in 2004, despite stock market gains that have helped the plans lately." (Dow Jones/AP via SFGate.com)
Austrians Strike Over Proposed Public Pension Reforms
Excerpt: "A nationwide strike against planned pension reforms shut down public transportation in Austria but failed to paralyze the country as people drove, walked and biked to work under sunny, summer skies." (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Pension Interest Rate Relief Bill for Companies Would Cut Employee Payouts
Excerpt: "Pending federal legislation would reduce by as much as one-third the lump sum payments that millions of Americans are eligible to take from their employer pension funds when they retire, change jobs, or are laid off. The proposal, part of a sweeping pension overhaul bill, is intended to give relief to companies burdened with heavy stock market losses in their pension funds, losses that exceeded $100 billion last year." (The Boston Globe)
Analysis: DOL Provides Guidance on Defined Contribution Plan Expenses (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "[W]hile ERISA may permit a plan administrator to apply different expense allocation methods to different classes of participants, this type of action may give rise to separate benefits, rights or features that require nondiscrimination testing under the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, charging plan expenses only to vested separated participant accounts might be viewed as imposing a 'significant detriment' on participants who do not take immediate distributions ..." (CIGNA's Pension Analyst)
How Will Your Pension Board Handle a 'Vermont Widow'?
Excerpt: "On July 1, 2000, Vermont's law creating the civil union became effective, legally recognizing marriage-like status for same-sex couples. Within the state, there is no problem with recognition of same-sex unions. However, 85% of civil unions created in Vermont have been to out-of-staters, meaning that other states may have to deal with the rights of one partner upon death of the other partner." (Cypen & Cypen)
2003 Small Employer Retirement Survey
Excerpt: "Reflecting continued turmoil in the economy, the percentage of small businesses that say they are likely to offer a retirement plan in the next two years continues to drop after years of steady growth in small company plan participation, according to the sixth annual Small Employer Retirement Confidence Survey (SERS) released [June 3, 2003] by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), American Savings Education Council (ASEC), and Mathew Greenwald & Associates (Greenwald)." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Surprised Investors Find Their Variable Annuity Nest Eggs Truly Are Variable
Excerpt: "[R]egulators say many aggressive insurance agents and brokers oversold thousands of people such as the Plumlees on the hazy virtues of variable annuities, often described as mutual funds wrapped in an insurance policy. They say consumers were not warned of risks or told that the complex contracts carry large commissions, hidden fees and steep surrender charges if money is withdrawn too soon." (The Kansas City Star via NewsAlert.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Under Pressure, Some Companies Paring Executive Comp Packages
Excerpt: "Public companies are responding to enormous pressure from institutional investors, lobbying groups, unions, lawmakers and individuals to cut back on what many see as extravagant executive salary and benefit packages." (BenefitNews.com)
Woe Betide Consultants to Abusive Tax Shelters
Excerpt: "[T]he Treasury and IRS have indicated they are thinking of adding to the so-called 'listed transactions' ... 412(i) policies with springing cash surrender values that only blossom after they are rolled out to the insured participant. Also mentioned in this connection are 419A schemes involving exploitation of the collective bargaining exception available to remove funding of welfare benefits from the restrictive limitations of the Code." (Attorney Alvin D. Lurie, published by the Small Business Council of America)
FedEx to Offer Buyouts to 12% of Workforce; High Pension, Healthcare Costs Cited
Excerpt: "The Memphis, Tennessee-based company said it expects to take a $230 million to $290 million pretax charge to pay for the retirement and severance packages at its largest operating unit, FedEx Express, as higher pension and health-care costs hurt overall profit." (Reuters via the New York Times; one-time registration required)
California Lawmakers Resist Push for Further Federal Regulation of Stock Options
Excerpt: "California lawmakers friendly to high-tech industries are pushing against requiring companies to count stock options against their bottom line, as Congress splits over a perk and form of compensation that some have blamed for aiding corporate abuses. The head of [FASB] said Tuesday the lawmakers were improperly intervening in its work by proposing a three-year delay of such a requirement." (AP via Washington Post)
American Benefits Council Joins High Tech Companies in Supporting Sen. Boxer's Stock Option Bill (PDF)
Excerpt: "As you know, some who seek to require that stock options be expensed in financial statements, such as the FASB, disclaim any obligation to examine the impact on the U.S. economy and its competitiveness. However, you rightly recognize that the rule-making bodies governing accounting for stock options are moving without due process and are failing to consider many important issues." (American Benefits Council)
Some Executives Resigned to Stock Option Expensing
Originally published June 2, 2003. Excerpt: "They don't want to say it is inevitable, but corporate leaders at some Washington [D.C.] area companies that offer stock-option packages are resigning themselves to a future when handing out such incentives to employees and executives will cost them-- and at some companies, cost them big." (Washington Post)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Director Health Policy
for The ERISA Industry Committee (a Washington DC-based trade association)
in DC
Business Development
for Havensure, LLC
in ALL STATES
Pension Administrator
for Actuaries Unlimited, Inc.
in CA
ERISA Paralegal
for Sherman & Howard LLC
in CO
Benefits Manager (Service Delivery Manager)
for Towers Perrin
in VA
Health & Welfare Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in Location Other Than U.S.
Manager of Employee Benefits Department
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in CT, MA, NH, RI
Employee Benefits Account Manager
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in CT, MA, NH, RI
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
The ABCs of Cross-Tested Plans
on June 17, 2003
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
New Self-Funding of Health Care Benefits Book Features Companion Web Site
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Two Publications Dissect 2003 Tax Law
(Liberty Publishing, Inc.)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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