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January 10, 2003 - 12,861 subscribers
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Bush Tax Plan No Threat to 401(k) Accounts, Experts Say
Excerpt: "The millions of Americans whose stock investments are squirreled away in employer-sponsored 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts won't directly benefit from President Bush's proposal to eliminate personal income taxes on dividends.... Some critics of Bush's dividend tax cut say people who save money in 401(k)s or IRAs may be putting themselves at a comparative disadvantage in their old age." (Cox News Service via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
G.M. Warns of $2 Billion in Added Expenses From Pensions
Excerpt: "General Motors said [January 9, 2003] that expenses related to its pension plan would triple from $1 billion to nearly $3 billion this year. As a result, the company said, its operating earnings would fall about 25 percent from last year, to $5 a share." (New York Times; free registration required)
Kansas City Council OKs Early Retirement Package
Excerpt: "The Kansas City Council approved an incentive package Thursday designed to prompt several hundred city employees to retire and save $8.5 million in next year's budget.... The incentive raises the maximum retirement formula benefit to 80 percent of final average pay, up from the current cap of 70 percent. It also provides a $3,600 annual annuity for the former employees until they reach 65, to help them pay health-care costs until they qualify for Medicare." (Kansas City Star)
Pension Funds Are Under Pressure To Disclose Investments
Excerpt: "Venture capital firms have threatened to cut off their top source of money - public pension funds - if the funds disclose too much data about their VC investments. In the last month, two of the public sector's largest pension funds have released quarterly reports on their VC investments. They are the second and third public pension funds to release such data, in an effort to end legal action based on disclosure laws." (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! Finance)
Boehner Press Release Describes Plans to Reintroduce Pension Security Act
Press release. Excerpt: "The Pension Security Act will give workers new freedoms to diversify their retirement savings within three years; expand worker access to investment advice to help them manage their retirement accounts; empower workers to hold company insiders accountable for abuses; and give workers better information about their pensions. The following provides a more comprehensive summary ..." (U.S. House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH))
Summary of Pension Bill Introduced by Senate Democrats (PDF)
19 pages; includes summary of six other bills in addition to the S. 9, the Pension Protection and Expansion Act of 2003. (U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Labor Department Releases 2002 Form 5500s
Excerpt: "The Form 5500 and Form 5500-EZ for plan year 2002 are essentially unchanged from 2001. Certain modifications have been made to reflect changes in the law or regulations, to improve forms processing and to clarify the instructions. Modifications include, among other things: ..." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
Online Benefits Offer Sound Advice
Excerpt: "The payback for online benefits is obvious: It can significantly reduce the cost of running a human resource department by allowing employees to manage their benefits from the convenience of their desktop." (Internet World)
House Workforce Committee Republicans Preview 2003 Benefits Agenda
Press release. Excerpt: "Republicans on the House Education & the Workforce Committee today highlighted a number of key workforce priorities that the committee is expected to focus on early in 2003.... [Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH)] and Employer-Employee Relations Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) plan to reintroduce the Pension Security Act later in January." (Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives)
Stock Options Profits Benefited High-Tech Workers, Study Shows
Excerpt: "The high-tech industry's generosity with stock options in the 1990s enabled rank-and-file workers at the 100 largest Internet-based companies to cash in an average of $425,000 each in stock-option profits, according to new research." (The [San Jose] Mercury News via NewsAlert.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrator (JO#336)
for a third party administration firm
in IA
Project Manager
for Pyramid Digital Solutions
in AL
Employees Benefits Customer Service Representative
for Independent Insurance Agency
in CA
Consultant - OmniPlus - Plan Administrator / Business Analyst
for MK Consulting, Inc.
in ALL STATES
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Exploring the Options: New Ideas for Increasing Health Coverage
on January 8, 2003
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
Implications of Proposed Age Discrimination Regulations for Retirement Plans
on January 14, 2003
presented by Watson Wyatt
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Fifth Annual Conference, Retirement Research Consortium
in DC
May 15, 2003
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Managing Through Turbulent Times: The Market and Your Plan
in ALL STATES
February 4, 2003
National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
FlexPlus/Windows from DATAIR
(DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.)
Findley Davies Announces New Principals
(Findley Davies, Inc.)
Labor Department Releases 2002 Form 5500s
(U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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