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November 17, 2003 - 13,525 subscribers
Today's sponsor: ASPA
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
ASPA Restructures Education Program As a result of exam candidate feedback and more than two years of research, analysis, and planning, ASPA has restructured its education program. Effective January 2004, study material will be presented in smaller segments, in a more logical, easier-to-understand way. While the program is changing, ASPA assures professionals that the same high educational standards for which ASPA is known will not change. New texts and exams for 2004 will be available soon! Click on the banner above or visit http://www.asppa.org/edu/restructure.htm for more information.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
NY Times Coverage: Xerox Settles Pension Suit With Retirees
Excerpt: "Xerox had said it might appeal the case to the Supreme Court but acknowledged with the settlement that it had abandoned that idea.... The controversy started when some workers discovered, after their companies switched to cash-balance plans, that they had been stripped of their ability to earn valuable benefits that the earlier pension plan had offered. Such losses were mostly among older workers ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Xerox Announces Proposed Settlement for Pension Lawsuit
Excerpt: "The Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) Retirement Income Guarantee Plan has reached an agreement in principle to settle the pension-related Berger v. RIGP litigation. The terms of the proposed agreement require RIGP to settle the case for $239 million. The final settlement is subject to the negotiation of a definitive agreement and court approval." (The Xerox Corporation)
Mellon Survey of Cash Balance Plans Dispels Common Myths and Affirms Positive Features (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Mellon's 2003 comprehensive survey on cash balance plans is nearing completion. Because some of the key findings in the survey are inconsistent with assertions commonly made by cash balance critics, we are issuing these preliminary results." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)
Text of Letter from U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Legislators Regarding Treasury Regs Freeze (PDF)
1 page; a similar letter was sent to U.S. senators on the same day. Excerpt: "There are over 1200 hybrid plans that cover more than 7 million workers, but without support from Congress and guidance from Treasury, these numbers will drastically decrease ..." (United States Chamber of Commerce)
Pension Rights Center: Older Workers Score Pension Victory
Excerpt: "'This is good news for employees across the nation,' says Karen Ferguson, Director of the Pension Rights Center. 'Employees have said all along that the Treasury Department had no business issuing regulations on cash balance plans that were never even authorized by Congress in the first place. Congress should develop a legislative solution that adequately protects the reasonable expectations of older employees when companies switch from good pension plans to inferior hybrid plans.'" (Pension Rights Center)
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Cash Balance Plans Provide Significant Benefits
10/16/03. Excerpt: "The current opposition to these plans is based on an assumption that cash balance plans are inherently age discriminatory and comes on the heels of a highly controversial court decision. However, a federal court, in that same district, has previously ruled that cash balance plans do not violate age discrimination laws. In addition, no federal agency ... has determined that cash balance plans or conversions to them, violate federal age discrimination, ERISA, or tax laws." (The United States Chamber of Commerce)
Investors' Worry: Will Spitzer Point At My Fund?
Excerpt: "While defections haven't made much of a dent in overall fund holdings, investors are transferring millions of dollars in assets to fund firms that haven't been tainted by scandal. Some are shifting to alternative investments such as individual stocks. And others are having funds dumped for them as retirement plans, financial advisers and college 529 savings plans ditch tainted funds." (USA Today)
401(k) Plans Cautious In Fund Probes
Excerpt: "If your 401(k) is exposed to a mutual-fund firm accused of wrongdoing, don't expect a quick fix.' Employers with 401(k) plans tied to tainted mutual-fund firms are upset about market-timing and late-trading allegations, but for the most part, 'they're taking a wait-and-see attitude,' said Robert Wuelfing, president of the Spark Institute ... (AP via SFGate.com)
S.E.C.'s Oversight of Mutual Funds Is Said to Be Lax
Excerpt: "The Securities and Exchange Commission failed for years to police the mutual fund industry effectively because it was captive to the industry when writing new regulations, was preoccupied by other problems on Wall Street and was severely short of staff and money, current and former officials say." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
New York Attorney General: Regulation Begins at Home
Excerpt: "The 95 million Americans who invest in mutual funds paid more than $70 billion in fees in 2002. These fees went to an industry that did not take seriously its responsibility to safeguard investors' money." (Eliot Spitzer in the New York Times)
Feelings Are Not Mutual in 401(k)s
