Dave Baker

Our Benefits in the News web page displays previously published news items as always, but now you can view them in a new, optional compact format -- you can hide the excerpts, at your option. Just look for the "Hide excerpts" checkbox. (The full list, which includes excerpts, continues to be the default view.) Remember that you can limit the list to a particular type of news item (in either the compact or full format), such as Official Guidance. Other types are Guidance Overview, General News, and Opinion. Just use the checkboxes at the top right corner of the list. And you can narrow the list further to only show a particular type of news item that concerns a particular kind of plan. For example: Retirement Plans - official guidance Health & Welfare Plans - official guidance Executive Compensation - official guidance

Strangely, a deleted topic or post goes straight into the ether and cannot be recovered. Wish I could help!

"This document extends for 60 days the applicability date of the final regulation, published on April 8, 2016, defining who is a 'fiduciary' under [ERISA] and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. It also extends for 60 days the applicability dates of the Best Interest Contract Exemption and the Class Exemption for Principal Transactions in Certain Assets Between Investment Advice Fiduciaries and Employee Benefit Plans and IRAs. It requires that fiduciaries relying on these exemptions for covered transactions adhere only to the Impartial Conduct Standards (including the 'best interest' standard), as conditions of the exemptions during the transition period from June 9, 2017, through January 1, 2018. Thus, the fiduciary definition in the rule (Fiduciary Rule or Rule) published on April 8, 2016, and Impartial Conduct Standards in these exemptions, are applicable on June 9, 2017, while compliance with the remaining conditions in these exemptions, such as requirements to make specific written disclosures and representations of fiduciary compliance in communications with investors, is not required until January 1, 2018. This document also delays the applicability of amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 until January 1, 2018, other than the Impartial Conduct Standards, which will become applicable on June 9, 2017. Finally, this document extends for 60 days the applicability dates of amendments to other previously granted exemptions. The President, by Memorandum to the Secretary of Labor dated February 3, 2017, directed the [DOL] to examine whether the Fiduciary Rule may adversely affect the ability of Americans to gain access to retirement information and financial advice, and to prepare an updated economic and legal analysis concerning the likely impact of the Fiduciary Rule as part of that examination. The extensions announced in this document are necessary to enable the Department to perform this examination and to consider possible changes with respect to the Fiduciary Rule and PTEs based on new evidence or analysis developed pursuant to the examination." Link to full text (63 pages, PDF) (20,078 subscribers received this news as a bulletin via email at 4:40 p.m. -- would you like to subscribe to our free, daily BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, with bulletins? Click to subscribe.)

Seems to me that it would be helpful for a newly registered user of the message boards to be given an email that welcomes him or her to the community and that provides certain information that would be especially helpful in getting started. Maybe a Q&A format. Does this sound good? What information would you have enjoyed having? Dave

