| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
July 31, 2001 - 13,016 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Glasser LegalWorks (click)
This timely "how to" program will address new DOL claims procedures, the avoidance of fiduciary liability after the Harris Trust decision, identifying conduct that might trigger a DOL investigation under its Strategic Enforcement Plan, and more. Designed for ERISA fiduciaries, investment advisors, and in- house, corporate, tax, labor, and insurance counsel. September 21 in Chicago; October 24 in New York. Click for full details!
Failure to Deliver SPD When Employee First Eligible May Be Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Simeon v. Mount Sinai Medical Center (S.D.N.Y. 2001). Excerpt: "Dr. Simeon sued her employer, Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York (Mt. Sinai), for breaching its fiduciary duty by failing to give her a summary plan description (SPD) describing its tax-sheltered annuity (TSA) plan. Under its TSA plan, Mt. Sinai contributed 10% of compensation for eligible employees who enrolled for tax deferred contributions to the plan." (EBIA Weekly)
Updated Chart of Distributions Eligible for Rollover, Based on Types of Plans Involved
Excerpt: "To roll or not to roll? If that is your question, the following chart illustrates what can and cannot be rolled over based on the recent changes according to the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act 2001 (EGTRRA)." (TAGdata.com)
OPM Gets a Reading on Extent of Federal Employee Retirement Plan Mix-Ups
Excerpt: "About 5,400 government employees and retirees have asked the Office of Personnel Management to determine whether they were enrolled by their agencies in the wrong retirement systems. Their requests provide the first indication of the magnitude of the retirement foul-up, a longtime problem for OPM and several other agencies." (Washington Post)
Pension Consulting Firms Maintain Key Advisory Positions
Excerpt: "Despite the proliferation of data, information and the efforts of internet-based service providers to assume the role of pension fund consultants, consulting firms have maintained key positions as advisors to institutional investors.... The survey covers nearly 300 consulting firms and over 4,500 US-based plan sponsors each with over $100 million in assets." (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)
Retirement Savings Take Hit in Downturn
Excerpt: "The stock market fall, combined with increasing debt, has meant the largest absolute decline in household wealth since World War II, even after correcting for inflation, said Christian Weller, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington." (Associated Press via Excite News)
Opinion: How Secure on Social Security?
Excerpt: "'The assertion that Social Security is going bust in 2016 flies in the face of all reality,' Mr. Gephardt said. But neither the commission, nor its staff, nor the report ever said the system was 'going bust' in 2016. What it said was that beginning in 2016, Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it will be receiving in payroll taxes." (Washington Times)
Opinion: Measuring Returns From 'No' Account Trust Fund
Excerpt: "Absent reform, the program will start running out of money in 2016. That may seem hard to believe now, when Social Security is piling up large surpluses, but it's true. To understand why, consider for a moment how the program's 'trust fund' works. The money you pay into the system through your payroll taxes isn't sitting in an account somewhere with your name on it, the way trust funds in the real world work." (Washington Times)
Opinion: the Social Security IOUs Come Due in 2016
Excerpt: "It has been said many times, but is worth repeating, that the Social Security trust fund bears no resemblance to a private sector trust fund. Its 'assets' consist of nothing but nonmarketable Treasury securities essentially IOUs, promises by the federal government to fund Social Security from general revenues when Social Security payroll taxes are no longer sufficient to pay current Social Security benefits." (Washington Times)
Opinion: Bush Social Security Push is Under Cover of Crisis
Excerpt: "Unlike a temporary economic downturn, Social Security's looming insolvency is a genuine long-term problem. But the linkage between insolvency and privatization is not genuine. Just as the case for 10-year tax cuts has little to do with the immediate state of the economy, so the case for private retirement accounts has little to do with the solvency of the Social Security system." (Washington Post)
Overview of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, With Comments
Includes helpful practical comments from the law firm on each principal section in the Act. Excerpt: "The Employee Benefits practice group at Ruder, Ware & Michler, A Limited Liability S.C., has prepared the following discussion of the new law for the use of all of our private sector clients and friends." (Ruder, Ware & Michler, s.c.)
Using Deferred Compensation to Strengthen the Ethics of Government Financial Regulators
Working paper, available from Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. for $5. Excerpt: "In principle, a forfeitable fund of deferred compensation could be combined with provisions for measuring, verifying, and rewarding multiperiod performance to make top regulators accountable for maximizing the long-run net social benefits their enterprise produces." (Edward J. Kane published by the National Bureau of Economic Research)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Daily Valuation Administrator | for WESPAC Plan Services, Inc. in CA |
| Trust Officer/Trust Administrator | for CNA TRUST in CA |
| Retirement Plan Analyst/Pension Administration | for BAE SYSTEMS in TX |
| Consultant-AWIBNL14252-CDM | for Wachovia in GA |
Newly Posted Webcasts (Post Yours!)
| Making a Federal Case out of Health Care: Five Years of HIPAA | on July 31, 2001 presented by Cato Institute |
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Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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