Bob the Swimmer

It is a small world in our business and what goes around, comes around. I just can't respect them or their marketing campaign which makes it sound like they're out for the public's best interest. Be safe.

Peter with due respect to the vendor---My client the CFO early on tipped his hand that he did not favor these individual contracts (wish he had not done that)--so they treated him with a lack of decorum and professionalism--made us wait in their lobby in Charlotte after we flew there for more than an hour before they shunted us to a small nondescript conference room---I found out that a larger plan in our geographic area---the much larger Jefferson Health System where my son is an endocrinologist, was allowed to cancel its individual contracts quickly and cashed out in apposition to the 9-year trailing provisions--so size matters ! TIAA maintained a campaign of calling our individual participants at home to keep their funds there--again, in my opinion, unprofessional the way it was done. I am a fan of yours and live in a 'burb of Philly part of the year and have been an ERISA attorney for more than 49 years.

I can attest to the fact from long experience that Michael is a good man-- I would call him or Scott or Marcus as they each could probably help you. BOB

Belgarath --I've had one experience years ago when TIAA pushed back and actually called participants at dinner time to try to influence them not to cash out. And the biggest problem was there was a nine-year lagging cashout of the annuities if they did decide to cash out. Don't have a name but our client was treated IMHO very rudely by the vendor as we even flew to their HQ in Charlotte to discuss this issue. There should be some legislation addressing this problem with old participant-signed annuities tied to the vendor. BOB

My recollection when faced with this problem years ago is that the annuities might be a contract between the participant and the RK. In that case, maybe AMDG's idea might work. We had a devil of a time with a major national provider of NFP assets who even called participants at dinnertime in an active campaign to keep them. And this, when we learned that a larger, more prestigious account, they let distribute all the annuities to participants. Another problem is the annuity language might allow say a to 10-year distribution tail which is unconscionable in today's world.

My recollection is that the regs regarding non-profit entities (501(c)(3) ?) suggest a controlled group concept involving shared Board members and control by one entity over the other. That's my recollection without looking it up. But Peter is right, Carol is the person to ask and I have worked with her firm in the past.

Dear AngerShark-- I agree fully with Peter and ESOP Guy-- Early in my career I worked in DC in NTD for a Big Four and was located within a block of the ESOP Association--(late 80s) and once a quarter I would walk to their offices and peruse their books and publications--NCEO is a a great source ! The NCEO membership is well worth it.

Also Conway Twitty's van !

In the “old” days, greater than 20 years ago, we were successful with a number of reasonable cause statements including sickness or illness, negligence of a prior service provider and other reasons. Have not done this in a long time.

In past years, Relius offered a plan document also.

I am a 48+ year consulting veteran (who holds all of you in high esteem ) who, as part of my community service, heads a small NFP Benefits Committee for the past 10 years that is going out for RFP again this month for TPA and related services for our small 401(k) plan. I have several friends who have already weighed in on Principal's services for the smaller plan market, but wondered what your experience(s) are. I hold Principal in high regard as a company, yet have both pros and cons for small plan administration so am interested in anything down to the finest detail that you want to share (fees, communications, etc.). Please don't hold anything back both pro and con--- feel free to write me at rjones5335@aol.com in confidence. Principal would partner with another vendor in this endeavor. BTW, we are not unhappy with our current service providers, but are following reasonable Committee's protocols to go out to bid every 3-4 years. And over the years, in my days (1985-2000) at one of the Big Four in National Tax in DC, several of our talented lawyers around the country left to join Principal's staff and seemed to prosper there. Thank you ! Be safe. BOB

Schedule E income is never earned income for retirement plan contributions. It’s rental or royalty income and does not qualify. No extenuating circumstances.

Agree with Peter--is it a 457(b) or (f) Plan ?

Belgarath is absolutely right---my cost this year for a membership was $275--it is well worth it IMHO if you work with ESOPs. BOB

NASPP also has great materials on this.

Agree with Nate S.--in fact, the mortgage company or bank will in our experience be absolutely detail-anal in requesting documentation as to where the amount came from, to that point, even statements from 60-90 before showing where it came from. Just went through that a month ago for a client.

I have seen separate documents for this done by consultants or law firms . I would start with one of the large volume document providers or a good ERISA law firm.

Connor We know someone good we’ve worked with for over 30 years. Call me at 6103164668 if you’d like his contact info. Be safe. BOB

Hope this is not a dumb question: We have a client who has maintained an employer-paid disability program for over 20 years. New executives were able to join on the renewal date each year, provided that they had one year of service by that date. Last year, to entice an executive to join their firm, they allowed her to enter the plan without the required one-year service credit. There are other new hires for the coming year. Should they be allowed in without the required service credit or can the employer make them wait until they have 1 year of service? In other words, can the employer make an exception for one executive and then go back and manage the eligibility like it was done prior? Thank you !

I would say no--has to be a plan in place for the deferral election (which operates before the pay is earned) to be operable.

ALI-CLE had a great session also on this 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately cannot share that outline.

5500-EZ---Page 5, instructions for line 1b is one place where it's discussed--I'm sure other IRS instructions have this content.

Long ago, I remember occasionally companies changing their accounting method by filing IRS Form 3113 which I believe still accomplishes this, but have not read the instructions for quite a while.

PETER -- I've been in the business for more than 47 years and in National Tax for a Big 4 for 10 years and have seen numerous beneficiary forms and have never seen a "whole percentages " requirement. I've only seen what Cuse Fan has seen and I agree with him and FMSINC--what a bad case. That said, not sure in my simple brain why any firm cannot take 1/3 percentage of something . BOB

David's suggestion is a good one--we have advised participants where an employer is terminating a plan and distributions will follow in the same manner. I remember one client with a national retail chain that had several hundred missing persons on their census which is a real nightmare.