| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
April 16, 2001
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Business for Sale (click)
View our online listing of Employee Benefits Businesses For Sale! No charge to access any of the information. For just $200, you can list your business and all the particulars, using our page to reach prospective buyers for your business nationwide. (Over 7,000 people use this site per day; over 71,000 different people per month!) And you know why they're here: for employee benefits compliance information and tools. There's no better place to advertise your Employee Benefits Business For Sale.
Phased Retirement: No Time to Put Your Feet Up as Retirement Comes in Stages
Excerpt: "Phased retirement can take many forms. At universities, it is used to clear out elderly tenured professors. But in the private sector, it is being promoted as a way to keep valued older workers in a tight labor market. Workers in their 50's who would otherwise take advantage of early retirement provisions in their pensions are offered the chance to work reduced hours -- something surveys show many want to do -- and supplement their reduced incomes by tapping those pensions." (New York Times; free registration required)
Another Question is Answered in the Distributions: Taxation and Planning Q&A Column
I am 48 and would like to start taking early withdrawals. I have two IRAs. Let's say I start taking substantially equal payments from one of the IRAs in accordance with Code Section 72(t)(2)(A)(iv). Later, could I start taking substantially equal payments from my second IRA? (BenefitsLink.com)
ASPA Publishes Online Pension Course
Excerpt: "ASPA's 1st Online Course: Pension Administrator's Course - Part A -- The 2001 edition of the PA-1A course and exam is available online. This web-based course allows candidates to study, review questions, take the exam, and receive immediate results--all online." (American Society of Pension Actuaries)
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Cash Balance Plan Case
Excerpt: "The IRS standard is sometimes referred to as the 'whipsaw' calculation, because the two-step calculation requires cash balance plan sponsors to annuitize participants' lump sums and then convert the benefit back to a lump sum again. In any event, the United States Supreme Court has now refused further review [of the 11th Circuit decision agreeing with the IRS' position], meaning the appellate court decision will stand." (Cypen & Cypen)
Estimated Tax Penalty for Conversion to Roth IRA Not Abated
Excerpt: "A recent IRS Service Center Advice memorandum has indicated that the IRS may not abate the individual estimated tax penalty that is based upon the additional income reported for a taxable year pursuant to a conversion from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA." (Taxline)
Summary of the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for Federal Employees (PDF)
47 pages; May 2001 edition. Here's the equivalent of a summary plan description distributed to the federal government's TSP participants. (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
Guide to Federal Thrift Savings Plan Investments (PDF)
65 pages; May 2001 edition. Here's how the federal government communicates investment options to its TSP participants. (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
Saving Puzzles and Saving Policies in the United States
Working paper, available for $5 from NBER. Excerpt: "In the past two decades the widely reported personal saving rate in the United States has dropped from double digits to below zero. First, we attempt to account for the decline in the National Income and Product Accounts saving rate.... Second, while NIPA saving measures are well suited for measuring the supply of new funds for investment and capital accumulation, it is not clear that they should be the target of government saving policies." (Annamaria Lusardi, Jonathan Skinner, Steven Venti, published by National Bureau of Economic Research)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| 401(k) Client Account Manager | for New York Life Benefit Services LLC in MA |
| Compensation Analyst | for Raytheon Technical Services Company in DC, VA |
| Senior Vice President Operation | for Fast-Growing National EAP/Life Events Firm in OR |
| Regional Vice President of EAP | for Fast-Growing National EAP/Life Services Firm in OR |
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