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April 13, 2004 - 13,567 subscribers
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Bush Signs Corporate Pension Aid Bill Into Law
Excerpt: "President Bush signed into law Saturday a measure aimed at saving U.S. companies more than $80 billion in pension contributions over two years, days before many firms make quarterly payments." (Reuters via Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
President Signs Pension Funding Bill Into Law
Excerpt: "The composite interest rate, under Notice 2004-34 released Monday by the Treasury Department, will be based on three long-term corporate indices: Citigroup High Grade Credit Index; the Merrill Lynch Corporates AA-AAA; Lehman Brothers US A Long Credit. That will produce an interest rate assumption of 6.55% for the plan year beginning Jan. 1, 2004, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said." (Business Insurance)
Prospective Pension Relief for United Airlines
Excerpt: "With Congress' passage of a pension act that would save United Airlines $1.6 billion, the union representing United flight attendants is demanding the airline pull its plans to hike retirees' medical benefits." (San Francisco Examiner)
Pension Funding Bill Caused Split Among Democrats
Excerpt: "To unionized machinists, autoworkers and airline pilots, an $80 billion pension relief bill making its way through Congress offered badly needed help. To construction unions and the Teamsters, it was a loser. To the quiet satisfaction of Republicans, that left unhappy Senate Democrats in the middle, forced to make a politically painful choice between reliable election-year allies on one side and those on the other." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Text of IRS Announcement 2004-38 Providing Funding Relief for Certain Employers (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "An employer is eligible to make such an election if it is (1) a commercial passenger airline, (2) primarily engaged in the production or manufacture of a steel mill product or the processing of iron ore pellets, or (3) an organization described in § 50 (c)(5) and which established a plan on June 30, 1955, to which § 412 now applies." (Internal Revenue Service)
Text of Notice 2004-34 with Interest Rate Guidance, As Affected by Pension Funding Equity Act (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "This notice provides interim guidance on the determination of the weighted average interest rate under § 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(III) of the Code and § 30 (b)(5)(B)(ii)(III) of ERISA. In addition, this notice provides interim guidance as to the interest rate under § 4006(a)(3)(E)(iii)(V) of ERISA, which is needed in the determination of unfunded vested benefits for purposes of determining premiums payable to the PBGC. Taxpayers can rely on this interim guidance ..." (Internal Revenue Service)
Whew! Bush Signs Pension Relief
On Saturday President Bush signed into law a pension relief bill that will allow many plan sponsors to avoid or reduce funding contributions that would have been required on April 15. (PLANSPONSOR; one-time free registration required)
Pensions Bill Comes Just In Time for Companies
Excerpt: "Employer sponsors of pension plans heaved a collective sigh of relief with congressional passage of a bill that could allow them to divert $80 billion otherwise heading for pension contributions into new investment and hiring." (AP via KOTV)
Opinion: Pension Bill Offers Little Relief
Excerpt: "What really gets my hackles up is the bill also provides relief to the weakest pensions. It specifically provides a two-year holiday from accelerated payments that would otherwise be due to shore up the plans. To whom, you ask? The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp." (Danielle DiMartino in the Dallas Morning News; one-time registration required)
Judge Won't Block Cuts to Mistaken Pension Overpayments
Excerpt: "In March, the retirees filed suit to stop [Formica Corp.] from reducing their benefits after the company said its auditor found that 440 of 624 retirees in its defined pension plan dating from 1985 were receiving incorrect benefits." (The [Cincinnati] Enquirer)
Government Pension Funds in Ohio Adopt Governance Changes
Excerpt: "The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio both agreed to several steps included in legislation Gov. Bob Taft has proposed to the Ohio General Assembly. The funds said they could enact the changes without waiting for the legislature to act." ([Cincinnati] Business Courier via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Tax Cuts Give Savers Non-Qualified Savings Options When Playing Catch-Up
Excerpt: "[T]hanks to last year's sharp tax cuts on capital gains and qualified dividends to a maximum of 15 percent, financial advisers say, taxable investment accounts may be more attractive for people playing savings catch-up than nondeductible tax-deferred accounts." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Many Unmarried Women Unprepared for Retirement
Excerpt: "For years, economists have debated whether baby boomers would have saved enough when they reached retirement age. Now that day is close at hand. And for one slice of that generation -- single women -- the answer is becoming depressingly clear." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Some Retirees Put Too Many Eggs in Single Basket of Company Stock
Excerpt: "Nationally, about 25 percent of 401(k) assets are in workers' company stock, according to Hewitt Associates, a company that tracks the investment choices of 1.5 million 401(k) participants. Among employees with some company stock in their 401(k) accounts, 11.5 percent have almost nothing else, according to a study by Jack L. VanDerhei ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Cracks in the Nest Egg
Excerpt: "Too many boomers tune out retirement warnings." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
