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March 3, 2003 - 13,085 subscribers
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Arkansas Conforms to EGTRRA
Excerpt: "On February 26, 2003, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee signed legislation that conforms Arkansas corporate and personal income tax provisions to recent changes in federal laws governing the tax treatment of certain retirement accounts." (Tax.CCHGroup.com)
The Single-Participant 401(k)
Excerpt: "With the passage of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) millions more self-employed or small business owners with no employees (other than their spouse) have a new incentive to set up a 401(k) plan and increase their retirement savings." (The Journal of Accountancy)
Bankruptcy Judge Approves Termination of US Airways Pilots' Pension Plan, with Conditions
Excerpt: "U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell ruled late Saturday in Alexandria that although the Arlington-based airline could end its pilots' pension plan under bankruptcy law, the airline still had to prove that such a move would not violate its pilots' contract.... [T]he pilots were 'gratified' that the judge upheld the union's ability to argue in front of an arbitrator that ending the plan violated the pilots' collective bargaining agreement." (Washington Post)
Another Question is Answered in the Prototype Plans Q&A Column
Is the use of an "other" option in a prototype considered a modification to the approved prototype that will destroy automatic reliance pursuant to IRS Announcement 2001-77? (BenefitsLink.com)
Online Investment Advice Finds Few Takers
Excerpt: "A survey in 2001 by the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America found that, at most, 21 percent of employees have ever used 401(k) advice at the large companies that provide it." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Cash Balance Plans Encouraged Under Proposed Regulation
Excerpt: "Proponents of cash-balance plans say they are ideal for today's mobile work force. The plans also help younger workers build up savings quicker than traditional plans, they say. Cash-balance critics claim the plans discriminate against older workers who have spent years working for the same company." (The [Redding, Calif.] Record Searchlight)
Plaintiffs' Press Release: United Airlines Employees Sue ESOP, Committee
Excerpt: "According to the complaint, the plan trustees fell short of their duty when they failed to move ESOP holdings to less risky, more appropriate investments ... In September 2002, the UAL ESOP committee acknowledged this conflict of interest in a series of company documents and hired State Street Bank to provide independent recommendations, the complaint states. In the same month, State Street Bank concluded that the ESOP was over-invested in UAL stock ..." (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)
United Airlines Employees Sue ESOP Investment Committee
Excerpt: "The federal lawsuit seeks to recover losses for thousands of employees who were either participants or beneficiaries of the UAL ESOP as of July 19, 2001. The complaint alleges the plan's all-employee committee 'was not objective in its decision' to keep the plan exclusively invested in United parent UAL Corp. stock as it went into decline." (AP via Yahoo! News)
U.S. Retirement Funds Down $1 Trillion
Excerpt: "U.S. retirement funds for public employees, corporate pensions and endowments lost $1 trillion in the last three years after being hammered by poor stock returns, according to a survey released last week." (Reuters via The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Opinion: Proposal by Northwest Airlines to Fund Pension Plan with Stock Contribution Smells Funny
Excerpt: "The airline wants federal permission to pull off an ingenious stock-for-cash scheme. Instead of paying cash into various pension funds, Northwest wants to fulfill its obligations with stock from something called Pinnacle Airlines Inc., a 30-plane outfit that just happens to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northwest." (The [Minneapolis] Star Tribune)
401(k) Investors Last Year Had Smaller Losses Than Overall Stock Market
Excerpt: "The key to the 401(k) investors' performance was diversification. Most 401(k) participants held some fixed-income investments like bonds and money market funds in their accounts, and their gains partially offset stock market losses. As a result, the average 401(k) lost only 13.3 percent last year, compared with a decline of 22.1 percent for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, including reinvested dividends." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Participant Report Card for 2002: the Impact of the Bear Market on Retirement Savings Plans (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "New data on personalized investment performance reveals that diversification of assets, as well as ongoing contributions, have helped mitigate the impact of the three-year bear market on participant retirement portfolios." (The Vanguard Center for Retirement Research)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
D.C.-area Employers Salute Reservists, Expand Benefits
Excerpt: "By law, companies must allow reservists to attend military training and guarantee their jobs after tours of duty. But some are going one step further, offering supplemental wages, flexible return policies, extended health benefits and family counseling as well.... Adding benefits has become the easiest way for employers to show their support for the war on terrorism, said Gene Fairbrother, a business consultant for the National Association for the Self-Employed." (Washington Times)
Earnings and Other Compensation Data at BLS: What Users Seek and What BLS Offers
Excerpt: "This article describes the earnings and other compensation data available from BLS, highlighting the differences in the various programs." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Financial Analyst - Executive Benefits - Deerfield, IL
for Mullin Consulting, Inc.
in IL
Implementations Specialist (Senior)
for Northern Trust Retirement Consulting, L.L.C.
in GA
Benefits Manager
for The First Church of Christ, Scientist
in MA
Health & Welfare Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in OH
Enrolled Actuary
for Invesmart
in KY
Client Service Representative - Employee Benefits
for Black Mountain Management Inc.
in NY
Benefits Writer
for Enwisen, Inc.
in CA
Insurance Compliance Senior Compliance Analyst
for Transamerica - The winning organization
in CA
Pension Administrator
for DeSantiago Pension Consulting, L.L.C.
in AZ
Benefits Manager
for T-Mobile
in WA
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Overview of U.S. Mercer National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
on February 28, 2003
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
A Second Look at the Cash Balance Proposed Regulations: What Do They Really Mean?
in ALL STATES
March 13, 2003
ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits; Other Organizations
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
ICMA Retirement Corporation Creates Public Employee Memorial Scholarship Fund To Aid Families Of Fallen Heroes
(ICMA Retirement Corporation)
BenefitsEssentials Explains New HIPAA Privacy Rules
(BenefitsEssentials.com)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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