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Retirement Plans
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April 5, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Outline of H.R. 3108 Conference Report (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "Conferees agreed to replace the current standard that employers must use to determine their pension liabilities – the 30-year Treasury bond interest rate – with a corporate bond rates for two years through December 31, 2005." (Via American Benefits Council)

Text of H.R. 3108 Conference Agreement (PDF)
49 pages. Excerpt: "This Act may be cited as the 'Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004'." (Via American Benefits Council)

House Backs Temporary Relief on Companies' Pension Costs
Excerpt: "The House approved a new temporary pension contribution formula Friday that would save employers billions of dollars while lawmakers overhaul the system." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)

Germans Protest Social Security Cuts
Excerpt: "Germany and other European nations are trying to reform generous, and expensive, welfare systems as the average age of their populations rise. But those efforts have attracted widespread resistance, along with complaints that pensioners and the jobless are bearing an unfair share of the pain." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Text of American Benefits Council Comments on DOL's Proposed Automatic Rollover Regulation (PDF)
8 pages. (American Benefits Council)

Text of Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America's Comments on DOL Proposed Automatic Rollover Reg (PDF)
3 pages. (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America)

Text of ERISA Industry Council's Comments on DOL Proposed Automatic Rollover Regulation
4 pages. (ERISA Industry Council)

The QDRO Gamble, Part 3
Excerpt: "Usually, Defined Contribution plan Qualified Domestic Relations Orders are much easier to draft than orders addressing Defined Benefit plans. But in the past couple of years we have encountered a real problem in trying to make the QDRO language address the correct amount to be paid to the alternate payee in a lump sum from a defined contribution plan." (Paul R. Commerford on DivorceNet.com)

Weighted Average Interest Rates for March 2004 (PDF)
1 page; 5.21%. (Internal Revenue Service)

Opinion: Is Your Retirement Plan Gouging You on Fees?
Excerpt: "Needlessly expensive retirement plans are the salt in the wound of retirement savers, who receive little guidance in the workplace as it is." (John Wasik on Bloomberg.com)

Born to Be Mild: Quiet Comeback of Balanced Mutual Funds
Excerpt: "Something old is new again in mutual funds. It's the balanced fund, a mixture of stocks and bonds built around one of the oldest business models in the 80-year-history of U.S. mutual funds." (Chet Currier on Bloomberg News)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
A small software company has 100% of the equity distributed but only 10% of the stock issued. The current stockholders are unwilling to dilute their ownership position. We are trying to secure long-term funding. Is there a way to offer stock options to current employees based on the event of securing this funding? (BenefitsLink.com)

What Does Same-Sex Marriage Controversy Mean to Employers? (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "A state court decision in Massachusetts late last year has sparked a far-reaching controversy over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry and thus be entitled to the benefits of marriage. Although there are many areas of uncertainty that will have to be decided in the courts, the same-sex marriage controversy should have only minimal implications for employers." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)

Newly Posted Events

What Does It All Mean? Late Day Trading Webcast
Nationwide on August 18, 2004
presented by ASPA (American Society of Pension Actuaries)

Great Lakes Conference Moves To A New Location!
in Illinois on April 29, 2004
presented by ASPA & IRS

Disease Management & Managed Care Strategies For Military Healthcare
in District of Columbia on June 28, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)

Pay For Performance & Physician Incentives
in Massachusetts on May 24, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)

Consumer-Directed Pharmacy Benefits
in Nevada on June 28, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)

Cost Containment – Prescription Drugs
in Georgia on April 15, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Atlanta Chapter

2004 WP&BC Phoenix Chapter Spring Conference
in Arizona on May 11, 2004
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Phoenix Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

Business Growth Expectations Dwindle: Prelude to Higher Growth or Indicator of Downturn?
(eePulse, Inc.)

Option Expensing Announcement Has No Impact on Share Price, Towers Perrin Event Study Affirms; Business Goals, Not Accounting Treatment, Should Drive Incentive Plans
(Towers Perrin)

Keenan Appoints CA Medical Association Head, Jack C. Lewin, MD, To Newly Formed Advisory Board
(Keenan)

Keenan Appoints Robert Margolis, MD, Founding Partner And CEO Of Healthcare Partners, To Newly Formed Advisory Board
(Keenan)

Short-Term Pension Bill Approved by Conferees; Proposal Ready for House Floor Action
(Committee on Education and the Workforce)

Proposed Accounting Standards Threaten Job Creation and Economic Growth; Westly Joins Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi and Eshoo in Supporting Alternative to FASB Proposal
(California State Controller's Office)

FASB Proposal Would Systematically Overvalue Employee Stock Options
(International Employee Stock Options Coalition)

Coalition Renews Call for FASB to 'Field Test' Valuation Models, Including the Untested, Unproven and Extraordinarily Complicated Binomial Method
(International Employee Stock Options Coalition)

2nd American Express National Survey Finds Worker Financial Stress Lingering Into 2004
(American Express Retirement Services)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Consulting Actuary
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA

Business Analyst
for Constantin Control Associates
in NJ

Pension Plan Administrator
for The ANGELL Pension Group, Inc.
in ANY STATE

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