Most users of the message boards want to be able to use their web browsers to monitor activity on the message boards daily or on some other periodic basis. They want to be able to view a list of newly posted topics. Some users also want to view a list of recently posted comments to existing topics. The two ways that are best for viewing newly posted topics are the "Portal tab" -- take a look -- and the Activities tab -- specifically, the "Topics & Comments" link on the drop-down menu under the Activities tab -- take a look. For registered users, several alternate ways are available to view new posted topics and comments. First, sign in. Next, click the Activities tab and you'll see menu items that say "Topics & Comments: Unread", "Topics I Have Started", and several more. A complete discussion of these menu items can be found in another topic -- take a look. Those menu items are called "streams" because that's a metaphor for the ability to view the various kinds of content (topics, comments) that "flow by," starting with the most recent content. Registered users have the ability to modify any one of those standard streams, thereby creating a custom stream. For example, you might want to see only topics and comments that appear in a particular message board. Thereafter you'd be able to click on that custom stream when you click the Activities tab (they appear when you click the "Activity Streams" menu item). Basically, to make a custom stream, (i) click on any of the standard streams except All Activity (hard to explain) that comes closest to viewing the list you you want, (ii) click on one or more of the buttons on a horizontal bar that will appear under the heading that shows the name of the stream you're currently viewing -- which has the effect of creating a kind of temporary, modified stream, and (iii) save the stream by giving it a name and clicking a button. Here is an example, providing details: (1) Click the Activity tab. (2) Click the "Topics & Comments: Unread" menu option. (If you're not seeing the "Topics & Comments: Unread" option, it's probably because you're not signed in, which of course requires that you've already registered.) Your browser will display a list of recently added topics and comments (except those that you've already "read" -- i.e., that you've clicked on, perhaps the last time you were using the message boards). (3) Under the heading "Topics & Comments: Unread" on the web page, find a horizontal row of square buttons (4) Click the button that says "Content" (5) Click the gear icon next to the word "Topics" (6) Use your mouse to select "401(k) Plans" under the drop-down menu you'll see (which is labeled "Narrow by Forums (Message Boards)") (7) Click the Apply Changes button at the bottom of that drop-down menu (8) Refresh the web page by using your browser's "refresh" button (or, for most browsers, press the Control and F5 keys at the same time) (9) You'll notice that the only topics and comments that appear in the resulting list are those that have been posted in the 401(k) Plans message board (magic!) (10) Click on the "Save as New Stream" button that now appears under the row of buttons (11) A form will appear asking you to name your custom stream e.g. "Topics & Comments: 401(k) Plans: Unread" (12) Click the Create Stream button Voila! When you visit the message boards in the future, you'll have the option of clicking on "Topics & Comments: 401(k) Plans: Unread" (as a menu item, after you click on the Activity tab and then click on "Activity Streams"). So basically all you're doing is making a kind of temporary, modified stream by clicking one or more of the buttons in the horizontal bar, and then giving it a name in order to save it as a new (custom) stream. You can have more than one custom stream. Here are explanations of those horizontal buttons that let you modify a standard stream: "Show Me" - basically means "show me topic titles only" vs. "show me topic titles and any comments to topics." "Content Types" - basically means "I want to narrow the list to topics (or comments to topics) in one or more specific message boards." (Click on the gear icon next to the word "Topics".) "Read Status" - You might want to see only unread items that appear in your custom stream. Or you might be flustered when you click on one of the items in the list created by the stream (e.g. the title of a new topic, so you can read it), and then, when you return to the stream (e.g. you click your browser's "back" button), that particular item has gone AWOL and no longer appears in the list. Some people like that feature, by being able to whack away at the list. You'll also notice that the "Read Status" button provides a choice as to whether "Unread item links take me to the top of the page" or instead "Unread item links take me to the first unread comment." The standard streams assume you want the latter (rather than clicking on a comment item in the list, being taken to the top of the topic in which the comment appears, and then needing to scroll down to read the particular comment). "Ownership" - can be used to create a view of topics or comments that have been posted by one or more specified members (e.g. you really admire Gary Lesser's expertise in IRAs and SEPs so you want to periodically get a list of anything he's posted). You might not be otherwise "following" these members. "Following" - refers to the ability to "follow" a particular topic (i.e. know whenever comments have been posted into the topic), a particular forum (message board) (i.e. know whenever a new topic or a new comment has been posted into that forum (message board), or a particular member (i.e. know whenever that member starts a topic or comments on an existing topic). Look for the "Follow" button on the page when you're viewing a topic you want to follow, or on the page that lists all of the topics in a message board you want to follow (use the "Forums (Message Boards)" tab to get into the appropriate message board), or on a member's profile page (click on the member's name wherever it appears, e.g. next to the title of a topic started by the member). "Time Period" - provides the interesting options of (i) Any time, (ii) Since my last visit, (iii) Specified number of days, and (iv) Specific date range. Have the appropriate amount of fun with this setting. "Sorting" - basically lets you see the topics and comments over the time period you've chosen, sorted in order of oldest first rather than newest first. Some folks' brains are more comfortable with the former than the latter (which is the setting I used in creating the menu items). Do you have any questions? Please post them as a comment (sometimes called a "reply") to this topic. Thanks!

