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December 23, 2003 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation
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ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including: DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries before joining ASC-- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Overview: Final Regs on Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity Explanations
Excerpt: "The final regulations replace the explanation requirements currently found in Treas. Reg. Sections 1.401(a)-11(c)(3) and 1.401(a)-20, Q/A-36 and apply to QJSA explanations relating to distributions with an annuity starting date on or after October 1, 2004." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))
Overview: Information Participants Must Receive To Compare Forms of Plan Distribution
Excerpt: "The final regs, unlike the proposed regs, require that information be made available upon request about what actuarial assumptions were used when the plan estimated relative value, if this information is not already provided in the notice to participants." (RIA Pension & Benefits Week)
Overview: Value Comparisons Required in QJSA Notices (PDF)
Excerpt: "One key feature of the [final regulations] affects certain preretirement lump sums: if the lump sum amount does not include the value of immediately available subsidized early retirement benefits, then the disclosures must make the lower value of the lump sum clear to the participant." (Milliman USA)
Overview: IRS Issues Final Regulations Regarding QJSA/QPSA Explanation
Excerpt: "The regulations update regulations issued in 1988. The regulations substantially follow the proposed regulations issued in October 2002. The regulatory changes primarily affect defined benefit plans, in particular those that offer subsidized optional forms of benefits." (SunGard Corbel)
Enrolled Actuaries Report for Winter, 2003 (PDF)
8 pages; includes 2004 covered compensation chart. (American Academy of Actuaries)
Motivating Employee-Owners in ESOP Firms: Human Resource Policies and Company Performance
Working paper. Excerpt: "What enables some employee ownership firms to overcome the free rider problem and motivate employees to improve performance? This study analyzes the role of human resource policies in the performance of employee ownership companies ... Between-firm comparisons of 11 ESOP firms show that an index of human resource policies, nominally controlled by management, is positively related to employee reports of co-worker performance and other good workplace outcomes ..." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
PBGC Deadline Relief Relating in Response to Severe Storms, Flooding, and Landslides in W. Virginia
Technical Update 03-28. Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of severe storms, flooding, and landslides during the period November 11-30, 2003, in West Virginia." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines; Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides in Puerto Rico
Technical Update 03-27. Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of severe storms, flooding, mudslides and landslides beginning November 10, 2003, in Puerto Rico." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Severe Storms and Flooding in Washington
Technical Update 03-26. Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of severe storms and flooding during the period October 15-23, 2003, in Washington." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Pension Knowledge and Retirement Decision Making
Working paper. Excerpt: "We combine administrative and self-reported pension data to measure the retirement response to actual and perceived financial incentives. We find that well-informed individuals are five times more responsive to pension incentives than the average individual when knowledge is ignored. We further find that the ill-informed individuals do respond to their own misperception of the incentives, rather than being unresponsive to any incentives." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Anonymous Tip Helped Mutual Fund Regulators Find Where To Dig Up Bodies
Excerpt: "The mutual fund scandal, which has ensnared dozens of companies and generated countless headlines, started with an anonymous tip. In March, an unnamed whistleblower told Massachusetts securities regulators that Morgan Stanley executives pressured brokers to steer clients toward their in-house mutual funds, prompting both Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to investigate. Other leads soon followed." (SFGate.com)
Opinion: No, ETF Doesn't Stand for `Effort That Fizzled'
Excerpt: "The financial press keeps heaping praise on ETFs, whose shares are continuously traded on securities exchanges rather than being issued and redeemed once a day like those of traditional mutual funds.... So it's underwhelming to see total ETF assets in the U.S. plodding along at somewhere between $125 billion and $150 billion, depending on which tally you look at." (Chet Currier on Bloomberg.com)
Opinion: Loss of Confidence In Invesco Funds Is Message To Sell
Excerpt: "Investors should consider selling their holdings in Invesco Funds." (Dan Culloton of Morningstar.com via the Houston Chronicle)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Year-End Review for Plan Sponsors and Administrators (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "We have compiled a list of certain changes made by recent laws and regulatory pronouncements, unfinished business in Congress, and agency audit initiatives that affect employee benefit plans. Some of these items may require employer action, including plan amendments for the 2004 plan year. In addition, other factors (e.g., inflation adjustment of key plan maximums, court decisions) may require changes to retirement and health and welfare plans." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)
Newly Posted Events
Labor Department Sponsors Workshop on Complying With Federal Pension Plan
in California on January 15, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Northeast Area Employee Benefits Conference
in Massachusetts on June 1, 2004
presented by ASPA—The Retirement Plan Professionals
Northeast Area Employee Benefits Conference
in New York on June 11, 2004
presented by ASPA—The Retirement Plan Professionals
Specialty Pharmaceutical Management Strategies For Health Plans And Employers
in Illinois on March 15, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Retirement Capital Group announces a Joint Venture with Retirement Plan Advisory Group
(Retirement Capital Group)
Participant Present at the Creation Documents the Birth of 401(k) Plans
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Administrative Assistant
for Retirement Plan Administration and ERISA Specialists
in IL
Supervisor, Reconciliations
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Omni Product Support Specialist
for AMVESCAP Retirement, Inc.
in GA
Director HR Administration
for Convergys
in ALL STATES, FL
Sales -- Pension & Cafeteria Plan Software
for DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
in IL
Account Executive
for Transamerica
in CA
Compensation Analyst
for Forum Health System
in OH
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- Employee Benefits Library
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