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July 19, 2004
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Some Firms Look for Wholesale Change to 401(k) Fees
Excerpt: "If you've shopped at a Costco or a Sam's Club, you know the appeal of buying at wholesale instead of retail. But most people - even many employers - would be surprised to know that a similar money-saving opportunity exists with their 401(k) plan." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Class Action Sought on Bankrupt Stock Investment
Excerpt: "A plan participant is seeking class action status for a company stock investment-based suit, for losses incurred in a fund in which participants had the ability to leave at any time." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

401(k) Report: What Do You Do With Your Nest Egg Now?
Excerpt: "Don't cut back on your contributions just because the future looks uncertain. Why? You'd be throwing away free money: the matching contribution that most employers offer." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Senate Unanimously Kills 'Open Season' Restrictions for Federal Retirement Contributions
Excerpt: "Open seasons have been used since the inception of the 401(k)-style federal retirement savings plan to restrict TSP participants from altering their contributions too often. This year, federal workers can adjust their retirement contributions during two periods ... If it is passed by the House and signed by the president, the Senate legislation still will not affect open season restrictions on the government's matching contributions." (GovExec.com)

Pension Cost a Potential Fiscal Killer for Pennsylvania Taxpayers
Excerpt: "[School districts] expect to see a six-fold growth in their contributions by 2013, with taxpayers facing the bill, one expert says." (TimesLeader.com)

More Work Needed To Save Pension Plans
Excerpt: "Amid all the hand-wringing about the shaky state of traditional pension plans in this country, how close are we to actually preserving these precious retirement vehicles for workers?" (Pamela Yip in the Dallas Morning News; one-time registration required)

Online Version of Inte-Greater Software Becomes Available
I am happy to announce the availability of the online version of The Inte-Greater, a program I wrote for the DOS operating system about 13 years ago. It finds the integration level for a corporate-sponsored profit-sharing plan that results in the greatest share of the employer's contribution for one or more 'favored' employees (e.g., the physician who owns his or her professional corporation that also employs several staffers). Give it a whirl! (David Rhett Baker)

2004 IRS Reporting Changes for IRAs
Excerpt: "[T]he Internal Revenue Service (IRS) release of the 2004 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 changed or clarified several areas of traditional IRA and Roth IRA reporting." (Compliance Headquarters)

Safer Retirement Just a Click (or 50) Away
Excerpt: "Websites offer help with portfolio, but steps can be confusing." (Boston Globe)

Retirement Planning: No Need To Hit the Panic Button
Excerpt: "Sure, saving for retirement seems daunting. But follow a few basics, and you'll have enough cash to bring your dreams to life." (BusinessWeek)

Pension Issue Is Passion for Former Major League Ball Player
Excerpt: "[F]our years is the magic number in the world of baseball pensions. [Marlan] Coughtry played briefly in two seasons 1960 and 1962 appearing in 35 games and getting 54 at-bats. He played enough to appear in the Baseball Encyclopedia, yet not enough to receive a pension." (Columbian.com)

Opinion: Hands Off Hedge Funds
Excerpt: "The minimum investment in such funds tends to be $1 million or even $5 million. People with that sort of money can hire advisers to tell them what they're getting into. They have every incentive to monitor the fund's practices and may do this job as effectively as a government regulator." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Opinion: SEC Hedge Fund Proposal Doesn't Go Far Enough
Excerpt: "Although most of the industry is probably operating honestly and discloses how they operate through private placement memoranda, fraudulent funds may be able to hide more easily because of the lack of comprehensive regulation. Edward Siedle, a former SEC lawyer and president of the Center for Investment Management Investigations at Benchmark in Ocean Ridge, Florida, has had three clients who unknowingly invested in hedge-fund scams. One group of investors was taken for $300 million." (John Wasik on Bloomberg.com)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

New Deferred Compensation Rules Pending in Congress
Excerpt: "Both the House and Senate have passed legislation that would make significant changes to the federal tax rules for nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. The two bills must now be reconciled in a conference committee which, following certain procedural steps in the Senate, is expected to be convened in the latter part of July 2004." (Buchanan Ingersoll)

No Wonder CEOs Love Those Mergers
Excerpt: "Shareholders like it when their companies are acquired, because their stocks rise in value. Chief executives like it, too, because their severance agreements kick in. And that means they can become truly, titanically, stupefyingly rich." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Survivor Benefits for Servicemembers and Federal, State, and City Government Employees
128 pages. Excerpt: "GAO was asked to address two questions: (1) To what extent are the survivor benefits provided to servicemembers different from those provided to federal, state, and city government employees in general and (2) To what extent do federal, state, and city governments supplement their general survivor benefits for employees in high-risk occupations?' 1-page executive summary is online at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04814high.pdf (U.S. General Accounting Office)

Text of H.R. 3574 (Stock Options Accounting Bill) as Reported by Committee on Financial Services (PDF)
10 pages. (Via American Benefits Council)

The Not-So-High Cost of Aging
Excerpt: "If you heed the doomsayers, the graying of the U.S. population is a catastrophe. Look a little harder, and those fears are overblown." (BusinessWeek)

Newly Posted Events

ABA 14th Annual National Institute on ERISA Litigation
in Illinois on November 11, 2004
presented by Resources For Living (RFL)

ABA 15th Annual National Institute on Health and Welfare Benefit Plans: Responding to Change
in District of Columbia on October 21, 2004
presented by Resources For Living (RFL)

ABA 19th Annual National Institute on Compensation for Executives and Directors
in New York on November 4, 2004
presented by Resources For Living (RFL)

Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare, and Other Compensation Plans
in District of Columbia on October 7, 2004
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

Pension, Profit-Sharing, Welfare, and Other Compensation Plans
in California on March 16, 2005
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)
Newly Posted Press Releases

Keenan And Aetna Join To Provide California Employers With A Consumer-Directed Health Benefits Solution
(Law Firm of G.M. Morrison, P.C.)

Mortgage Benefits Corp. Announces Agreement to Provide Group Mortgage Benefit to Gray Cary Law Firm
(Mortgage Benefits Corporation)

Mortgage Benefits Corp. Signs CMG Mortgage Services to the Mortgage Provider Network
( Resources For Living (RFL))

Keenan And Aetna Join To Provide California Employers With A Consumer-Directed Health Benefits Solution
( Resources For Living (RFL))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Pension Administrator
for PennRock Financial Advisors, N.A.
in PA

Plan Consultant for DB and DC Plans
for Fairfield County, Connecticut Actuarial and Pension Consulting Firm
in CT

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Primary Consulting, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Regional Account Services Manager
for Legg Mason Wood Walker
in MD

Benefits Administrator
for Mellon Human Resources and Investor Solutions
in GA

Account Manager II
for Mellon Human Resources & Investor Solutions
in GA

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