Yesterday I improved (I think) the way the menu under the "Activity" tab works, by renaming some of the existing menu items and adding a few more. Unless you're using a mobile browser, Activity is a tab that's on the dark blue horizontal navigation bar that appears below the fairly large "BenefitsLink Message Boards" heading that's at the top of all pages. It's between the Portal tab and a tab labeled "Forums (Message Boards)". (On a mobile browser, the Activity tab instead will show up as a button when you click on the "hamburger" menu icon that appears when the viewing screen is such a small size.) The term "activity" is a bit ambiguous because it was intended by the maker of the software to encompass "activities" other than the posting of a new topic and the posting of a comment to an existing topic. But those two things are all we mean by the term activity. Clicking on the Activity tab is just one of various ways to learn about new topics or new comments. Some people will prefer the much simpler Portal tab, which is a straightforward list of recently added topics and also conveniently shows the first few lines of the text of each topic. (Click on the title of any topic in that list to view the full text of the topic and any comments to the topic.) Other people will prefer the Forums (Message Boards) tab, which is a big-picture overview of all of the message boards, which lists the name of each message board and provides various stats. But for Keeping Up with the Kardashians every day or two in terms of monitoring the site for new topics of interest or new comments to existing topics of interest, your better choice is probably the Activity tab or the Portal tab. Here are the items on the drop-down menu items under the Activity tab: * All Activity * Activity Streams * Topics & Comments * Topics & Comments: Unread * Topics & Comments: Unread (Abbrev.) * Topics I've Commented On * Topics I Started * Topics/Forums/Members I'm Following * Search Here are details about each menu item. All Activity -- produces a list of all topics and comments, most recently added topics and comments appearing first. This is the "fire hose." Topics & Comments -- is the same as "All Activity" except the resulting page also shows a set of buttons on a bar that enables you to tweak the list. (More about that later in this post.) Topics & Comments: Unread -- is the same as "Topics & Comments" except it doesn't list topics or comments you've "read" -- when you click on an item in the list, the software notices that, and considers you to have "read" it. Each item in the "Topics & Comments: Unread" list is either a recently added topic or a recently added comment to an existing topic. The title of each item is the title of a topic -- either because the topic is new, or the comment is about the topic. When several comments have been added to a particular topic, you'll see the title of that topic appearing several times in the list. Too confusing? Read on. Topics & Comments: Unread (Abbrev.) -- is the same as "Topics & Comments: Unread" except that no topic is listed more than once, even if several comments have been posted recently to the particular topic. That's the last in a logical (I hope) progress of detail -- a "firehose-to-water-fountain" spectrum. (Maybe "Portal" should follow "Topics & Comments: Unread (Abbrev.)" because that's basically what the Portal tab shows, as a simpler-looking page.) Topics I've Commented On -- This menu item is a list of the topics onto which you've ever posted a comment. Topics I Started -- This menu item is a list of the topics you have started (i.e. when you went to the "Forums (Message Boards)" view, clicked on the name of the appropriate forum in which to post your question, and then clicked on a Start New Topic button). Topics/Forums/Members I'm Following -- is a list of the various kinds of content -- i.e. a particular topic, a particular forum (a.k.a. message board), or a particular member -- which/whom you've chosen to "follow" by having already clicked on the "Follow" button on the page that shows that topic, or the page that shows a list of topics in a particular forum (message board), or the profile page of a particular member. You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned Activity Streams, which is the second item on the menu. I put it towards the top of the menu so that you can quickly navigate to any "custom stream" you've created. Their names will appear in a drop-down menu when you click on the Activity Streams menu item. What is a "custom stream"? Basically you would want to make one if you're not quite happy with one or more of the menu items described above. To make a custom stream, click on any of the menu items (except All Activity) that comes closest to viewing the list you you want, then click on one or more of the buttons on a bar that will appear on the resulting page, and then save that modified view by specifying a name. It will be available to you to use in the future by selecting it on the drop-down menu you'll see when you click on the Activity Streams menu item. For complete details and an example of a custom stream, please see a different topic (click to view).

