| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
November 20, 2001 - 12,541 subscribers
Today's sponsor: In Plain English
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(Help BenefitsLink to provide this newsletter at no charge to you -- our sponsors pay our way. Remember to visit them periodically; we try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
EBRI/ICI Study Finds Asset Allocation of 401(k) Plan Participants Basically Unchanged in 2000
Press release. Excerpt: "The EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project, the most comprehensive database on participants in 401(k) plans, found that the average asset allocation of 401(k) participants was essentially unchanged from year-end 1999, despite a year in which many equity owners earned negative investment returns as broad market indexes saw their largest annual declines in nearly 20 years." (PR Newswire via Excite News)
401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances and Loan Activity in 2000 (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "This research uses data gathered by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI) in their collaborative effort --the EBRI/ICI Participant-Directed Retirement Plan Data Collection Project. The EBRI/ICI data collection project is the most comprehensive source of 401(k) plan participant-level data available to date." (Sarah Holden and Jack VanDerhei, published by the Investment Company Institute)
IRS Releases Covered Compensation Tables for 2002
Excerpt: Covered compensation is 'the average of the contribution and benefit bases in effect under section 230 of the Social Security Act (the 'Act') for each year in the 35-year period ending with the year in which the employee attains social security retirement age.... For purposes of determining covered compensation for the 2002 year the taxable wage base is $84,900." (Internal Revenue Service)
The Transition to Personal Accounts and Increasing Retirement Wealth
Working paper available from SSRN.com for $5. Excerpt: "In this paper we use both macro and micro data to describe the change in retirement assets and in retirement saving. We give particular attention to the possible substitution of pension assets in one plan for assets in another plan such as the substitution of 401(k) assets for defined benefit plan assets." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
The Private Equity Game
Excerpt: "The good news is that there is simply much less private equity capital chasing the few deals that remain in the marketplace, holding out the potential for healthier returns on deals that have been struck during 2001.... The bad news, of course, is that the technology and telecommunications melt-downs that began last year have left plan sponsors, who had enjoyed private equity returns well north of 20% through the latter half of the 1990s, with write-downs of significant proportions." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Opinion: Respect Right of Retirement Plan to Invest in Tobacco Companies
Excerpt: "A recent outcry among students is demanding the reining and restriction of faculty rights. The disputed issue is not a public matter but rather is a University retirement plan that allows faculty to choose where their money is invested, namely a plan that makes large investments in Phillip Morris. Students ... argue that the Philip Morris institution is immoral, and feel that all faculty investment plans should be 'socially responsible' as some are already." (University Wire via Excite News)
Potential Paths of Social Security Reform
Working paper available for $5 from SSRN.com. Excerpt: "The basic plan that we present in greatest detail combines a transfer to the personal retirement account of a portion of the individual's payroll tax equal to 1.5 percent of earnings if the individual agrees to deposit an equal out-of-pocket amount. The additional national saving that results from this option leads to increased business investment and therefore to increased general tax revenue ..." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
The Future of Social Security Reform
Excerpt: "It's also unlikely that Congress will devote the time needed to pass a Social Security bill in the near future. After the Sept. 11 hijackings and the recent spate of anthrax attacks, Social Security reform is low on the Congressional to-do list.... Some analysts think next year's Congressional elections already pushed reform to the 2003 agenda." (CNN Money)
For Social Security Reform Ideas, Look to Sweden
Excerpt: "Sweden this year established private individual social security accounts for all its citizens. The significance of this extraordinary move toward national pension program reform is that it occurred in one of the most socialist-oriented nations in the free world. Nevertheless, since Jan. 1 all Swedes with wage income have been allowed to divert 13.5 percent of their payroll taxes to a private pension account like those proposed by America's Social Security privatization advocates." (Kansas City Star via IFEBP)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Standard and Poor's Financial Communications
Excerpt: "Standard & Poor's Financial Communications is the industry leader in providing print and online communications for both retirement plan sponsors and participants. We offer both off-the-shelf and custom communications products to fit any timeframe, budget or plan type. Our services include newsletters, enrollment kits, educational seminars, online educational libraries, calculators, posters and more."
Opinion: U.S. Retailers' CEO Pay Isn't All That Fitting
Excerpt: "If pay were coats, the range for U.S. retailers' top executives would go from what the late Richard Nixon once termed a 'good Republican cloth coat' all the way to a floor-length sable with an ermine lining." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Analysis: Employee Benefits Rights for Persons on Military Leave
Excerpt: "Military call-ups resulting from September 11 require employers to brush up on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act ('USERRA'). The benefits requirements of USERRA apply to covered personnel who leave their employment for military service and return to work with the employer within the periods specified by law." (Nixon Peabody LLP)
Recent Bankruptcy Filings Accompanied by Cuts in Retiree Benefits
Excerpt: "Thousands of retired workers have been similarly shaken over the past year as a record number of publicly traded companies have filed for bankruptcy protection. Several big-name companies have suspended or raised doubts about retiree insurance, severance and parts of pension checks." (Kansas City Star)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Document and Design Manager JO#271 | for Third Party Administration Firm in IA |
| 401(k)/DC Plan Administrator/Manager | for CS&L, CPA's in FL |
| Compliance Manager 1 | for Fleet National Bank in MA |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| ASC Announces System Release with EGTRRA Law Changes (Actuarial Systems Corporation (ASC)) |
| Firstdoor Signs Exclusive Multi-year Strategic Agreement With BNA; Nation's Leading Professional Publisher (Firstdoor) |
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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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