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November 14, 2003 - 13,509 subscribers
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Bush Said to Be Weighing Retirement Savings Changes in Tax Code
Excerpt: "Senior Bush administration officials said Thursday that they were considering plans to simplify the tax code and to revive earlier ideas for savings plans that would allow people to exclude almost all their investment income from taxes." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Bush Plans Push to Simplify Retirement Savings Rules
Excerpt: "The Bush administration plans a major push to simplify tax rules covering retirement savings accounts, Treasury Secretary John Snow said Thursday.... [D]uring a question-and-answer period following the speech, he said Bush had not made a final decision on whether to include these specific proposals in next year's budget." (Washington Post)
Two Mutual Funds Move to Assure Wary Investors
Excerpt: "In Boston yesterday, the management of Putnam Investments settled a securities fraud lawsuit brought by regulators on Oct. 28, agreeing to restrict its employee trading, heighten scrutiny of employees' practices and strengthen the independence of its fund directors." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Fees Might Be Next on Mutual Fund Investigators' List
Excerpt: "The most important issue to investors is likely to be whether fund fees are excessive. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has led the investigation into late-trading and market-timing abuses, said overly high fees could cost investors $10 billion a year." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Schwab Probes Mutual Fund Practices
Excerpt: "Charles Schwab Corp. said in a regulatory filing on Friday it is reviewing possible instances of late trading in mutual funds it oversees and is responding to inquiries from regulators who have launched industrywide investigations." (Reuters via New York Times; one-time registration required)
Edward (Ted) Siedle to Discuss Mutual Fund Scandal on Tonight's Fortune Wall Street Week
Friday, 11/14/03. Excerpt: "Ever hear this one? An Investigator, a Regulator and a Fund Manager walk into ... ah, forget about it. But don't forget tonight's program, which has First Pacific Advisors CEO Robert Rodriguez, Senator Peter Fitzgerald and Benchmark Financial Services' Edward Siedle examining the mutual fund industry's problems." (Public Broadcasting System)
Congress Derails New Rules on Pensions
Excerpt: "The amendment is part of the Treasury appropriations bill, which must be approved by both houses of Congress before going to the president. Although it's possible the amendment could be cut from the final bill, congressional analysts say that is unlikely." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Employers Denounce Cash Balance Pensions Provision in Appropriations Bill
Excerpt: "'To expect employers to sponsor plans that are the subject of regulatory chaos, and in a situation that leaves them exposed to extensive litigation, is just patently absurd,' said Janice Gregory of the ERISA Industry Committee." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
ERIC Statement on Passage of Harkin Cash Balance Amendment
Excerpt: "'In offering his amendment, Senator Harkin said that he did not want to hurt cash balance plans. But that is precisely what he did. The current absence of a regulatory framework has exposed employers to misguided lawsuits directly attributable to the regulatory chaos. In the end, it's the employees who lose at the expense of the trial lawyers' [said Mark Ugoretz, president of ERIC.]" (ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC))
Council Condemns Inclusion of Cash Balance Provision in Final Appropriations Bill (PDF)
Press release. Excerpt: "'Congress will unwittingly deal a serious blow to the retirement security of millions of Americans with the passage of the Treasury Transportation appropriations bill, American Benefits Council President James A. Klein said [on Thursday, Nov. 13], reacting to the inclusion of a harmful pension provision in the final conference report." (American Benefits Council)
Retirement Benefits and Divorce 101
Excerpt: "While much of the following will be familiar to you, it never hurts to review what has already been said. It is a particularly good idea to reacquaint ourselves with the potential hazards that are always inherent when you are dealing with retirement assets in divorce cases." (Paul R. Commerford on DivorceNet.com)
Transamerica Small Business Retirement Survey (PDF)
132 pages. Excerpt: "More than two-thirds of employers (68%) report offering a match to participants. Workers continue to place high value on a company match, with 91% rating a match very/somewhat important and more than half (56%) rating it very important. Employers recognize workers' desire to receive a company match, but they underestimate the strength of workers' sentiments (70% very/somewhat important)." (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)
Ohio Senate Passes Pension Reform Bill
Excerpt: "The House bill ... would require the pension funds to meet investment quotas with Ohio brokers and investment managers. Senate leaders oppose the idea. Legislative leaders said they hope to work out a compromise before the General Assembly adjourns in December. The pension legislation was sparked after a Plain Dealer story in June detailed lavish spending by the State Teachers Retirement System on board member travel and employee bonuses." (The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer)
Ohio House Overwhelmingly Votes to Require State Funds Be Managed at Least 50% In-State
Excerpt: "Ohio lawmakers approved separate bills Thursday overhauling the state's pension funds following spending scandals.... The House voted 80-13 for a bill that, among other things, would require that 50 percent of the funds' outside investment work go to brokerages with a significant presence in Ohio." (The [Cincinnati] Enquirer)
Opinion: Pension Tension
Excerpt: "The pension system is in trouble, and one of the fixes Congress is considering could make matters dramatically worse. The issue involves how to treat pension plans that fall below required funding levels -- in other words, that don't have enough money put aside to meet their likely obligations." (Washington Post)
How Much Choice is Too Much? Contributions to 401(k) Retirement Plans (PDF)
21 pages. An alert BenefitsLink reader spotted an error in an excerpt we printed from a working paper; the author has corrected the text, which now reads: 'Using data from nearly 800,000 employees, we tested the hypothesis that employee 401(k) participation rates fall as the number of fund options increase. Our results confirm that participation in 401(k) plans is HIGHER in plans offering a handful of funds, as compared to plans offering ten or more options.' (Emphasis added; thanks, Jim Rizzo!) (Pension Research Council Working Paper)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Common-Law Loyalty Rule Pops Up in Stock Option Dispute
Excerpt: "Legal and business experts said they believed it was the first time the court had applied the principle-- which requires employees to deal honestly with their employers-- to the disclosure of stock options.... The faithless-servant doctrine, also known as the loyalty law, establishes the idea that there is a trust implicit in the master-servant relationship." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
New: Organization Chart, List of Regional and District Offices of EBSA
Scroll down to mid-page for list of offices. (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Fiduciary Liability: Expensive But Threadbare
Excerpt: "Have you negotiated your fiduciary liability coverage yet? If not, take two aspirin immediately, because it's not going to be easy or cheap." (Treasury & Risk Management)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Conversion Consultant
for CNA Trust
in CA
Senior Health & Welfare Consultant/Disease Management or Clinical Effectiveness
for Mellon Human Resources & Investor Solutions
in IL
Benefits Director
for University of Chicago
in IL
Manager, Reconciliation
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Institutional Trust Administrator
for First National Bank
in KS
Newly Posted Events
Health Care Cost Surveys for 2004
Nationwide on December 11, 2003
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP)
Federal Securities Law Issues for Qualified Plan Lawyers
Nationwide on December 16, 2003
presented by American Bar Association (ABA)
Churn, Churn, Churn: How Instability of Health Insurance Shapes America's Uninsured Problem
Nationwide on November 12, 2003
presented by Commonwealth Fund
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Intuit Simplifies Employee Retirement, Benefits, Workers' Comp
(Intuit Inc.)
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