Thanks for the question, Kevin, and thanks, Bird, for recommending a solution! Last night I added a new "stream" for use by all users, which works the way you've described. It appears when you click the Activity tab (under the "BenefitsLink Message Boards" heading -- it's between the Portal tab and the Forums tab). Or you could bookmark it: https://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/discover/unread/ (though it works only if you're already signed in). Its name is "Topics & Contents: Unread (Abbrev.)" The reason for the complicated-but-accurate name is because it is one of a series of new names I created last night, for the various items on the Activity tab's drop-down menu. For details about the new names, please see this new topic:

You might want to have the Portal be the view you see when you access the message boards, rather than the Activity tab, which is the default. One way to do so would be to bookmark this page using your browser: https://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/portal/ For now, I think it's probably best to leave the default as the Activity tab, but I'm considering whether the Portal tab might be a better default, because it's a gentler introduction to the message boards for a novice. Would appreciate any comments that anyone might have.

I'm sure everyone else shares my deep gratitude for all of the contributions you've made to this community and hence to the whole industry! Let us know if there is life after benefits. One reads about such experiences, but whether it's just euphoria in the brain, we don't yet know for sure.

I have added a new, optional way to see what's new on the message boards. You might prefer it because it's simple and straightforward. It's the new "Portal" tab next to the "Activity" tab and the "Browse" tab (at the top of every page). Just click the Portal tab. The Portal tab generates a list of all topics recently added to all message boards, with a snippet of the first five lines of the message that started each topic. The list includes links to the full version of each topic if you'd like to read the rest of the initial message and any reply messages. (Of course, the full version of each topic includes a box at the bottom where you can post your own reply message.) Hope the Portal view is useful to you!

Thanks for the comments! We have changed the default so that email is no longer sent when a reply is posted to a topic you've started, or a reply is posted to a topic into which you had posted a reply. If you continue to receive such emails, please log in, click on your display name (in the upper right part of the screen), look for "Manage Followed Content" on the resulting drop-down menu, and look for any topics and any forums that are listed there. The topics you're following and the forums you're following won't appear in a single list. To see the topics you're following, click on "Topics" in the left-hand menu. To see the forums you're following, click on "Forums" in the left-hand menu. To get rid of any emails that are coming to you with respect to a particular followed item (topics or forums), click on the "Change Preference" button that accompanies each such item. Make sure you haven't selected the "One email per day" or "One email per week" options.

New feature -- It's now possible to delete all notifications (the ones that appear in the pop-up window when clicking on the bell icon at the top of the page). Look for a "Clear Notifications" link at the bottom of that pop-up window. It seems to work well for me. (This is an "add-on" I located and installed.) Thanks for the suggestion, GMK !

Mike, I edited my answer to make it more clear (I think). Could you take another look at it, see if it says something more specific that you didn't do before, and let me know if you still getting the first post and last post sub-windows when you click and hold on the message title?

You still can. It's unbelievably obscure. If you're on the page that lists all of the message titles ("topics") in a particular message board -- for example, Retirement Plans In General -- then what you do is to mouse over the message title that you'd like to edit (for example, "1099R Question" is the title of a recently started topic on that message board), and then click and HOLD down your mouse button while your cursor is over that title (in my example, the words "1099R Question"). In a couple of seconds (while holding down your mouse button), a small window will pop up under your cursor in which will appear the title you're wanting to edit (e.g. "1099R Question"). You then can release the mouse button and use your keyboard and arrow keys to edit the title as desired. Hit your Enter key to save the edits. Strangely, it is not possible to use this technique on the title when you're viewing the page that shows the whole topic -- i.e., the first message (which assigned the topic's title) and the "reply" messages posted into the topic. So if you're viewing such a page and want to change the title, look for the "breadcrumbs" menu at the top of the page (e.g., "Home > Retirement Plans > Retirement Plans in General > 1099 R Question") and click on the name of the message board (e.g. "Retirement Plans in General") so that you'll be taken "up one level" to get to the page that lists all of the message titles (topics) on that particular message board. That's where you'll be able to use the mouse-over-and-click-and-hold technique, on the message title that will appear on that page in the list of message titles.

