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January 7, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: The John Marshall Law School Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits
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Spring 2004 Information Sessions Learn about the nation’s only LL.M. degree program in employee benefits law. 18-course curriculum includes: Pension, Profit-Sharing and 401 (k) Plans Executive Compensation Health and Welfare Benefit Plans ERISA Litigation Full- or part-time joint J.D./LL.M programs. available. Information sessions on degree programs in tax law or employee benefits law: Friday, Jan. 9, from 5 to 6 p.m. Contact the Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits at 312.987.2380 or visit our website.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
PBGC Executive Director Resigns
Excerpt: "Executive Director Steven A. Kandarian announced today that after more than two years as head of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, he is leaving the agency next month to devote more time to his family.... As Executive Director, Kandarian spent his weeks in Washington and commuted home to Boston on weekends ..." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation via BenefitsLink.com)
ICI Fund-Fee Study Sparks Debate
Excerpt: "The lobbying arm of the mutual fund industry has fired another salvo in the fight over how retail mutual fund fees compare with fees assessed by funds in pension plans. The battle, though, is far from over." (TheStreet.com; one-time registration required)
Mutual Fund and Pension Fund Fee Levels Are Similar, ICI Research Study Finds
Press release. Excerpt: "A comprehensive economic study published today by the Investment Company Institute demonstrates that portfolio management fee levels at mutual funds and pension funds are quite similar. The ICI study refutes suppositions about pension fund and mutual fund fees first advanced in an Iowa law journal article and more recently cited by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer." (Investment Company Institute)
Mutual Funds: In the Scandals' Wake, a Raft of New Rules
Excerpt: "With the $7 trillion fund industry under intense scrutiny by regulators and legislators, a significant overhaul of the way funds do business is expected. This year should see new rules on trading, redemptions, fees, disclosure, boards of directors, and more. Those sweeping changes could have a profound impact on companies' bottom lines." (Business Week)
CalPERS Discloses Results of Survey of Investment Managers
Excerpt: "Federal and state investigators have questioned at least 15 of the more than 60 investment firms that help manage money for California's state pension system about their trading, state documents show.... Up to now, CalPERS has not disclosed results of its survey. However, in response to a Public Records Act request by The [San Francisco] Chronicle, CalPERS provided the letters it received from 59 money managers that replied to its questionnaires." (SFGate.com)
Opinion: the Boomers' Time Bomb Denial
Excerpt: "[T]he great driving force of change [in the federal deficit] is the impending retirement of 77 million baby boomers and their heavy claims on federal retirement programs.... What's astonishing is that the problem has been known for decades. A prudent society would have prepared by adjusting federal retirement programs to emerging social and economic realities." (Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post)
Companies Consider Pension Freezes
Excerpt: "A resurgent stock market has failed to reduce pension shortfalls, prompting more than a third of U.S. companies with a pension plan to say they'll freeze benefits." (USA Today)
Primer on Government Funded Defined Benefit Plan Domestic Relations Orders
Excerpt: "We can begin by accepting the fact that when you are dealing with a public plan there is little consistency from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some states still bar any payments from a public plan to a former spouse as a property distribution but usually will allow court ordered support payments if the participant is already retired." (DivorceNet.com)
Overview: Interest Relief on Repayment of Plan Loans During Military Service
Excerpt: "Recently enacted legislation confirms and expands the longstanding right of military service members to avoid interest on plan loans or other obligations and liabilities in excess of six percent during the period of military service. However, employees must comply with written notice requirements and plans may be able to secure interest in excess of the cap from service members whose ability to pay a higher interest rate is not materially affected by military service." (CCH News & Information Library)
Nine-Year Sentence In Pension Theft
Excerpt: "A Round Lake Beach [Illinois] woman was sentenced to 9 years in prison Tuesday for stealing money from employee pension accounts at the Libertyville-area electrical contractor where she worked." (Chicago Tribune; one-time registration required)
Reaching an Optimal Level of Employee Ownership in a Profit Sharing/401(k) Plan (PDF)
Excerpt: "Given an understanding of applicable fiduciary requirements, an employer may proceed to consider how plan design issues affect the optimal level of employee ownership [through the form of employer stock held] in a profit sharing plan." (Gardner Carton & Douglas)
Kerry Proposes 'Pocketbook Watchdog'
Excerpt: "Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says his administration would include a 'pocketbook watchdog' to protect the financial security of consumers and small-time investors." (AP via Washington Post)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Men's Life Expectancy Soars
Excerpt: "Life expectancy for men over 65 has jumped by more than 10 per cent, it emerged today. By 2041 a man aged 65 can expect to live 20.9 more years than the previous estimate in 2001, a rise of 10.58 per cent.... according to new forecasts from the [British] Government Actuary's Department, which is responsible for predicting demographic changes." (ThisIsLondon.com)
New Interest Rate Could Swell General Motors' Pension, Health Obligation
Excerpt: "'We look at the discount rate once a year. It was 6.75 percent. It will be something else, something lower,' said GM's CFO John Devine. The discount rate is tied to Treasury bill yields, which were down in 2003, so other companies with large retiree pension funds will likely also have to lower their rates." (Detroit Free Press)
Automating Complex Work: the Next Big Step in Information Technology for Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "Although business-centric process automation technology is just now beginning to mature, firms (especially outside of health care) have reported a number of promising results: Dramatic reduction in labor costs; Significantly improved quality, accuracy, and consistency; Improved process streamlining; Increased information velocity ... ; Improved service to customers and trading partners; [and] Business agility and flexibility." (Healthplan via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Lessons in Good Governance-- An Employer Roundtable Discussion (PDF)
14 pages. Excerpt: "[A]re Sarbanes-Oxley and the new regulations and reporting requirements having their intended effect? Have boards and their compensation committees strengthened the links between executive performance and executive compensation?" (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)
Newly Posted Events
Measuring the Effectiveness of Preventive Care
Nationwide on January 15, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted Press Releases
McKay Hochman Launches Cafeteria Plan, DC Health Care Documents
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
PBGC Executive Director Steven A. Kandarian Announces Departure
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
Pension Reporter (5500) System from DATAIR – Year 2003 Forms Released
(DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.)
Movers and Shakers: Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel
(Post Yours!)
Katherine Bredemeier (Career Consulting Services, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health & Welfare Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in CA, CT, NJ, NY, OH, TX
401 (k) Administrator
for GAP-Pension Inc.
in NJ
Assistant General Counsel
for General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the UMC
in IL
Sr. Benefit Analyst - Retirement Plans
for CB Richard Ellis
in CA
Recruitment & Staffing Specialist
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
ERISA Attorney
for Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.
in WA
Plan Specialist
for Transamerica
in CA
Sales Executive
for ClearBenefits, Inc.
in
Operation Supervisor
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
Plan Contributions Services Associate II
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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