| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
August 3, 2004
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
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DATAIR Pension & Benefits Software Sale License one DATAIR system and receive another one of equal or lower price without license fee!* Regardless if you're just starting out in the business or looking to expand your services, you can take advantage of this limited time offer. Choose from: DC/401(k) System Retirement Plan Documents Defined Benefit System Pension Reporter Cafeteria Administration Cafeteria Plan Documents Client Manager Contact sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474. (*Restrictions apply; see website for details.)
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
SEC Turns Up Heat on 401(k) Fiduciaries
Excerpt: "[T]he SEC is focusing on the payments made by mutual funds to be included in 401(k) plans. The SEC analogizes this to purchasing shelf space at the supermarket to make sure a product is prominently displayed. It is quite feasible that this inquiry will focus, in part, not only on the improprieties involved in the sale of funds to the plans but on plan fiduciaries as well." (Littler Mendelsen)
Healthcare Employers Find Plan Participant Success with Matches
Excerpt: "[Retirement] plans with a 'dollar-for-dollar' match have average participation rates among non-highly compensated employees of nearly 73%. Plan sponsors offering matches of less than a dollar typically see participation rates drop significantly." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Why Pension Fund Management Needs a Paradigm Shift (PDF)
29 pages; working paper. Excerpt: "[W]e assert that a ‘new' paradigm is required which include a defensible set of investment beliefs which include a time-varying equity risk premium; an integrative investment model that directly links a varying return opportunity set to DB balance sheet stakeholder income needs and risk tolerances; and a human systems-based decision-making protocol that can dynamically integrate the first two elements into the production of measurable stakeholder value ..." (Keith Ambachtsheer published by the Pension Research Council)
Longer Life Spans Lead Retirees To Start Businesses
Excerpt: "George Blanc joined a growing group of Americans who retire from a job and start or buy a business. A 2004 study by Rand in Santa Monica for AARP found that a third of self-employed people over the age of 50 made the transition after their semicentennial birthdays." (Knight Ridder Tribune News via Alaska Journal)
Work and Retirement Plans among Older Americans (PDF)
36 pages; working paper. Excerpt: "We compare older workers' plans for work and retirement with their subsequent work and retirement outcomes using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study.... Our findings suggest that older workers may face substantial barriers to job change, and we conclude with a discussion of potential policy implications." (Katharine G. Abraham and Susan N. Houseman, published by the Pension Research Council)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text of Final Statutory Stock Option Regulations (PDF)
26 pages. Excerpt: "This document contains final regulations relating to statutory options. These final regulations affect certain taxpayers who participate in the transfer of stock pursuant to the exercise of incentive stock options and the exercise of options granted pursuant to an employee stock purchase plan (statutory options)." (Internal Revenue Service)
Watson Wyatt Publishes Global News Briefs, July 29, 2004 Issue
Excerpt: "The latest Watson Wyatt Global News Briefs, featuring information on compensation and benefits issues from around the world, are now available online." (Watson Wyatt)
Putin Feels Fallout Over Plan to Eliminate Soviet-Era Benefits
Excerpt: "Putin's initiative targets such benefits as free public transportation, free medication and cut-rate vacations for retirees, war veterans and people in myriad other categories deemed 'socially vulnerable' by the Soviet Union." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Briefing on the Individual Health Insurance Market
Nationwide on August 3, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
Newly Posted Press Releases
US Retirement Plans Combat Market Timing
(Association for Financial Professionals)
GASB Issues Statement That Addresses Employer Reporting of Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions
(Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB))
Treasury and IRS Finalize Regulations for Incentive Stock Options
(U.S. Department of Treasury)
New Survey Results Highlight Corporate Benefit Departments
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Section 125 Flexible Benefits Supervisor
for Leggette Actuaries, Inc.
in TX
Compliance Analyst
for Transamerica
in CA
Central Regional Manager, Trust & Custody Services
for U.S. Bank
in MN
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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