If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2004/2004_03_22_retirement.html
(click or copy-and-paste the above address into your web browser)

BenefitsLink
Retirement Plans
Newsletter		To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

March 22, 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)
Extension of PBGC Reporting Relief Relating to Use of 100% of 30-Year Treasury Yield
Excerpt: "This Technical Update 04-2 extends the PBGC reporting relief provided in Technical Update 02-1 (May 1, 2002) in certain situations where the requirement to report, or the timing of the report, is based on PBGC variable-rate premium (VRP) calculations. In Technical Update 02-1, the PBGC permitted use of 100% (rather than 85%) of the annual yield on 30-year Treasuries to value vested benefits for certain PBGC reporting purposes ..." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

Concerns Raised Over Consultants to Pension Funds
Excerpt: "A small but growing part of the $2 trillion in state and local pension funds is being steered into high-risk investments by pension consultants and others who often have business dealings with the very money managers they recommend. After making such investments, a few of these pension funds have come up short, forcing the governments to draw on tax dollars." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

What Did the Mutual Funds Trade Association Know About Market Timing, and When Did They Know It?
Excerpt: "Since the mutual-fund scandal erupted six months ago, the Investment Company Institute ... has been outspoken in criticizing fund companies and their employees accused of making improper trading agreements with market timers at the expense of small investors.... But one thing the ICI hasn't spoken out about: Whether ICI officials themselves were aware before the improper trading was revealed by regulators that some fund companies had made agreements with market timers." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Current Pension Actuarial Practice in Light of Financial Economics
Wonderful free online collection of over 20 papers that were presented at this important conference-- 3 cheers for the Society of Actuaries! (Society of Actuaries)

In Louisiana, a Pension Official Blows the Whistle on Adviser Conflicts
Excerpt: "Louisiana officials are trying to determine what, if anything, has gone awry with their teachers' pension plan." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Louisiana Pension Officials Urge Patience
Excerpt: "The heads of the two biggest state pension systems say recent attacks on the systems are off base and some plans being kicked around to change them are short-sighted. The taxpayer tab on covering pensions paid by the teachers' and state employees' retirement systems is going up by more than $200 million in the coming year." (2TheAdvocate.com)

Coalition Offers Fix for Social Security
Excerpt: "The Social Security system is expected to run short of money by 2042 ... Last week a coalition called Alliance for Retirement Prosperity came out with its own plan, which would effectively put half of all Social Security taxes under the contributor's control." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

Japan's Pension Fund Has First Deficit in 17 Years
Excerpt: "Japan's national pension fund posted a deficit for the first time in 17 years in the year ended March 2003, after it paid out more in benefits than it received in savings, the Asahi newspaper reported, without citing anyone." (Bloomberg)

Stock Market Returns Lift Defined Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "One fact has been lost amid the hand-wringing over the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's (PBGC) $11.2 billion deficit: Defined benefit pension plans actually seem to be doing better than they have since the mid-1990s economic boom." (BenefitNews.com)

Full Text: Enrolled Actuaries Report, Spring 2004 (PDF)
8 pages. Articles include 'Pension Funding Reform,' 'N.C. Bar Withdraws Action Against EAs." (American Academy of Actuaries)

Overview: DOL Proposes Safe Harbor and Class Exemption for Automatic Rollovers (PDF)
Excerpt: "The DOL has proposed a safe harbor that plan fiduciaries may use to satisfy their fiduciary responsibilities with respect to automatic rollovers of mandatory cashouts. In addition, the DOL concurrently proposed a class exemption that would permit fiduciaries of plans sponsored by financial institutions (or their affiliates) to use their own IRAs and investment products to receive and invest rollover monies." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)

Another Side of the Houston Pension Story: Years of Below-Average Pay For Municipal Employees
Excerpt: "Many taxpayers hit the roof recently when they discovered that Houston employees get up to 90 percent of their salary in retirement -- and can earn it immediately in their mid-40s if they started working for the city straight out of school.... [C]ity workers and the former administrators who set the pension have said that the pension percentage is high because the workers' salaries are so low." (Houston Chronicle)

Opinion: How Pension Funds Can Rake In Green By Investing Green
Excerpt: "In early February, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides unveiled an initiative called 'GreenWave,' designed to help the state's public pension funds ... become more environmentally responsible.... [H]e highlighted the historical silence of these sleeping financial giants. Unfortunately, his proposals are almost certain to elicit either silence or outright opposition from some rather well-entrenched apostles of the status quo." (Matthew J. Kiernan and Ricardo Bayon in the Sacramento Bee)

