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April 7, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation

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

ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS
ASC provides complete automation for the pension office,
including: DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation
systems, sophisticated Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily
Valuation, Advanced Information Manager Database (AIM),
and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical Support Members
were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries before
joining ASC-- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Managers' Statement on H.R. 3108 (PDF)
47 pages. (Via American Benefits Council)

American Benefits Council Urges Senators to Approve Pension Funding Bill (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "Since the end of last year, pension plans have been subject to an obsolete statutory interest rate. This out-of-date rate is causing plan sponsors to make contributions to their plans that are much higher than are necessary to meet their pension obligations." (American Benefits Council)

UAW Urges Senate to Pass Pension Funding Bill
Excerpt: "On the eve of a key Senate vote, a huge labor organization is urging passage of legislation that would reform and reduce employers' pension plan contributions." (Business Insurance)

San Diego County Supervisors Approve Bond Issue to Ease Pension Fund Deficit
Excerpt: "San Diego County supervisors gave the county retirement system a financial boost yesterday by agreeing to issue $400 million in bonds to cover part of the pension fund's $1.4 billion deficit." (San Diego Union-Tribune)

CFOs Make 401(k) Changes In Response To Funds Scandal
Excerpt: "A recent survey by Duke University and Financial Executives International (FEI) reveals that almost a quarter of participating companies have modified their 401(k)s because of the scandals." (BenefitNews.com)

Solving the Pension Puzzle for Non-Profit Employers: Part 2
Excerpt: "Nonprofit employers must choose between a 403(b) and 401(k) and possibly others; pick a fund manager; set investment policies; decide whether to administer the plan or hire an administrator, and whether and how to contribute on behalf of employees; and determine how employees vest in the plan and whether they can borrow from it." (Philanthropy Journal)

Text of ASPA Comments on DOL Proposed Reg on Automatic Rollovers Into IRAs
Excerpt: "ASPA respectfully submits comments on ... 1. The amount of mandatory distributions that is eligible for the safe harbor fiduciary treatment; 2. Required disclosures to participants and beneficiaries; 3. Permissible fees and expenses charged by IRAs to which automatic rollovers are made; 4. The ability of companies and individuals in the securities and banking industry to provide these accounts in light of regulation relating to those industries ..." (American Society of Pension Actuaries)

ICI Comments on Proposed Automatic IRA Rollover Regulations
Excerpt: "The Institute strongly supports the ability of retirement plan sponsors to effectively utilize the automatic rollover provisions enacted by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), and recently submitted comments to the U.S. Labor Department regarding proposed changes to those provisions." (Investment Company Institute)

ERISA Industry Council Urges IRS to Postpone Effective Date of Relative Value Regulations
Excerpt: "ERIC supports the general objective of the relative value regulations: to give plan participants a meaningful comparison of the relative economic values of the plan's optional forms of benefit. However, the period that the Treasury has given to employers and plan administrators to comply with the regulations is so brief that there is a grave risk that participants will not receive the informative and readily understandable disclosure that the Treasury seeks." (ERISA Industry Council)

Opinion: Time for Dealers to Break Silence on Municipal Bond Consultants
Excerpt: "Wall Street underwriters will break their silence during the next two months to write comment letters about a proposed rule banning consultants in the municipal bond business." (Joe Mysak on Bloomberg.com)

EBRI's 2004 Retirement Confidence Survey
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

Some Highlights of ALI-ABA Spring Benefits Update, Part II
Excerpt: "If plans are invested in funds with providers under investigation, fiduciaries have a duty to contact the fund directly in an effort to obtain specific information about the nature of any alleged abuses." (Attorney Janell Grenier on BenefitsBlog.com)

Some Highlights of ALI-ABA Spring Benefits Update, Part I
Excerpt: "According to Jim Holland, the number of minimum funding waiver requests has increased, due to the economy, market conditions and interest rates being low. The real issue in the IRS's view, in deciding whether or not to grant a funding waiver, is whether the granting of the waiver will help the plan sponsor's temporary cash flow problems so that the plan sponsor can, at some point in the future, begin funding the plan again." (Attorney Janell Grenier on BenefitsBlog.com)

IRS Reaches Out To Plan Sponsors
Excerpt: "The newsletter, called 'Retirement News for Employers,' is scheduled to start this month, and will feature plain language and information that employers should find relevant." (BenefitNews.com)

Economy Keeps Small Employers Nervous About Offering Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "The Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) most recent Small Employer Retirement Survey reveals that at companies with fewer than 100 workers, only one-third of employees are covered by an employment-based retirement plan compared to 64% of those at bigger companies." (BenefitNews.com)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Opinion: Old Europe, Looking Older
Excerpt: "Last week's election results shows that France is at a dead end, with huge economic problems and no political solutions being offered. France is dying of socialism because all French politicians -- including the ones who claim otherwise -- are socialist. The welfare system and the state are heading toward bankrup.tcy, and all they can promise is still more public and social spending." (Tech Central Station)

Married Or Not, G.ays Gain Partner Coverage
Excerpt: "While g.ay marriage is a current hot-button issue for politicians, business leaders have been wrestling for years over whether to offer health coverage to their employees' domestic partners. As employers look into the benefits and costs of covering domestic partners, more and more of them are saying yes--not due to a court order or political pressure but because they think it makes good business sense." (Forbes.com)

Newly Posted Events

Mutual Funds: The Impact of the Scandals
in District of Columbia on May 4, 2004
presented by Gail Weiss & Associates, Inc.

Spring Meeting 2004: An Academy Forum
in District of Columbia on May 6, 2004
presented by American Academy of Actuaries
Newly Posted Press Releases

NASRA Refutes Latest Wilshire Report
(NASRA (National Association of State Retirement Administrators))

14th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey - Percentage of Americans Saving Stagnant Since 2001
(American Savings Education Council (ASEC))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Client Service Representative
for National Automobile Dealers Association
in VA

Account Executive
for Transamerica
in DC

Actuary – FAS 106
for USI Consulting Group
in CT

Associate Health Benefits Analyst, Boston
for leading employee benefits, compensation, & human resources consulting firm
in MA, NY

Group Insurance Account Executive
for Alliance Benefit Group / 401k Plus, Inc.
in TX

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ

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