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January 13, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
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SEC Looking at Pension Consulting Firms
Excerpt: "Opening a new avenue in examining the financial-services industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission has requested information from a number of major investment consulting firms about their dealings with pension fund clients. The SEC is concerned about possible conflicts of interest between pension consultants and money management firms they work with ..." (AP via Seattle Times)
Mutual Fund Fees Critic Was Once Advocate
Excerpt: "When John Freeman takes shots at regulators for being soft on the issue of mutual-fund fees that investors pay, he knows his subject. More than two decades ago, he helped shape one of the fund-fee rules he now wants changed." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Opinion: How to Crack Down on Mutual Fund Fees
Excerpt: "The SEC should require uniform cost disclosure." (Business Week)
Study: Norwegians Should Keep Working Until Age 70
Excerpt: "Norwegians should get incentives to stay at work until 70 to bolster a pension system threatened by a greying population in one of the world's most generous welfare states, a government-appointed commission said on Tuesday." (Reuters)
Opinion: Tough to Crack Protections for ESOP Participants
Excerpt: "The bankruptcy rate for ESOPs is less than 1 percent, and the survival rate over 10 years is 15 to 25 percent better than for most businesses, [says Corey Rosen, executive director of the National Center for Employee Ownership].... But it is a bitter tonic for the F&G employee owners who ended up with nothing, many of them at points in their lives when it was too late to recreate even a modest something. Pensions are federally insured. ESOP investments are not." (Peoria [Illinois] Journal Star)
Mutual Fund Companies Offer Programs To Increase Savings Automatically
Excerpt: "This year, look for more companies to experiment with innovative ways to help investors help themselves - by 'precommitting' to investment strategies that tie their own hands." (AP via Buffalo News)
Michigan Free To Collect Prisoners' Pension Funds
Excerpt: "Michigan can begin collecting payment from prisoners' pension funds to reimburse imprisonment costs after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the state courts. Prisoners had sued in Michigan to stop the practice of using pension funds to pay the costs of incarceration." (AP via MLive.com)
PBGC Faces Multibillion Dollar Long-Term Deficit
Excerpt: "The government agency that protects workers' pension benefits in the private sector is expected to disclose a long-term deficit of more than $10 billion in its annual report this week, a House lawmaker says." (AP via Washington Post)
Working Paper: the Strengths and Limitations of a Defined Contribution Approach to Old Age Security (PDF)
58 pages; executive summary at http://www.bc.edu/centers/crr/papers/summary/wp_2003-18.pdf (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Kaiser Aluminum Seeks Bankruptcy Court Permission to End Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "Kaiser Aluminum Corp. asked a federal bankruptcy court Monday for relief from obligations to pay medical and life insurance for thousands of retirees and dependents and to end its underfunded pension plans." (AP via Washington Post)
NACD Releases Blue Ribbon Report on Executive Compensation and Role of Compensation Committee (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "The National Association of Corporate Directors has released a Blue Ribbon Report ... [which] provides recommended best practices regarding a variety of issues related to executive pay ... The Report is intended to assist compensation committees in establishing a set of formal principles to guide their deliberations related to executive compensation." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Overview: NYSE Issues FAQs on Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans
6 pages. (Hogan & Hartson LLP via Financial Executives International)
Working Paper: Comparing Options, Restricted Stock, and Cash for Employees Below the Executive Ranks
Excerpt: "Using a detailed data set of employee stock option grants, we compare observed stock-option-based pay plans to hypothetical cash-only or restricted-stock-based plans. We make a variety of assumptions regarding the possible benefits of options relative to cash or stock, and then use observed option grants to make inferences regarding firms' decisions to issue options to lower-level employees." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Working Paper: Why Do Some Firms Give Stock Options to All Employees?
Excerpt: "Many firms issue stock options to all employees. We consider three potential economic justifications for this practice: providing incentives to employees, inducing employees to sort, and helping firms retain employees. We gather data on firms' stock option grants to middle managers from three distinct sources, and use two methods to assess which theories appear to explain observed granting behavior." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Newly Posted Events
The State of National Health Care Spending
Nationwide on January 8, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in North Dakota on March 25, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Michigan on February 3, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advance Seminar
in Illinois on March 9, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in California on February 3, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminars
in Alabama on March 4, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Texas on March 25, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Ohio on February 12, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Michigan on February 5, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Illinois on March 2, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in District of Columbia on March 9, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Arizona on February 17, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Texas on March 23, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Oklahoma on February 1, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in New Jersey on February 26, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Kansas on February 12, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Florida on March 16, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Arkansas on March 18, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Utah on March 11, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Oklahoma on February 12, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in North Carolina on March 23, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Kentucky on February 1, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Florida on March 18, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Basic and Advanced Seminar
in California on March 23, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Vermont on February 26, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Pennsylvania on February 3, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in North Dakota on February 19, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Louisiana on March 16, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Georgia on March 2, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in California on March 25, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Virginia on March 25, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Pennsylvania on February 5, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in North Dakota on February 17, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Maryland on March 11, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminars
in Illinois on March 11, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in California on February 19, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Tennessee on March 2, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in North Dakota on March 23, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Massachusetts on February 24, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Illinois on February 3, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in California on February 5, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Tennessee on March 4, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Newly Posted Press Releases
Mutual Funds Focus of February 11 NAGDCAST
(National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. - NAGDCA)
GILSBAR Named Administrator for Analytic Stress Relieving Health Plan
(Gilsbar, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Employee Benefits Consultant
for Plante & Moran, PLLC
in MI
ERISA Attorney
for Marvel Consultants, Inc.
in OH
Relationship Manager/Sales Support
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in NJ
ERISA Attorney
for The412iCompany
in WA
Regional Vice President - Retail Sales
for BISYS Retirement Services
in CA
Policy/Negotiations Project Manager
for UC Office of the President
in CA
Pension Administrator
for Priority Pension Services, Inc.
in CA
Senior Client Services Consultant
for Charles Schwab
in OH
RVP - Employee Benefits
for CUNA Mutual Group
in ALL STATES
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