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September 8, 2003 - 13,400 subscribers
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Hidden 401(k) Fees Are Stealing Your Nest Egg
Excerpt: "There's an old poker truism: If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you. Sadly, this truism may be apt when it comes to some investors' 401(k) plans." (TheStreet.com)
Key Questions for 401(k) Participants to Ask About Plan Investments
Excerpt: "Donald Trone, director of the Center for Fiduciary Studies, a nonprofit group that offers training for retirement-plan sponsors and providers, has provided fiduciaries with a list of questions that they should ask themselves regarding their service to 401(k)-plan sponsors and participants. Participants in 401(k) plans would be well served to acquaint themselves with these questions when considering the service they receive." (TheStreet.com)
Kansas City Area Companies Free Employees to Sell Stock
Excerpt: "Kansas City area companies are having second thoughts about telling employees how to invest for retirement. Since the start of last year, five have unlocked millions of dollars in their employees' 401(k) accounts -- freeing employees to sell the shares and invest in less risky mutual funds that the plans also offered. The companies previously had required the money to be invested in their own shares." (KansasCity.com)
Beyond Simple 401(k) Matches
Excerpt: "There have been reports in the press over the past year or so about companies that cut or dropped the matching contributions they had been making to workers' 401(k) plans.... [A] closer look now suggests that those were isolated events and that large employers, at least, are standing by their plans." (Washington Post)
PBGC Technical Update 03-17: 2003 Model Participant Notice
Excerpt: "CAUTION: You may have to provide a Participant Notice for 2003 even if a variable rate premium is not payable for 2003." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Is Pension Time Bomb About to Explode, Or Is It a Dud?
Excerpt: "So whom do you believe: The bears or the bulls? Those demanding wholesale reform or those who insist minor tinkering will get the job done?" (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
In Wake of TSP Contract Dispute, Senate Panel Seeks Ways to Improve Contracting Process
Excerpt: "The launch of the new record-keeping system at the Thrift Savings Plan continues to draw congressional scrutiny." (Washington Post)
QDRO Status: Timing is Everything
Excerpt: "A recent decision from the Eighth Circuit barely saved a divorced wife's claim on her former husband's qualified plan proceeds. In a decision on the effect of timing on a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO), the court found that even though the original order did not qualify as a QDRO, its later correction related back to the original order's date, thus trumping an IRS claim on the proceeds for back taxes." (TaxFacts FX)
Florida Appellate Court Upholds Forfeiture of Police Officer's Pension Benefits
Excerpt: "The appellate court had little difficulty in agreeing with the Board that the evidence was sufficient to meet the statutory requirement of a nexus between the crimes charged against the public officer and his duties or position." (Cypen & Cypen)
Court Battles Jeopardize Oregon Public Employee Retirement System Reforms
Excerpt: "In July, a coalition of unions representing teachers, firefighters, policemen and other state workers filed lawsuits in both the Oregon Supreme Court and federal court, claiming that the reforms break contract rights.... What the courts decide will have a major impact on the 215,000 current members in the pension system and on the state budget." (StatesmanJournal.com)
Overview: Amendment Deadline Relief for Certain Plans for GUST, Distribution Rules
Excerpt: "This procedure also extends the deadline for defined contribution plans to adopt amendments reflecting the final IRC §401(a)(9) regulations to the later of: (1) the end of the 2003 plan year, or (2) the end of GUST remedial amendment period (as extended, if applicable, by Rev. Proc. 2003-72)." (TRI Pension Services)
ASPA Responds to IRS' Second White Paper on the Future of the Determination Letter Program (PDF)
6 pages. (American Society of Pension Actuaries)
Bob Schaefer of Dietrich & Associates Dies in Accident
Excerpt: "Robert G. Schaefer, 46, of Harleysville [Penn.], president of a pension annuity firm and a soccer enthusiast, died Sunday at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem of injuries from a fall at his home.... In the early 1980s, he and his brother-in-law, Kurt Dietrich, established Dietrich and Associates, a pension annuity firm in Plymouth Meeting." (Philly.com)
More Companies Helping Workers Plan Retirement
Excerpt: "Although companies often offer advice to help workers plan for the intricacies and social issues of retirement, firms are expressing more interest in helping workers decide how much they'll need in retirement." (AP via the Washington Post)
Secure Pension Is Key Concern Around World
Excerpt: "I was struck on a recent trip to the U.K. and Ireland by how little interest there is in the continuing conflict in Iraq, taxes and smoldering Western economies. Instead, people were wondering how they'll be able to afford retirement." (John F. Wasik on InsideVC.com)
Fund Scandal Threatens Very Foundation of Investing
Excerpt: "BUY and hold. Own shares for the long haul. Only fools time the market. All orders received after 4 p.m. pay the next day's price. These are the mantras the mutual fund industry has taught investors to say and believe. Last week, investors learned some fund families have been living by a very different rule: 'Do as I say, not as I do.'" (Houston Chronicle)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
How to Reignite the Culture Wars
Excerpt: "By ruling out moral disapproval as a permissible basis for legislation, [Justice Anthony] Kennedy, in the eyes of liberal activists and social conservatives alike, made it more likely that lower courts will come to recognize a constitutional right to gay marriage. If this happens ... conservative activists hope and expect that many Americans will finally be roused to take political action." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Older Workers Are Thriving Despite Recent Hard Times
Excerpt: "Without fanfare, older workers -- the ones seemingly left behind by the dot.com boom -- are turning out to be the only group thriving in the jobless recovery." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Counsel-ERISA
for American Express
in MN
Sr. 401(k) Plan Adminstrator
for KB Pension Services, Inc.
in FL
ERISA Support Specialist
for BISYS Retirement Services
in MN
Pension Administrator
for Pension, Inc.
in IA
Principal Administrative Analyst
for UC Office of the President
in CA
Benefits Case Manager
for Pension Professionals of America LLC
in AZ
Senior Trust Accounting / Balancing
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
IRS Will Target 401(k) Plans in Upcoming Auditing Campaign: Learn More About the Program
in ALL STATES
September 25, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.
Catching Up with the New 401(k) Regulations
in ALL STATES
September 23, 2003
American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
Learning From the Big Guys: HIPAA Privacy Lessons for Group Health Plans
in ALL STATES
October 7, 2003
American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Workscape Expands Outsourced Benefits Service Capabilities with Acquisition of CallConnect
(Workscape)
Dyatech corporate restructuring
(Dyatech, LLC)
Schwab Introduces Retirement Plan Investment Advice at No Additional Cost
(Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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