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Retirement Plans
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May 28, 2004 - 13574 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Natalie Choate's Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Effect of Proposed 401(k) Regulations on ACP, ADP Tests (PDF)
At pp. 2-3 of 4-page document. Excerpt: "Because of the scope of the proposed guidelines, it is unlikely the IRS will issue final regulations until sometime next year. Therefore, the regulations would not be effective until 2006 for calendar year plans." (Milliman USA)

Attention to Customer Service Yields a Better TSP Web Site
Excerpt: "The [federal government's Thrift Savings Plan] has rearranged icons on its home page (www.tsp.gov) to make it easier to find topics of interest and to emphasize links to financial statements, account transactions and share prices for the plan's five funds." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

California Teacher Pension Fund Will Fall Billions Short
Excerpt: "After a string of stock market losses and subpar investment returns, the California State Teachers' Retirement System must pour in an additional $1 billion in the coming years to ensure that the giant fund can pay benefits over the long haul." (Sacramento Bee)

Overview: Additional Participant Loan Rules Take Effect (PDF)
At pp. 1-2 of 4-page document. Excerpt: "The new regulations issued in 2002 are effective for new participant loans made on or after January 1, 2004." (Milliman USA)

Americans Postponing Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "The average age at which people said they expected to retire rose to 64.4, up more than three years from John Hancock's 2002 survey and a five-year hike from 1995 figures. Nearly 18% of respondents said they don't expect to be able to retire until age 70 or older, nearly double compared with the 2002 survey and triple the 1995 results." (BenefitNews.com)

Survey of Baby Boomers' Expectations for Retirement
Excerpt: "Baby boomers are far more likely now than 5 years ago to describe themselves as knowledgeable about and favorably disposed toward Social Security. This and other findings are discussed in an update to AARP's 1998 benchmark study of baby boomers' expectations of retirement." (AARP Research)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

To Foil Filching from Federal Fisc -- Test to Thwart (Some) Shelters
Excerpt: "Is the verb 'filch' too strong to describe a raid on the fisc by way of abusive tax shelters? In normal usage an 'abuse' connotes a corrupt practice. If we can identify corruption, in reference to tax practice, as frustrating collection of one's tax liability by unlawful means, I submit we have fairly described a filching. If anything, the verb is not strong enough." (Alvin D. Lurie)

Documenting Benefits Coverage for All Workers
Excerpt: "BLS data on employee benefits have, until recently, focused on subsets of the economy. As a result, aggregate data for all civilian and private industry workers could only be obtained in a piecemeal fashion. This article makes these data available for the first time in a single place.... These new data help to illuminate certain contrasts." (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor)

Overview: Senate Finance Committee Finishes Enron-Related Bill
Excerpt: "But let's not hold our breath when it comes to moving through pension legislation. Between Congress' itemized list of more pressing legislative priorities and 2004 being an election year, bills that are pension-related are basically -- not happening this year." (Financial-Planning.com)

Newly Posted Events

Mutual Fund Scandal
in Florida on June 24, 2004
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists - Orlando Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

Hewitt Study Shows U.S. Employees Sluggish in Interacting With 401(k) Plans
(Hewitt Associates LLC)

Invesmart Expands Cleveland Actuarial Practice
(Invesmart, Inc.)

U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Appoints New Members To 2004 ERISA Advisory Council and Leadership Posts
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)

One in Four Private Companies Sued by Employees, Chubb Survey Finds
(Chubb Group of Insurance Companies)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Employee Benefits Sales Representative
for Great-West Healthcare
in AZ

401k Client Service Representative
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA

Tax Attorney
for Slevin & Hart, P.C.
in DC

Retirement Services Major Accounts District Manager (Sales)
for ADP Retirement Services
in MI

Retirement Plan Specialist-Field in Missouri
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in MO

Compensation Manager
for Harrah's Entertainment
in NV

Fund Administrator
for Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans - Chicago metro area
in IL

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