| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
March 18, 2003 - 13,088 subscribers
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ASPA's Executive Director: Send a Message to Your Congressional Representatives Now
Excerpt: "We need your help getting the message to Congress that small business retirement plans need similar treatment so that they remain attractive to small business owners. Otherwise, many small business workers will be left without a meaningful way to save for retirement." (Brian Graff, Esq. of the American Society of Pension Actuaries)
ASPA Comments on Proposed Cash Balance/Age Discrimination IRS Regs
Excerpt: "The importance of promoting defined benefit plan coverage for our nation's workers cannot be understated. Due to the decline in the stock market, millions of American workers relying solely on defined contribution vehicles for retirement savings have been forced to either delay retirement or seriously reevaluate their retirement standard of living expectations." (American Society of Pension Actuaries)
New Retirement Savings Tax Credit Has Its Critics
Excerpt: "A credit worth up to $1,000 to retirement savers is arguably the year's most powerful new tax break. It not only could wipe out some or all of your 2002 tax bill-- even if you're a procrastinator-- but it also will boost your odds of retiring comfortably. At least, that's how the retirement savings contribution credit was drawn up in the blueprints." (The Mercury News via the Orange County [Calif.] Register)
The 403(b) Commandments
Excerpt: "In many ways the 403(b) can be quite complex -- where to invest, how to invest, how to start, etc. But in many ways it can be quite simple if you pay attention to The 403(b) Commandments." (403bWise.com)
PBGC Immediate Interest Rate Hits All-Time Low: 3.5 Percent
Excerpt: "The immediate interest rate for valuing lump sum payments for the month of April 2003 is 3.50%." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Declining Funded Status of U.S. Pensions
Excerpt: "The funded status of U.S. pension plans has declined sharply since 2000, and more employers will be required to make contributions for the 2002 plan year, according to the 2002 Survey of Actuarial Assumptions and Funding, Watson Wyatt's 34th annual survey of U.S. pension plans." (Watson Wyatt)
Overview: Weathering the Turbulent Storms of Pension Funding
2 pages. Excerpt: "Companies are facing dramatic and often traumatic minimum pension contributions. This article explains why companies that have not been required to make contributions to their pension plans for over a decade are now facing stiff contributions, if not this year, then next year. Most companies will see a spike in the near future unless Congress acts quickly." (Aon Consulting)
Airline Crisis Bedevils PBGC
Excerpt: "The shadow of a possible bankruptcy filing by [AMR Corp., which operates American Airlines,] falls far beyond the employees and stockholders of the world's largest airline. At the federally chartered agency that insures the pension benefits of 44 million retirees, officials are fretfully watching the airline industry and proposing rule changes aimed at stemming the tide of pension defaults." (The Dallas Morning News via NewsAlert.com)
Would You Like Your Retirement Money All at Once or Bit by Bit Forever?
Excerpt: "More and more pension plans are now offering workers the choice of how they want to receive their benefits: as the traditional annuity, in which they receive a certain income each month for life, or as a lump sum representing an estimate of the annuity's value." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
CalPERS to Begin Disclosing Venture Capital Fund Investment Performance
Excerpt: "The $130 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System is one of the world's largest investors in the secretive $600 billion venture capital industry; other public institutions are likely to follow its lead." (The [San Jose, Calif.] Mercury News)
Pension Reform and Economic Performance in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s
Working paper available for downloading for $5 from SSRN.com. Excerpt: "The late 1980s saw a major shift in pension provision in the United Kingdom, when for the first time individuals were permitted to opt out of part of the social security program into individual retirement saving accounts [and] membership of company-provided pension plans (occupational schemes) was made voluntary. The paper explores the possible impact of these, and other related changes in social security ..." ( Richard Disney, Carl Emmerson, Sarah Smith, by the National Bureau of Economic Research)
Social Security Trust Fund Shows Some Improvement
Excerpt: "The financial outlook for the U.S. Social Security retirement program improved slightly over the last year with the trust fund facing exhaustion by 2042 instead of 2041 as previously forecast, the program's trustees said on Monday." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Second Circuit Case Reminds Plan Administrators of Obligations with Respect to Distributing SPDs
Excerpt: "A plan administrator's procedures for distributing summary plan descriptions (SPDs) to participants must 'be reasonably calculated to achieve actual distribution,' according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.... This case is particularly timely because many plan administrators are preparing to send out SPDs or summaries of material modifications (SMMs) in order to comply with the updated SPD content requirements, which are now effective for most plans." (Deloitte & Touche Human Capital Advisory Services)
More Employees Are Using Online Enrollment In Benefit Plans
The percentage of employees enrolling in benefit plans via the Internet has almost doubled over the past three years, according to research recently conducted by Hewitt Associates. The percentage of employees choosing online enrollment for their 2003 benefits was 70%, exactly the same percentage as in 2002. That figure is up from 51% in 2000 and only 36% in 1999. (SpencerNet)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Plan Administrator
for The Angell Pension Group, Inc.
in RI
Defined Benefit Project/Process Consultant - SS-021101-006
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Defined Benefit New Business Consultant
for New York Life Investment Management, LLC
in MA
Director, Retirement Benefit Plans
for Gatti & Associates
in KY, OH
Defined Benefits Pension Consultant
for Florida Power & Light
in FL
Employee Benefit Consultant II
for Wachovia
in GA
Employee Benefits Trust Officer III
for Regions Financial Corporation
in AL
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
401(k) Plans For The Financial Professional In California: What You Need To Know To Service And Retain a 401(k)
in CA
May 20, 2003
Lorman Education Services
401(k) Plans For The Financial Professional In California: What You Need To Know To Service And Retain a 401(k)
in CA
May 29, 2003
Lorman Education Services
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
AIG Advisor Group Joins 401Konnect Marketplace
(401Konnect, Inc.)
Mullin Consulting Posts Sales Increase in 2002
(Haese & Wood)
Labor Department Announces Electronic Access To Health Filings on MEWAs
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
WEB Announces 2003 Award Recipients.
(Worldwide Employee Benefit Network)
Pyramid Digital Solutions Acquires Exclusive Rights To Emplanet Technology
(Pyramid Digital Solutions)
Deferral.com Announces Client Customization And Automated Processing Features For Executive Deferral Plans
(Deferral.com, Inc.)
State Retirement Plans Take Issue with Sensationalist Research
(National Association of State Retirement Administrators)
Movers and Shakers: Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel
(Post Yours!)
Pattiann Firmiss (Mullin Consulting)
Steve Richter (Keenan & Associates)
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