We're Too Cocky About Retirement
Excerpt: "Americans are overly optimistic that they will be able to afford a comfortable retirement and are doing too little to prepare for one, a study released last week shows.... Workers are 'overly optimistic and need a stronger dose of reality on what it will really take to retire comfortably,' said Don Blandin, president of the American Savings Education Council." (Baltimore Sun via Buffalo News)
Variable Annuity Guide: a Simple, Complex Idea
Excerpt: "Here are two ways of looking at variable annuities, an investment vehicle created by the insurance industry that has been selling like a new youth potion: ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
New Worry: Being Sued for Speaking Up at Shareholders' Meetings
Excerpt: "Just as investors are trying to step up their influence over corporate dealings in the wake of all the scandals, a recent lawsuit is raising concerns that they could face litigation when they voice ideas that companies don't like." (AP via HeraldTribune.com)
Union Pension Funds Probe Political Donations
Excerpt: "Labor unions facing a government order to disclose their election spending are using their clout as stockholders to try to extract new details about the corporate world's political giving." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Massachusetts Open to Dealing With Putnam
Excerpt: "Putnam Investments, which was fired from managing $1.7 billion in Massachusetts pension investments during the mutual fund scandal, has paid for its transgressions and will be allowed to bid for state pension business again, the state treasurer said Monday." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
SEC Seeks More Disclosure by Mutual Funds
Excerpt: "Federal regulators moved Tuesday to force mutual fund companies to clearly disclose to shareholders their policies and procedures for market timing, a practice at the heart of many of the cases authorities have brought in the industrywide scandal." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Proving Personal Accounts Work
Excerpt: "Last December, the chief actuary of Social Security released an official score of a Social Security reform plan I authored ... which proposed a large personal account option for Social Security.... The score showed the large accounts would take over so much responsibility for the payment of retirement benefits over time that the long-term deficits of Social Security would be eliminated through the accounts alone, without cutting benefits or raising taxes." (Peter Ferrara in the Washington Times)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Here Comes Politically Correct Executive Pay
Excerpt: "Directors increasingly scrutinize their leader's compensation through the eyes of irate shareholders, workers and regulators." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Businesses Rethinking Use of Peer Comparisons In Setting Exec Pay
Excerpt: "[W]ith corporate scandals about excessive executive compensation, boards are wondering whether they're placing too much emphasis on peer-group reviews, which can sometimes lead to pay raises without regard to company results." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Opinion: Here Comes the Annual CEO Pay Parade
Excerpt: "Every year about this time, the nation's leading newspapers and business magazines begin competing to see who can appear most outraged about how much the top corporate chief executive officers (CEOs) were paid during the previous year." (Alan Reynolds in the Washington Times)
Acceptance of G.ays Rises Dramatically in Single Generation
Excerpt: "G.ays and les.bians have experienced a dramatic rise in acceptance over the last two decades, according to a Los Angeles Times poll... Six in 10 say they are sympathetic to the g.ay community, displaying an increasing inclination to view same-sex issues through a prism of societal accommodation rather than moral condemnation... A key exception is same-sex marriage -- supported by only one in four." (Los Angeles Times via Yahoo! News)
Opinion: There Will Be Plenty of Us Old Folks
Excerpt: "I don't know if this should gladden me or make me feel guilty, but by the time I join the ranks of the aged (barring an accident or an act of God), my fellow geezers and I will populate the Earth in numbers undreamed of in the not-so-distant past." (Billings [Mont.] Gazette)
Some Glitches on BenefitsLink.com Web Site Due to Server Changeover
We apologize for certain broken pages that you'll encounter on BenefitsLink.com; we're working to fix them right now. Over the weekend the site was upgraded to a more secure operating system, by moving the files to a new server. Various configuration settings need to be upgraded; looks like we missed some on Friday before the changeover. Thanks for your patience and your participation on BenefitsLink! --Dave Baker (BenefitsLink.com)
Newly Posted Events
"Who's The Employer?" Speciality Workshop
in Massachusetts on May 19, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Michigan on June 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Ohio on June 4, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in New York on May 20, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Minnesota on June 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Wisconsin on June 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in California on May 19, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Illinois on June 4, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in California on May 21, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Michigan on June 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Ohio on June 4, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in New York on May 20, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Missouri on June 16, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Pennsylvania on May 21, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in North Carolina on May 13, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Illinois on June 4, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in California on May 21, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Texas on May 13, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Mississippi on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Washington on May 26, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Texas on May 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Missouri on June 16, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Pennsylvania on May 21, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in North Carolina on May 13, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Missouri on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in California on May 27, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Georgia on May 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Missouri on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Washington on May 26, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Texas on May 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Indiana on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Ohio on June 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Massachusetts on May 19, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Indiana on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in California on May 27, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Georgia on May 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Texas on May 13, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Minnesota on June 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in Wisconsin on June 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Participant Loans Specialty Workshop
in California on May 19, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Mississippi on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
"Who's The Employer?" Specialty Workshop
in Ohio on June 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
17th Annual Employee Benefits Conference
in Ohio on June 17, 2004
presented by Cincinnati Bar Association - Employee Benefits Committee
Social Security Reform: Solutions Inside the Box
in District of Columbia on April 16, 2004
presented by American Academy of Actuaries
Employer of Choice 2004
in Nevada on June 8, 2004
presented by American Strategic Management Institute
Newly Posted Press Releases
Employees Undervalue Stock Option Grants by 30-50 Percent, Watson Wyatt Study Finds
(Watson Wyatt)
McHenry to Speak on Mutual Fund Revenue Sharing
(McHenry Consulting Group)
Hewitt Study Shows Companies Revamping Executive Long-Term Incentive Programs
(Hewitt Associates LLC)
Senate Approval of Pension Legislation
(White House)
PBGC Will Pay Pensions at Johnston Industries
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
PBGC Protects Pensions at Sound Shore Medical Center
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
Putnam Agrees to Pay $55 Million to Resolve SEC Enforcement Action Related to Market Timing by Portfolio Managers
(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
Treasury And IRS Issue New Pension Interest Rate For Defined Benefit Plans
(U.S. Department of Treasury)
Actuaries Applaud Pension Interest Rate Fix; Offer Help with Unresolved Pension Issues
(American Academy of Actuaries)
ALPA Reaction to Senate Passage of Pension Funding Equity Act
(Air Line Pilots Association)
Ten Million Working Americans Denied Relief
(International Brotherhood of Teamsters)
Social Safety Nets Don't Hurt Democratic Economies, Book Says
(University of California, Davis)
My PAA Online Self-Service Center Provides Secure Alternative to Paper-Based Filings and Payments
(SRA International, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Sales Manager (401k Retirement Services)
for ADP Retirement Services - Pacific West region
in CA
Sr. ERISA Consulting Specialist
for ADP Retirement Services
in CA
Technical Product Specialist
for Pyramid Digital Solutions
in AL
Support Analyst
for Pyramid Digital Solutions
in AL
Premium Only Plan Underwriter
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ
Fund Administrator
for Large Chicago-area Multi-Employer Pension, Welfare and Annuity Fund
in IL
Premium Only Plan Wholesaler
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ
Paralegal-Legal Affairs
for American Express
in NY
Employee Benefits Specialist/Benefits Consultant
for Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
in CO
Project Manager
for The Paragon Consulting Group, Inc.
in CA
Senior Benefits Associate
for EngenderHealth
in NY
Retirement Specialist
for The Horton Group
in IL
Benefits Manager
for Virginia Tech
in VA
Consulting Pension Actuary
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for MVP Plan Administrators, Inc.
in NC
401k/Defined Contribution Administrator
for The LAMCO Group, Inc.
in FL
National Accounts Benefits Consultant
for Standard Insurance Company
in OR
Senior Health & Welfare Consultant
for Charles W. Cammack Associates, Inc.
in NJ, NY
ERISA Compliance Consultant
for American United Life Insurance Company
in IN
Retirement Services Education Manager
for SunTrust Bank
in VA
Client Management Consultant - Retirement Plans
for CapTrust Financial Advisors
in NC
(Reprinted from 4/9/04 newsletter, in case you had trouble opening the pages over the weekend or on Monday:)
Associate Administrator
for Independent Pension Consultants, Ltd.
in MN
Pension Administrator
for Benetech, Inc.
in CA
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Attorney
for Verrill & Dana, LLP
in ME
Retirement Plan Bilingual (Spanish-English) Enroller (Part-Time)
for Standard Insurance Company - Retirement Plans Division
in CA, NV
Sales Assistant
for Great-West Healthcare
in NJ
401K Administrator
for Pulte Homes
in MI
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