lippy, also try clicking on the "Condensed" button (I believe the "Expanded" button is selected by default), which makes the list of recently changed topics even more brief (the Condensed version does not show an excerpt of the first sentence or two of the most recently posted message in each recently changed topic and instead only lists the recently changed topics). You can bookmark that Condensed list of topics, using this URL: https://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/discover/unread/&view=condensed (but you need to be signed/logged in, in order for it to display properly) The URL for the Expanded list of topics is: https://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/discover/unread/&view=expanded (but you need to be signed/logged in, in order for it to display properly)

This web page has links to the forms, schedules, and instructions for Form 5500 and its variants, for all years going back to ERISA: http://benefitslink.com/src/misc/form-5500-for-previous-years.html

BenefitsLink has compiled a handy web page with hypertext links to Form 5500 (and its variants) and Schedules, including Instructions, back to the first year the form was required by ERISA. http://benefitslink.com/src/misc/form-5500-for-previous-years.html Sometimes it's necessary to refile an earlier year's form, so the web page might be a convenient way to pull up the needed PDF documents, and to see which schedules were required for a particular year. If you see any opportunities for improvements to the page, please let me know. Thanks!

To get to your profile (as Lois suggests), click on your name where it appears in the black horizontal bar towards the top of the home page of the message boards (http://benefitslink.com/boards). Then click on "My Profile" on the resulting small drop-down menu. Then look at the email address shown on the resulting page. If it's not correct, click on the black "Edit My Profile" button on that page. On the resulting page, click on "Email & Password" in the left-hand column, which will bring up a screen where you'll see a place to enter your corrected email address. Then (important) click on the Save Changes button before leaving the page.

I feel confident that no new log-in will be required, because the upgrade is done "in place," on top of the existing database and cache directories that hold the log-in status.

I am very excited about an upgrade to the software that runs these message boards, which will be implemented over the weekend of December 31 to January 1, and will be fully functional by Monday, January 2. In part the upgrade is driven by the fact that the current version of the software has reached the end of its technical support life from the vendor, excerpt for security patches. Even those patches are scheduled to end in about three months. The new version of the software was first released in April of last year and has undergone a considerable number of tweaks, so I am now confident that it is fully functional and smooth. The primary benefit under the new version is a much more modern interface, with the kind of look and feel that most people have come to expect, especially on tablets and smartphones. The buttons are larger and more carefully positioned. The "help" system has been very much improved in its language and content. The new interface feels much more intuitive and user-friendly to me. It will be much easier to automatically follow certain content (particular topics/discussions, particular message boards), and the new version has a greatly expanded system for viewing "new" content and viewing particular kinds of activity (posts by particular members, activity in all topics you've started or contributed to, etc.). Upon logging in, an amazing amount of information will become available merely by hovering your mouse over various links, rather than needing to click on them. The search engine has more options available when doing an Advanced search, and seems to be faster and to provide results in a more scannable/readable format. And it cooks a perfectly boiled egg in less than 3 minutes. (Not.) I wish it were possible to install the upgraded version into a beta part of benefitslink.com in order to give you the ability to easily try it out before it goes fully live on January 2, but the conversion process is basically "stand back, fasten seat belts" once the process has begun. (I have tested the conversion on a development server, though. The development server must be behind a firewall in order to prevent Google from finding the content and royally gumming things up by indexing the temporary content on the upgraded version. The conversion went through without a hitch.) If you're comfortable with using an add-on to your browser or some other application that would let you modify the "HOSTS" file on your Windows PC so that the various links on the upgraded version running on the development server will work for you (i.e., not just the front page of the upgraded version), I'd be happy to provide you with the IP address of the development server to use in modifying your HOSTS file, and a username/password to get through a browser challenge screen on the development server. Just send me a private message using the message boards, or email me at davebaker@benefitslink.com.

