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July 26, 2004
Today's sponsor: Kiplinger

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

Kiplinger Announces New Online 401(k) Course!
Satisfy your 401(k) education requirements with one easy step!
• Increase employee participation in your 401(k) plan
• Reduce your fiduciary risk by providing employees with unbiased financial information
• Easy-to-use, engaging interactive format for maximum effectiveness
• Cost-effective tool for a geographically dispersed workforce
• Attractive volume pricing options available
Don't delay. Take a FREE demo!

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
United Airlines to Quit Paying Into Pension Plans
Excerpt: "United Airlines said [Friday] that it would not contribute to its employee pension plans while it remains under bankruptcy protection. That move could save it more than a billion dollars in cash over the coming year, but pension experts said it signaled the likelihood that United would terminate some or all of the plans." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Unions Incensed at United's Move to Halt Payments to Pension Plans
Excerpt: "If a bankruptcy judge allows United to terminate all four of its plans, the Pension Benefit Guaranty would have to pay more than $5 billion in benefits guaranteed to retirees and future retirees, the agency said. That would be the single biggest cost in its history." (USA Today)

Diverse Group Unites To Push Savings Plans
Excerpt: "The diverse group of representatives from retiree organizations, financial institutions, labor unions and industry associations, among others, joined together to help find a way to provide retirement benefits to millions of Americans left out of the system.... The effort comes as traditional pensions, which provide an employer-funded, guaranteed benefit to workers, are on the decline." (USA Today)

An Update on Pension Data (PDF)
12 pages; by Alicia H. Munnell, James G. Lee, and Kevin B. Meme. Excerpt: "This brief focuses on trends over the past two decades in employer-sponsored pension coverage. It explores who is covered by a pension plan and who is not, how much retirees receive in pension income, and how pension coverage and receipt have changed over time. This brief uses the newly-released 1999 Form 5500 data, as well as the Current Population Survey (CPS), to update our previous work on the topic." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

Opinion: How the 401(k) System Fails Most People
Excerpt: "OK, so you actually have a 401(k). But what does that really say about the security of your retirement? Not much, according to one expert. Here are 3 big problems with the system." (Scott Burns on MSN Money)

PLANSPONSOR.com Seeks Survey Participation by DC Plan Sponsors
Results of the 2003 survey are online at http://www.plansponsor.com/hp_type2/?RECORD_ID=4874 (one-time registration required) (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Educating Pension Plan Participants (PDF)
18 pages; Prepared for presentation at the 2004 Pension Research Council Symposium, April 26-27, 2004. Excerpt: "This paper discusses the use of educational programs by large employers to help employees make informed decisions in connection with their retirement plans. It examines the history and types of programs offered, their scope and objectives. It also explores whether there is adequate evidence that these programs increase the efficacy of retirement savings." (Ernst & Young)

Foundation Receives Grant for 401(k) Education Study
Excerpt: "Following the focus groups, there will be follow-up to discern the most frequently-asked questions about retirement planning as well as additional follow-up to find success stories of those participants who cut down spending debt and increased savings rates. In Year Two of the project, Retirement Solutions will develop a test CD-ROM ..." (Retirement Solutions Foundation)

Few Programs Address Women's Retirement Risks
Excerpt: "Stacks of research studies show women face tougher roads to retirement than men do. Less pay, less time in the work force and a longer life span put women at high-risk for being unprepared for retirement. Yet, employers are reluctant to address this issue because they don't want to have gender-specific programs, for reasons of fairness and liability." (BenefitNews.com)

SEC, NASD on the Annuities Alert
Excerpt: "The Securities and Exchange Commission and NASD have three words for investors purchasing variable annuities: Watch your back. Okay, they didn't exactly say this, but that's essentially what a new report by the two organizations recommends." (Michelle Singletary in the Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

HR Policy Association Urges Senate Conferees to Eliminate Restrictions on Executive Compensation
Excerpt: "This week, HR Policy sent a letter to Senate conferees urging them to drop Senate provisions in the export tax legislation prohibiting the deferral of stock option gains and restricted stock as well as limiting investment options in nonqualified deferred compensation accounts." (HR Policy Association)

Court: Transsexual Is Still a Woman for Purposes of Florida Marriage Definition
Excerpt: "A female-to-male transsexual is still legally female, making his marriage to a woman invalid in Florida, a state appeals court ruled Friday. The decision affects an untold number of marriages, since people are not required to prove gender when seeking a marriage license in Florida. Florida law bans same-sex marriage." (AP via Yahoo! News)

Opinion: the Case for Paternalism by Employers
Excerpt: "When I began working more than 40 years ago, I was an employee. Today I am an associate, as if being an associate made me somehow more a part of the organization. I am not so sure." (Richard D. Quinn on BenefitNews.com)

Opinion: the Tax Break that Corporate Executives Don't Need
Excerpt: "If tax relief for health insurance were limited to basic policies, the additional income tax revenues -- $15 billion in 2004 alone, according to a 2001 Congressional Budget Office estimate -- could go a long way toward covering the uninsured." (John O. Fox in the Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Press Releases

Retirement Solutions Foundation Receives Grant to ‘Revolutionize’ 401(k) Education’
(Retirement Solutions Foundation)

Addition of Debit Card Further Strengthens DataPath’s Turnkey Solution for Employee Benefit Administrators
(DataPath, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Retirement Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in CT, DC, GA, MA, NC, NJ, NY, PA

Pension Plan Administrator
for South Florida TPA
in FL

Fund Manager
for Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans - Rockford
in IL

Senior 401(k) Pension Administrator with DB Experience Preferred
for The Pension Group, Inc.
in CA

Implementation Project Manager
for Transamerica
in CA

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