Excerpt: "[S]taying on the sidelines until the dust settles is no longer an option for 401(k) plans, which have entrusted an estimated $690 billion to mutual funds.... 'The recent news brings a new set of facts to the table,' said Ann Combs, assistant secretary for employee benefits security at the Labor Department. For 401(k) plan sponsors, Ms. Combs said, 'your responsibility is not just to select the funds but to monitor them.'" (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Chart: Regulatory Climate Gets Colder as Plan's Funded Status Drops (PDF)
2 pages; neat. Excerpt: "If Assets Less Than ... Then ..." (Aon Consulting)
The Five Biggest Myths About Building Retirement Wealth
Excerpt: "Depending on the day-to-day stock market outlook, 401(k) plans are either praised as the quickest route to unlimited riches or condemned as an evil plot by corporate management to steal your retirement security. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Here's the lowdown on the plans-and we promise you, 10 years from now these words will still be true." (Jane White of the Retirement Solutions Foundation)
Summary of FASB Developments: Disclosures about Pension Plans
Excerpt: "At the November 11, 2003 meeting, the Board made the following decisions regarding additional pension and other postretirement benefit disclosures: ..." (Financial Accounting Standards Board)
Embezzlers' Pensions in Public Plans Could Be Tapped Under House Bill
Excerpt: "The bill would carve out another exception to the anti-assignment rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by authorizing state and local governments to obtain 'qualified embezzlement restitution orders' against employees convicted of embezzling funds, according to Thompson Publishing." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Upping the Emphasis On Investment Strategies
Excerpt: "At the Thrift Savings Plan, officials are looking for new ways to encourage government employees to regularly rethink their investment strategies for retirement." (Washington Post)
Retirement Planning Tips
Excerpt: "Planning for retirement is one of those goals that people never seem to find time for, but experts say Baby Boomers have little time to waste. To mark the beginning of National Retirement Planning Week, NPR's Bob Edwards talks to comedian, actor and economist Ben Stein, who is the new spokesman for the National Retirement Planning Coalition." (National Public Radio)
Opinion: Ask Democratic Presidential Candidates About Social Security
Excerpt: "The nine-- now ten-- Democratic presidential contenders will soon gather for yet another debate. But one important issue-- Social Security-- is likely to slip by again without the examination it deserves." (Michael Tanner in the Washington Times)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
IRS Officials Discuss Executive Compensation Issues
Excerpt: "In a web-cast sponsored by TaxTalkToday, held on November 13, IRS officials met with a panel of private-sector tax practitioners to discuss current issues concerning executive compensation arrangements." (CCH Tax News - http://tax.cchgroup.com/news/default)
More Consumers Reach Out to Touch the Screen
Excerpt: "A new generation of self-service machines is slipping into the daily lives of many Americans. Rejected for decades as too complicated, the machines are being embraced by a public whose faith in technology has grown as its satisfaction with more traditional forms of customer service has diminished." (New York Daily News)
Courts Making the Most Out of Benefit Statements
Excerpt: "It wouldn't be practical for plan administrators to regard the sending of benefit statements as bona fide tools for plan administration, yet it often happens that a court will look carefully at those estimates when determining a plan's actual benefit obligations." (BenefitNews.com)
Riled-Up Retirees: Growing Force Fights Threat to Pensions
Excerpt: "The [National Retiree Legislative Network] was formed three years ago when retiree groups from several large companies joined forces to voice their rising concerns about losses of benefits. Now its membership is approaching 2 million, most of them members of affiliated associations representing retirees from about 20 large corporations." ([St. Paul] Pioneer Press)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
ERISA Attorney
for Marvel Consultants, Inc.
in OH
Relationship Manager/Sales Support
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in NJ
Work from home or office QPA
for Assume administrative responsibilities for small book of business
in CA, NV, OR, WA
Newly Posted Events
Expecting Workers to Come to Work -- Are Employers Asking Too Much?
Nationwide on December 9, 2003
presented by Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.
Payroll Taxes for Benefits Managers: Developments & Year-End Issues
Nationwide on December 11, 2003
presented by Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.
Retire@Ease: Helping employees prepare for a successful retirement
Nationwide on December 1, 2003
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting
U.S. Retirement Plan Governance
Nationwide on August 7, 2003
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting
FASB's Proposed Retirement Plan Disclosure Rules
Nationwide on November 17, 2003
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting
EGTRRA: Implementing & Interpreting the Law
Nationwide on July 12, 2002
presented by National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA)
Winter Legislative Conference
in District of Columbia on February 8, 2004
presented by National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Older Workers Score Pension Victory
(Pension Rights Center)
Xerox Announces Proposed Settlement for Pension Lawsuit
(The Xerox Corporation)
GoldK® Reaches Milestone With 25th New TPA Partner
(GoldK, Inc.)
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