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June 25, 2004
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)
Massachusetts Governor Expected to Veto Bill Keeping Venture Capital Investments Secret
Excerpt: "Governor Mitt Romney today is expected to veto legislation that would keep secret details of the Massachusetts pension agency's investment in venture-capital funds, spurning former colleagues in the investment world who have contributed generously to his campaigns and who have lobbied vigorously in state capitals nationwide to keep the records private." (Boston Globe)

Employee Pension Contribution Issue Snags California Budget Talks
Excerpt: "State budget talks sputtered Thursday as legislative Democrats fought Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to make state workers contribute more to their retirement funds." (Sacramento Bee)

Applications For Pension Counseling Grants Being Accepted
Excerpt: "The Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Aging has announced the availability of funds and requests for applications to support regional projects under the Pension Counseling and Information Program. Under this program, the Department will hold a competition for grant awards for up to three projects at a federal share of approximately $150,000 per year ..." (CCH News & Information Library)

Employees Gives Lukewarm Reaction to Proposed Lifetime Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "A Nationwide Retirement Solutions study found that while many Americans said they'd think about funding a LSA, that money would have to be shifted from somewhere else since they wouldn't be upping their total savings amount." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Pensions in Pro Sports
Excerpt: "Most leagues have instituted pension plans to aid retired players once they're older. But as the numbers below illustrate, the athletes are hardly set for life." (AskMen.com)

Opinion: Social Security's Surprising Turn
Excerpt: "What does this mean in terms of the long-range health of Social Security, once described by President Bush as 'the single most successful program in American history'? Is the prognosis not nearly as bleak as the public has been led to believe? The honest answer is that no one knows." (Thomas J. Healy in the Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Survey Results: Same-Gender Marriages-- Impact on Benefit Plan Design
Excerpt: "Has your organization reviewed its benefit plans to determine whether the term 'spouse' could include a same-gender spouse? ... If an employee requests that your health benefit plan recognize a same-gender spouse, does your organization intend to honor the request to the extent possible? ... Will your organization need to amend its health plan to clarify whether or not spousal coverage will be provided to same-gender spouses?" (Aon Consulting)

Companies Resist Same-Sex Spouse Benefits: One-Third Would Offer Packages, Survey Says
Excerpt: "About 40 percent of human resources officials at 216 companies nationwide said they would reject any request by employees if they requested health benefits for same-sex spouses ... 28 percent said they don't know ... But a third said their companies would extend health benefits to same-sex spouses." (Boston Herald)

Stock Option Accounting Debate Comes to Silicon Valley
Excerpt: "At a protest rally that filled a downtown plaza on Thursday, there were more khakis and clip-on cellphones than denim and flannel as hundreds of technology workers opposed a change in accounting regulations that they think threatens the lifeblood of Silicon Valley." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Press Releases

Value of New Stock Option Grants for CEOs Declined Sharply Between 2001 and 2003
(Watson Wyatt)

Segal Communications Unit Receives Award
(The Segal Company)

Phoenix House Spends More Time Helping People With Help From Ceridian HR Administration
(Ceridian)

The Principal Financial Group Announces One Simple Solution: High Deductible Health Plan with Health Savings Account
(Principal Financial Group)

PensionOnline Announces Software Toolkits for Retirement Application Developers
(Metrics Partners)

Coalition Supports FASB's Open Process for Considering Proposal to Expense Stock Options
(Financial Accounting Coalition for Truthful Statements (FACTS))

Kerry: HMOs and the Three Faces of Bush
(John Kerry for President, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

ERISA Pension Analyst / Paralegal / Plan Administrator
for Retirement Plan Administration and ERISA Specialists
in IL

Administrative Assistant
for Retirement Plan Administration and ERISA Specialists
in IL

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Valley Forge Consulting Corporation
in PA

Client Services Consultant-Boston
for American United Life Insurance Company
in MA

Client Services Coordinater-Kansas City
for American United Life Insurance Company
in MO

Pension Administrator
for The Weiss Group, Inc.
in IL

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