So glad the message boards have been helpful to you, Bill. We have a great community and so much knowledge available for free. It's a great privilege to be able to attract and serve the industry's best and brightest! Hope you're have a great holiday.

http://benefitslink.com/links/20161025-131500.html

Yes, it was eBenefitsLink.com -- the fellow didn't see any conflict :-)

Thank you very much Tom and Belgrath! BenefitsLink has been successful only because talented professionals read it and use it. I think of this every time I see the subscriber stats to the newsletter or watch in happy amazement as sophisticated and important questions are posted to the message boards and then are answered by altruistic colleagues who contribute their time and talent towards helping out a peer. It is an awesome community, and I am just the geek who got the ball rolling back when the Interwebs were young. My wife, Lois, is an employee benefits attorney who has supercharged the operation of the newsletter especially, having jumped in with both feet when our son left the nest (she had been homeschooling him full-time). This operating simply wouldn't be what it is, but for her contributions and her encouragement to me. We've been married for almost 25 years, and it is no coincidence that BenefitsLink started under her watch and has prospered during that time. I remember well toting along a PC when we took family vacations, and dad would need to spend the morning on some dial-up connection putting together the newsletter. See http://benefitslink.com/newsletters for the archives, especially the ones from the mid-to-late 90s. Also fun is http://benefitslink.com/whatsnew/archive/ where you can find the web pages showing all of the new developments on the Internet -- one per month! For example, the DOL's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration gets its own web page in October 1995, as does the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans -- http://benefitslink.com/whatsnew/archive/whatsnew.10.95.html -- the PBGC web site came online in March of 1996 -- http://benefitslink.com/whatsnew/archive/whatsnew.03.96.html -- then in September of 1996 we had to update the What's New page every week! Whew, an avalanche. It's not clear when the IRS web site came online, but it appears to have been some time in early 1995 or before. It wasn't very useful to employee benefits practitioners until later. It wasn't until September of 1995, for example, that one could find the actual text of revenue rulings and revenue procedures online, in the form of the Internal Revenue Bulletins, although I had to report that the "Only problem is they're in Adobe '.PDF' format; you need the freebie Adobe Acrobat viewer software to read them." -- http://benefitslink.com/whatsnew/archive/960915.html Unfortunately some of the links that were in the original What's New pages have been deleted -- at one time I was going through the pages and deleting any links that had gone bad. They would have been of interest looking back 20 years ago, but who knew they'd be looking back 20 years! I was only in my early 30's, and of course was immortal and would not be getting older older very soon. The birthday of the message boards appears to be September 8, 1996, so they're almost 20! Maybe we should think about how to celebrate that, coming up in less than 6 months! -- http://benefitslink.com/whatsnew/archive/960908.html Unfortunately the earliest message threads have been lost in the ether, probably due to changes that were made in the software over the years, when data migration was a much bigger deal. The first software came from a CGI/Perl book then available at many bookstores (though I didn't know it at the time); I remember shelling out $500 in 1996 dollars for a computer expert to install it for me and show how to use it! But I was so thrilled, and didn't think anything of it. Then I moved to vBulletin, then to the current IP Board by Invision Power Services. (BTW, IP Board has a new version available, which is much more user friendly and seems to have a good bit more in functionality -- I am playing with an installation on a beta server and will let you know when it's in a version that you could play with, to help determine whether it's worth the upgrade, not in monetary terms but in terms of needing to get used to some different interface. Or take a look now one of the vendor's message boards at https://invisionpower.com/forums/forum/481-product-feedback/ -- but I have recently found and am intrigued by a different vendor that provides a much simpler interface with searching features that may be as good or better -- it's called Discourse, and it's by the team that runs the very useful Stack Overflow board for software developers -- please take a look at http://try.discourse.org/ THANKS again for your notes, and THANKS so much for participating!