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February 20, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
WEB Benefits Solutions Conference and WEBA - Register Online You can now register online for the most comprehensive and valuable conference of the year - the 2004 Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) Benefits Solutions Conference - "Controlling Costs in an Ever-changing Legislative and Regulatory Environment." Also, don't miss out on the "Early Bird" discount by registering before March 31, 2004. The Conference will be held April 22 to 23, 2004 and the WEBA held the night of April 22, 2004 in the Washington, DC area near National Airport and Washington, DC's tourist attractions.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
PBGC Rolls Out Electronic Filing Option
Excerpt: "[F]or plan years commencing in 2004 and later [the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation] will accept electronic premium filings and payments, prepared via PBGC's secure Web site, from companies that sponsor defined benefit pension plans.... The new system, My Plan Administration Account (My PAA), an online e-filing service center, provides an electronic gateway for plan sponsors, administrators and pension practitioners who want to submit premium filings to PBGC." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
What Do Workers Want: Results of Retirement Plan Preferences Survey (PDF)
89 pages. Excerpt: "This report presents the results of a survey on pension and retirement plan preferences conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc., on behalf of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate worker and retiree preferences for different types of employer-sponsored retirement plans and better understand which plan characteristics have the most appeal." (Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries)
Understanding Cash Balance Plans
Excerpt: "This paper gives an overview of cash balance and other hybrid plans offered by employers. It identifies the issues in the present debate and describes why many employers have shifted from traditional defined benefit plan designs." (ERISA Industry Committee)
Applicable Federal Rates for March, 2004 (PDF)
5 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Employee Ownership Update for February 19, 2004
NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen discusses the International Accounting Standards Board's exposure draft on expensing equity compensation; moves to encourage employee stock ownership in Korea and South Africa; a sale of a large company to an ESOP; and survey results showing that employee-owners are more satisfied with their financial situation than others. (National Center for Employee Ownership)
Hewitt Submits Comments to the SEC on Proposed Regs on Trading Abuses
Press release. Excerpt: "In response to the surprising discoveries this fall of after-hours and excessive trading by a few mutual funds and investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules on December 3, 2003 to curb these trading abuses. The SEC's swift action is meant to protect direct mutual fund investors, but Hewitt believes that the agency has not taken into full account the dramatic and negative effect on 401(k) participants." (Hewitt)
Opinion: Anybody Found the President's Policy on National Savings?
Excerpt: "While President George W. Bush's economic report to Congress last week was on the mark when it cautioned that our national savings rate is 'extremely low by historical standards,' one would have to declare any Bush strategy to actually increase national savings 'missing without a trace.'" (Gene Sperling on Bloomberg.com)
Social Security, Women and Working Families
Excerpt: "Many working women who pay Social Security taxes receive no more benefits from Social Security than women who never paid into the program." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Trilateral Meeting Focuses on Economy, Welfare, Pensions
Excerpt: "[T]he meeting Wednesday of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair also produced a sobering warning for Europeans deeply protective of their generous health and welfare systems: Reforms are vital because the continent's population is aging dramatically and that threatens to push welfare and pension bills sky-high." (Salt Lake Tribune)
Study Finds Large Increase In Domestic Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "The survey of more than 600 employers shows 35% now offer domestic partner benefits, compared with 6% in 1996." (BenefitNews.com)
The New Jersey Domestic Partnership Act: What It Means for Employee Benefits (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The Act does not require private employers in New Jersey to provide domestic partners of employees with health or retirement benefits. Rather, the Act requires insurance companies and HMOs in New Jersey to issue policies which offer health care coverage to domestic partners." (Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.)
Newly Posted Events
Retiree Health Benefits
in Massachusetts on March 17, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Benefit Advisors Network Hosts Successful Educational Conference and Dialog
(Benefit Advisors Network)
412iCompany to hold National Teleconference on New 412i Regulation.
(The 412(i) Company)
ClearComp Seminars Offer Employers Guaranteed Strategies for Dealing with California’s Workers’ Compensation Crisis
(ClearComp)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Benefit/Defined Contribution Account Manager
for National Retirement Services, Inc.
in CA, NC
Plan Administrator
for Thomas F Barrett Inc.
in DC, MD
Pension and Health Plans Manager (Multiemployer)
for American Guild of Musical Artists Retirement and Health Plans
in NY
Client Service Representative
for Constantin Control Associates
in NJ
Implementation Specialist
for ExpertPlan, Inc
in NJ
Investment Consultant
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
Investment Analyst
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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