| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
December 13, 2002 - 13,150 subscribers
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Updated: Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2000-- Analysis of Census Bureau Data (PDF)
30 pages; 12/12/02. This report summarizes data from the Bureau of the Census on the number of workers with retirement savings accounts and their average account balances. It also presents an analysis of the economic and demographic characteristics of workers that bear a statistically significant relationship to retirement account balances and total household wealth. (Congressional Research Service)
Understanding 401(k) Service Delivery Models
Excerpt: "There are three main models used by vendors to delivery 401k products to plan sponsors. When doing a vendor search, it is important that you, the plan sponsor, understand the strengths and weaknesses of each because each model will impact differently your workload, plan expenses, and the way services are delivered to you and your employees. Understanding them will also help you compare and evaluate vendors as they present their offerings to you." (401kHelpCenter.com)
Pay-As-You-Go Social Security and the Aging of America: An Economic Analysis (PDF)
25 pages. Excerpt: "Because it is a mature pay-as-you-go retirement system, Social Security provides current and future workers with below-market returns. These workers bear the burden of the unfunded liability arising from windfall gains to past retirees. Alan D. Viard uses these principles to examine the effects of three demographic developments ..." (Federal Reserve Board of Dallas)
Commentary: Did Employee Stock Ownership Drive United Into Bankruptcy?
Excerpt: "If you study what was wrong with United, and what's right with successful companies in which employees have equity, one thing is consistent: When firms make employees feel as though they have a say in what a company does, and when employees feel as though they're working alongside managers rather than against them, companies work better." (Farhad Manjoo on salon.com)
Lecture on Strategic Asset Allocation: Portfolio Choice for Long-Term Investors (PDF)
Luncheon presentation on 1/4/02 to the American Economic Association and American Finance Association. Excerpt: "I'd like to talk today about my recent work on strategic asset allocation, the theory of portfolio choice for long-term investors. My book on this subject, written with Luis Viceira, has just been published by Oxford University Press ..." (John Y. Campbell of Harvard University, author of award-winning book of the same title)
Strategic Asset Allocation: Portfolio Choice for Long-Term Investors
Link to online ordering page for this book; just awarded the Paul A. Samuelson Award from the TIAA-CREF Institute. See http://www.tiaa-cref.org/pressroom/index.html for a link to the 12/10/02 press release. (Oxford University Press USA)
Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
S-Corp A is a consulting business owned 100% by wife. S-Corp B is a construction company owned as follows: Husband 55%, Husband's Dad 15%, Husband and Wife's 30 year old Son 10%, and two unrelated individuals 20%. Is this a controlled group? Suppose A is a legitimate consulting corporation but that typically 90% of its revenues result from services performed for B. Does that change your opinion? (BenefitsLink.com)
Commentary: Don't Let Cash Balance Pension Changes Catch You By Surprise
Excerpt: "[P]erhaps the most significant difference between a traditional pension plan and a cash-balance plan is that the value of a traditional plan doesn't really begin to swell until the worker hits 50. So if you work for a company that's converting from an old pension to this new-style pension and you are about 45, you'll be losing a lot of potential retirement money." (The Houston Chronicle)
Employee Ownership Update for December 12
NCEO executive director Corey Rosen reports on United Airlines's bankruptcy and the fate of its ESOP; the SEC's plan to change rules on voting on stock option expensing; and new studies on whether stock option expensing would really matter. (The National Center for Employee Ownership)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Legislative Wrap-Up: Highlights, Accomplishments and Postponements
Excerpt: "During the 2001-2002 term, Congress focused on a range of benefits-related issues. It enacted important retirement security provisions as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) and an economic stimulus package that provided funding and premium relief for defined benefit plans. Congress also passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ..." (Watson Wyatt's Insider)
When Boomers Become Seniors: Where They'll Be Living in USA
Nifty interactive online chart. (Forbes.com)
Tax Court Has Jurisdiction To Determine Whether Workers Are "Employees," Amount of Taxes
The U.S. Tax Court has held that it has jurisdiction over additional individuals whom the Internal Revenue Service classified as 'employees' rather than independent contractors and related additional tax liabilities, even though the IRS did not originally raise those issues at trial. The case is Evans Publishing, Inc. v. Commissioner (Docket No. 8278-00. 119 T.C. No. 14). (SpencerNet)
Forbes Presents Online, Free Versions of Corporate Annual Reports
Excerpt: "Welcome to The Annual Reports Service, a FREE Service provided by WILink and Forbes.com. The Annual Reports Service provides you with quick access to annual reports and other information on select companies. Use the following search options to find the information in which you are interested." (Forbes.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrator
for White Plains law firm with expanding daily valuation department
in NY
Associate - Plan Services
for Mullin Consulting, Inc.
in CA
Product Support-Project Manager
for Transamerica-The Winning Organization
in CA
Health & Welfare Supervisor
for NY/NJ area
in NJ, NY
Pension Plan Administrator
for Thomas F. Barrett, Inc.
in MD
Manager - Plan Administrator
for Gleeson, Sklar, Sawyers & Cumpata LLP
in IL
Employee Benefits Attorney
for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
in DC
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Medical Errors TeleConference
on December 11, 2002
presented by Kaisernetwork.org
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
HIPAA Privacy
in MA
January 15, 2003
Massachusetts Metrowest Chapter of WEB Worldwide Employee Benefits Network
HIPAA and Other Health Benefits Laws: Compliance Assistance Seminar
in DC
January 23, 2003
U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration and District of Columbia Department of Insurance
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
ERNST & YOUNG LAUNCHES eAdvisorPlus, CONNECTING EMPLOYEES TO FINANCIAL ADVICE -- LIVE AND ONLINE Leader in employee financial education offers personalized guidance and advice through high- touch, high- tech application
(Ernst & Young, LLP)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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