2019 Retirement Plans: Design Considerations and Administration

WorldatWork

Retirement plan design and administration are challenging tasks for the human resources professional, who must balance organizational objectives with the financial resources needed to ensure that employees are benefiting from and contributing to their retirement plans. This course provides you with an introduction to strategic retirement plan design and administration with emphasis on defined contribution plans.

In this course, you will learn about:

• Aligning retirement plan objectives with organizational strategy.
• Defined contribution plan types.
• Key aspects of 401k plans.
• Fiduciary requirements for retirement plans.
• General plan investment and financing guidelines.
• Auditing retirement plans for effectiveness, financial performance and plan delivery.
• Integrating retirement plans when mergers or acquisitions occur.

This course contains U.S. specific content and provides a thorough overview of retirement plans. It is an ideal course for those who need foundational knowledge in retirement plan design and administration.

Specific areas covered include: 

• Introduction to Retirement Plans
  Learn about aligning the retirement plan with the organization’s strategy. This section also explores the objectives of employee-sponsored retirement plans, retirement income needs and sources, an overview of employer-sponsored retirement plans and the differences between qualified and nonqualified plans.
   
• Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans
  Understand the evolution of employer-sponsored retirement plans, the characteristics and types of defined contribution plans and hybrid plans.
   
• Plan Design Considerations
  Gain knowledge about plan design considerations and regulations, including issues related to the IRS definition of compensation and service, contributions, vesting and distributions as well as comparison of the characteristics of various elective contributions.
   
• Nondiscrimination Tests
  Learn about IRS nondiscrimination tests for retirement plans, including terminology and rules. This section will also explore safe harbors, Social Security integration and new comparability plans.
   
• Fiduciary Responsibilities, Plan Investment and Financing
  Understand stakeholder responsibilities, fiduciary issues, the difference between financial education and financial advice, ERISA Section 404(c) regulations and the role of the retirement plan committee.
   
• Plan Administration
  Gain skills in assessing the needs of the workforce and in assessing plan competitiveness. Learn about plan auditing.
   
• Implementing Changes in Retirement Plans
  Learn how to communicate with and advise management about the plan, including trends and recommendations. Gain insights about merger options, integrating retirement plans and protected and unprotected benefits.

Continue by clicking on the following link:
https://www.worldatwork.org/education/courses/retirement-plans-design-and-administration