| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
June 22, 2001
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Webcast (click)
Webcast coming up July 26! "Implementing Binding Arbitration for Employment Law Claims" Instructors: D. Albert Brannen, Esq. and Tracy L. Moon, Jr., Esq., Fisher & Phillips LLP. Presented by Human Resource Consultants. Click on the link above to register now and purchase this Human Resource Consultants webcast.
Verizon to Provide Former GTE and Bell Atlantic Employees With Cash Balance Pension Plan
Excerpt: "Verizon unveiled its employee retirement package this week, a combination of old and new it described as among the best in the business. The communications giant was forged nearly a year ago in the merger of GTE and Bell Atlantic.... Employees with at least 10 years service get ... [a] choice between the new cash balance pension or the old pension plan, which was based on the five years of highest earnings." (MSNBC.com)
United Way Wins Appeal On Pension of Convicted Ex-President
Excerpt: "The United Way does not have to pay $2 million in pension benefits to its former president, William Aramony, who is serving a prison sentence for fraud, the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled." (Washington Post)
Court Rejects Former United Way President's Pension Claim
Excerpt: "William V. Aramony, the former president of United Way of America who is in federal prison for stealing from the charity, is not entitled to $2 million in supplemental retirement benefits he claimed under an employment contract, a federal appeals court ruled in a decision made public yesterday." (New York Times; free registration required)
Congressman Boehner Unveils Retirement Security Advice Bill
Press release. Excerpt: "John Boehner (R-Ohio) today formally unveiled legislation -- the Retirement Security Advice Act -- [which] allows employers to provide their workers with access to professional investment advice as long as the advisers fully disclose their fees and any potential conflicts.... Arcane and highly complex ERISA rules severely limit the ability of service providers (such as mutual funds, banks, or insurers) to provide investment advice to workers in the plans they service." (U.S. Newswire via Yahoo! Politics)
Invesmart Opposes Retirement Security Advice Act
Excerpt: "Invesmart, Inc., a national retirement services firm, strongly opposes the Retirement Security Advice Act (RSAA), introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Act will allow money managers to recommend their own mutual funds to retirement plan participants, creating a conflict of interest, according to Invesmart." (PR Newswire)
Mutual Funds Trade Association Applauds Introduction of "Retirement Security Advice Act"
Excerpt: "[E]xisting ERISA rules largely prohibit retirement plan participants from obtaining investment advice to help them decide how to allocate their retirement accounts." (Investment Company Institute)
American Benefits Council Lauds Boehner Retirement Advice Bill
Excerpt: "The Retirement Security Advice Act, introduced today by Representative John Boehner (R-OH), will help employees make these investment decisions more wisely by creating a targeted exemption to ERISA's prohibited transaction rules for the purpose of providing investment advice." (American Benefits Council)
Charging Participants Plan Expenses
Excerpt: "Until recently there were no clear guidelines for determining which plan expenses were required to be paid by the plan sponsor and which expenses could be passed on to the plan participants. In January the Department of Labor (DOL) issued significant guidance clarifying its position regarding the types of expenses that must be paid by the employer and those that may be paid from the assets of a qualified plan. This newsletter will review these new guidelines." (W. E. Stanley & Co., Inc.)
Japan's Parliament passes 401(k)-type pension law
Excerpt: "Japan's Parliament on Friday passed a law modeled after the U.S. 401(k) pension system that would allow workers to choose how their pensions are invested - a market valued at $121 billion. The upper house approval paves the way for the new system to begin Oct. 1 ..." (Associated Press)
Opinion: the Hard Arithmetic of Social Security
Excerpt: "To permanently solve Social Security's shortfall by adjusting the withholding tax would require a rise from today's 12.4 percent to about 17 percent. With no tax increase, benefits would have to be cut in the 2030s by about one-fourth. That is a grim choice. But there is a third way. If Americans abandon pay-as-you-go, workers can build up a retirement nest egg by compounding returns." (The Seattle Times)
Alternative Minimum Tax Hits Tech Workers
Excerpt: "It is estimated that about 1.5 million taxpayers filed returns this year involving the AMT, up from 853,000 in 1998. There are no precise figures on how many did so as a result of exercising incentive stock options last year. Three hundred people hoping to see the tax reformed showed up this week at an emotional town meeting in San Jose to share their frustrations." (Sacramento Bee)
Pension and Employee Benefit Provisions of EGTRRA
The bill's provisions are summarized and published in an online chart format. (Groom Law Group)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Director, Sales and Marketing | for CallConnect Communications in CO |
| Defined Benefit Specialist | for Paragon Consulting Group in NJ |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| Michael Greve joins Jesse Consulting, Inc. (Jesse Consulting Company, Inc.) |
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