The $1.7 Million Pension Fund That Went Poof
Excerpt: "By 2002, Lakewood Manufacturing had cash-flow problems and bounced checks. The managers began to fear that the firm would close, the assets would be sold and no money would be left for their retirement fund." ([Cleveland] Plain Dealer)

Ted Benna Returns to His Roots
Excerpt: "[Ted] Benna, 64, now is going back to his roots, launching a company in Williamsport called Malvern to administer retirement plans for small businesses. With the new venture, he is returning to the work he did in 1981 in Langhorne at the Johnson Cos., his former employer. Johnson, a benefits firm, sponsored the first 401(k) plan ever, using its own workers as guinea pigs." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The Retirement Prospects of the Baby Boomers
Excerpt: "The approaching retirement of the baby-boom generation has become a public concern--partly because of the budgetary pressures that will develop when baby boomers collect Social Security and Medicare benefits, but also because of claims that boomers are not accumulating enough private savings to finance their retirement. However, there is no widely accepted standard of what constitutes 'enough' savings ..." (Congressional Budget Office)

Opinion: Companies Resist Reforms To Boost Investors' Say
Excerpt: "At a time when the U.S. government is trying to spread democratic values to other countries, investors would benefit from more democracy in Corporate America. Yet, under current rules, selecting directors resembles elections in communist countries." (USA Today via Yahoo! News)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Marriage's Myriad Privileges Key In Same-Sex Union Debate
Excerpt: "[S]trip away the rhetoric about respect for g.ays and les.bians or the defense of traditional family values, and a more basic issue remains. What does it mean, legally, to be married?" (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Polygamists See Potential In Recent Marital Movement
Excerpt: "And you thought g.ay marriage would shake things up. Imagine what would happen if wedding bells began ringing for husband and wife and wife and wife. How would insurance benefits be divided in a legal plural marriage? Who would be first in line for the pension? And what would happen to the already strained Social Security system?" (The Salt Lake Tribune)

Working Past Retirement: Corporate America Needs YOU
Excerpt: "It is well known that Americans are going to have to stay on the job longer because they won't be able to afford to retire. Less well known but just as clear is that corporations will need to keep older workers on the payroll because the coming baby bust generation is too small to replace the baby boomers." (Boston.com)

Minn. Pension Fund Seeks Pfizer Price Drop
3/19/04. Excerpt: "Managers of Minnesota's $43-billion pension fund propose a shareholder resolution that would require drug giant Pfizer to lower pres.cription drug prices in the United States. Critics say the effort could backfire, harming Pfizer's stock price and lowering the value of the state's retiree pension fund. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports." (National Public Radio)

Opinion: Stock Options Accounting is Litmus Test for Ethics
Excerpt: "There are two types of companies today: those that understand they must be more responsive to their owners and those that do not. Unfortunately for investors, the second group is far larger." (Gretchen Morgenson in the New York Times; one-time registration required)

Opinion: In Stock Options Accounting War, High-Tech Companies Prepare for Final Battle
Excerpt: "[N]o one wants to take away stock options. Instead, they just want to make companies using them put them on their books accurately." (Lee Gomes in the Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated to March 19, 2004
Excerpt: "Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law, regarding health and welfare benefit plans, retirement plans, and human resources and employment law." (Hewitt)

Newly Posted Events

HIPAA and Other Health Laws: Nevada Compliance Assistance Seminar
in Nevada on April 28, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Reforming and Strengthening Defined Benefit Plans: Examining the Health of the Multiemployer Pension System
Nationwide on March 18, 2004
presented by U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce

Tri Pension Services / GrayRobinson 2nd Annual Orlando ERISA Update Seminar
in Florida on May 12, 2004
presented by GrayRobinson, P.A.
Newly Posted Press Releases

Engaging Workers In Health Benefit Decisions Appears To Yield Significant Cost Savings
(Watson Wyatt)

Government and Regulatory Initiatives Endanger America's Retirement Security
(Association for Financial Professionals)

AMA Condemns Illegal Internet Pharmacies; Stresses Importance of Patient-Physician Relationship
(American Medical Association (AMA))

SunGard Employee Benefit Systems Agrees to Settlement with U.S. Department of Justice Dismissing Civil Action
(SunGard Corbel)

Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Benefit Plan Administrator
for Benmark, Inc.
in GA

Daily Valuation Supervisor
for ALCOS
in MI

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for ALCOS
in MI

Plan/Employee Benefits/Office Administration
for Columbia Benefits, LLC - Southeast Metro Denver
in CO

Team Lead - HR Benefits & Retirement Plan
for AREVA
in VA

Handy Links:
Copyright 2004 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.

Published by:

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151

Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

Housekeeping: