| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
May 17, 2001
Today's sponsor: The Plan Sales System (click)
The Plan Sales System is a comprehensive, 16-step system for growing a retirement plan sales practice. It provides detailed resources, contact names and numbers, checklists, charts, handouts, letters, extensive prospecting techniques, descriptions of current market opportunities, and tools for planning and monitoring sales activity.
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act Passes Congress by 230-197 Vote (Press Release)
H.R. 1836 now contains the pension reform legislation, as well as other tax provisions. (House Ways & Means Committee)
Greece Shuts Down As Pension Protesters Strike
Excerpt: "Greek trade unionists, furious at government plans to reform its creaking pension system, shut down much of the country on Thursday and led thousands of protesters on to the streets." (Reuters via Excite News)
Protecting Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "This article focuses on employee retirement benefits, particularly pension plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and the extent to which they are insulated from the claims of creditors. Such protections owe their existence to a public policy goal of ensuring pension benefits to retirees and their dependents, thereby preventing them from becoming a burden to society. Not surprisingly, the protection of such assets depends on the particular state or federal law at issue." (Gideon Rothschild and Christopher Alliots on the Magner Financial Network)
Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
My company leases most of its employees from a staffing firm. We're uncertain whether they are common law employees of us, or leased employees. Can we assume they're leased employees and still cover them under our plan? (BenefitsLink.com)
Another Question is Answered in the Correcting Plan Defects Q&A Column
An employer sponsors a 401(k) plan. The plan document permits hardship withdrawals under specific circumstances. Due to an administrative error, the plan administrator allows participants who have not met the plan's hardship requirements to take "hardship distributions." Can this problem be voluntarily corrected? If so, what is the proper method of correction? (BenefitsLink.com)
Filling the Seats: Online Advice Providers Continue to Court Plan Sponsors
Excerpt: "The truth is, plan sponsors are hardly coming out in droves to offer online investment advice to their employees. Even at those plans that do offer online advice-- generally touted as the sexiest feature to hit the defined contribution market since daily valuation-- participants are just not flocking to it." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Dealing with the Market Downturn
This excerpt from the NCEO's newsletter for its members discusses how companies with employee stock plans can deal with the stock market downturn. At the plan level, companies can make sure their plans are structured to deal with a shifting market. At the employee level, plan participants need to know what ownership really means. (National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO))
CalPERS Sets Aside $475 Million For California
Excerpt: "Calpers, the largest U.S. public pension fund, said Monday it had set aside $475 million as part of its first fund directed at California and intended to spur growth in the nation's most-populous state. Calpers said it hired 11 venture capital and private equity firms to invest the funds across California ..." (Reuters via Excite News)
CalPERS to Put Funds in Underserved Areas
Excerpt: "The board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System has approved a pioneering $475-million initiative to channel investments into underserved urban and rural markets [throughout California]." (Los Angeles Times)
Federal Interest Rates Announced For Pensions
Interest rates for May 2001 have been announced for use in the operation and administration of qualified pension plans. (SpencerNet)
PBGC Issues June 2001 Interest Rates For Valuing Terminating Pension Plans
For single-employer pension plans terminating in June 2001, and for multiemployer plans undergoing a mass withdrawal, the interest rate established by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for calculating immediate annuities is 6.60%. (SpencerNet)
2001 Small Employer Retirement Survey
Excerpt: "The fourth annual Small Employer Retirement Survey (SERS) is an in-depth survey of retirement plan sponsorship among small employers (companies with five to 100 full-time workers). It provides insights into the challenge presented by the small employer market by demonstrating the underlying reasons for the lack of plan sponsorship." (Employee Benefit Research Institute, American Savings Education Council, Mathew Greenwald & Associates)
In Canada: Defined Contribution Plan Summit 2001
March 2001 issue. Excerpt: "The central themes of this year's conference explored in this report are: the importance and principles of good governance; money management; DC plan members' needs; plan design and pension committees; the ongoing education and advice debate; the new era of money management." (Benefits Canada)
Why Small Employers Don't Offer Pensions
Excerpt: "Employee desires for other kinds of compensation and companies' uncertain revenue streams are the top reasons businesses with 100 or fewer employees don't offer retirement plans, a survey released today finds." (CFO.com)
2001 Small Employer Retirement Survey: Can Small Employers Be Encouraged to Offer Retirement Plans?
Excerpt: "Small employers are generally viewed as a key factor to any significant expansion of retirement-plan coverage in the United States, since the vast majority of large firms offer retirement plans to their workers but most small firms do not. According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Labor, 79 percent of full-time employees in medium- and large- sized firms are covered by an employment-based retirement plan, compared with 46 percent in small firms." (PR Newswire, via Excite News)
Strategic and Tactical Marketing Plans for Financial Advisory Services - Part II
Excerpt: "In Part I, we discussed strategic marketing plans. Now let's examine tactical marketing plans." (Practitioners Publishing Company)
Getting Boards to Address the "Triple Bottom Line"
Excerpt: "New report proposes a set of principles and actions to assist corporate boards in addressing the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental performance." (Mark Thomsen on SocialFunds.com)
2001 Edition of "Mutual Fund Factbook" Online
Excerpt (from chapter 5): 'Mutual funds accounted for $2.5 trillion, or 20 percent, of the $12.3 trillion U.S. retirement market at year-end 2000. The remaining $9.8 trillion of assets in the retirement market are managed by pension funds, insurance companies, banks, and brokerage firms." (Investment Company Institute)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Consultant, Employee Benefit | for The Standard Insurance Company in ALL STATES |
| 401(k) Administrator | for Benefit Management Inc. in MA, RI |
| Senior Administrative Analyst | for University of California, Office of the President, Human Resources and Benefits in CA |
| Defined Contributions Administrator | for Dreyfus in NY |
| Internal Consultant, Benefits | for EarthLink, Inc. in CA, GA |
| Cash Accumulation Analyst | for Philips PACE - A Division of Philips Electronics North America in FL |
| Regional Benefits Manager | for St. Joseph Health System in CA |
| 401(k) Retirement Plan Administrator | for Small Business Insurance Agency, Inc. in MA |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Green Bay | in WI on August 6, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Scranton, PA | in PA on August 7, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Grand Rapids, MI | in MI on August 7, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| Legislative Update on IRC 125 Benefits and New Regulations on Privacy, SPDs and more | in MD on June 21, 2001 presented by Baltimore Chapter of ISCEBS |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Columbus, OH | in OH on August 7, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Little Rock, AR | in AR on August 14, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Seattle, WA | in WA on August 14, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Cincinnati, OH | in OH on August 14, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Harrisburg, PA | in PA on August 21, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Oklahoma City | in OK on August 21, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Pittsburgh | in PA on August 21, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Portland, OR | in OR on August 21, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Denver | in CO on August 21, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Cleveland | in OH on August 28, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Detroit | in MI on August 28, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - San Diego | in CA on August 28, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Milwaukee | in WI on August 28, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| Form 5500 for 2000 | in NY on May 30, 2001 presented by New York Chapter of WEB |
| Washington Public Policy Update | in NY on June 14, 2001 presented by New York Chapter of WEB |
| Retirement Planning Seminar for CPAs and Financial Advisors | in CA on June 12, 2001 presented by CMC Retirement and Employee Benefits Specialists, Inc. |
| Retirement Planning Seminar for CPAs and Financial Advisors | in CA on June 19, 2001 presented by CMC Retirement and Employee Benefits Specialists, Inc. |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| SeniorAdvocate -- providing caregivers the support *they* need (ARAG Group) |
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