| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
October 6, 2003 - 13,400 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Retirement Planning Center
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An Innovative Plan Design and Proposal System on the Internet The Retirement Planning Center is an interactive platform providing an easy means to create, evaluate and select the best retirement plan for your client. This web-based tool provides pension professionals with a proposal system that compares many types of plans including New Comparability, Owner Only, Age Weighted and Defined Benefit Plans. RPC is easy to use and right now it’s free. http://www.retirementplanningcenter.com is only a click away.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Executive Summary: Enron ERISA Litigation Ruling
Excerpt: "While the Court's ruling breaks little new ground, some of the more significant conclusions that it reached include: The individual officers and directors who act with respect to a benefit plan on behalf of a corporate fiduciary are themselves ERISA fiduciaries (disagreeing with the Third Circuit's ruling in Confer v. Custom Engineering Co., 952 F.3d 34, 37 (3rd Cir. 1991))." (Groom Law Group)
Text of Retirement Security Advice Act of 2003
Excerpt: "Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced a bill (S.1698) October 2 that would exempt employers from liability when providing their workers with investment advice on the 401(k) plans from the same company that represents the plan. Investment advisors must fully and clearly disclose their fees and any potential conflicts of interest, and adhere to the fiduciary rules under ERISA.... The House passed a similar provision in the Pension Security Act (H.R. 1000) on May 14th by a 271-157 vote." (Via ERISA Industry Committee)
Sponsor Stock-Heavy 401(k) Accounts Still All Too Common
Excerpt: "According to Hewitt Associates, which canvasses 1.5 million 401(k) plan participants, 28 percent of assets, on average, at the end of 2002 were held by workers in shares of their employers' stock. That is down from 42 percent in 2001, but still sky-high." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Latest 403(b) Market Statistics
Excerpt: "Mutual fund participation has increased by 4 percent while fixed annuity participation has declined by 5 percent." (403bWise.com)
Some Will Pay Mortgages Into Retirement
Excerpt: "For many middle-age homeowners, taking advantage of low mortgage rates will have an unintended consequence: As retirees, as they live on reduced incomes, they will have mortgages to contend with." (AP via Washington Post)
Opinion: Emerging New Fiduciary Trends and Developments
Excerpt: "Benchmark Financial Services conducts investigations on behalf of pensions and others who feel they have been treated poorly by money managers, pensions consultants or brokers. The work is somewhat legal in nature but frequently focuses upon little-known business practices which may be commonplace in the securities or money management industries but are, on occasion, especially harmful." (The Benchmark Companies)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Benefits, Beyond the Fringe: Look at Insurance and Pension Plans As Well as Salary
Excerpt: "[A] worker considering the benefits offered by a new job should determine what his or her own needs are and what else is available, such as through a spouse's employer, and then draw up a comparison between the new job and the present one." (Washington Post)
Former DOL Secretary John Dunlop Dies
Excerpt: "John T. Dunlop, 89, secretary of labor during the Ford administration and a leading labor-management expert of the post-World War II period, died Oct. 2 ..." (Washington Post)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Plan Administrator
for weaver partners, inc.
in ALL STATES
401(k) Administrator
for CMC Retirement and Employee Benefits Specialists, Inc
in CA
ERISA Benefits Attorney
for DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
in IL
Corporate Benefits Counsel
for ADP TotalSource
in FL
DC Pension Administrator
for J.M. Singley & Associates, Inc.
in PA
Health Insurance Sales Assistant
for Great-West Healthcare
in IL
Distribution/Pension Assistant
for Tycor Benefit Administrators, Inc.
in PA
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
IRS/ASPA 401(k) Update Webcast
on October 16, 2003
presented by ASPA
IRS/ASPA 401(k) Update Webcast
on October 16, 2003
presented by IRS and ASPA
Health FSAs and Over-the-Counter Drugs
on October 7 - 31, 2003
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America, LLC (EBIA)
Reshaping the Future of America’s Health
on October 1, 2003
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
HIPAA: Are You Positioned to Meet the Next Milestones?
on September 30, 2003
presented by TIAA-CREF Institute
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
10th Annual Health & Benefits Expo
in NY
October 17, 2003
Teamster Center Services Fund
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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