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August 4, 2004
Today's sponsor: Kiplinger

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Kiplinger Announces New Online 401(k) Course!
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Weighted Average Interest Rate for August (PDF)
2 pages; 6.29%. (Internal Revenue Service)

United Sticks With Its Pensions Intentions
Excerpt: "While United Airlines pension and retiree medical costs have plummeted since last year, the carrier said Tuesday that won't stop it from deferring its required payments to the pension funds while the company remains in bankruptcy." (Oakland Tribune)

United Seeks To Halt Suits Over Pensions
Excerpt: "UAL Corp., the parent company of the world's second-largest air carrier, asked a bankruptcy-court judge to halt pension lawsuits by the International Association of Machinists while the company reorganizes." (Bloomberg News via Denver Post)

City of Houston Seeks Dismissal of Pension Suit by Police Fund
Excerpt: "The city has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit that accuses it of underfunding the Houston Police Officers Pension System fund by $40 million this year. The pension system, which filed the lawsuit in June, is asking state District Judge Lamar McCorkle to order the city to contribute $53.8 million to the pension instead of the $13.6 million allocated in this year's budget." (Houston Chronicle)

Plumber Union Officials Quit Pension Fund
Excerpt: "The Labor Department has ousted four officials from a plumbers' union pension fund and is seeking nearly $11 million in restitution and penalties to settle its claims that retirement funds were improperly invested in a Florida hotel." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

The Decline of Private-Sector Defined Benefit Promises and Annuity Payments: What Will It Mean?
Excerpt: "This issue of EBRI Notes summarizes materials presented at a policy forum sponsored by EBRI May 6, 2004, on the implications of new research that projects the outcome if pensions virtually disappeared. Who would feel the greatest impact? How much would be lost? What would the impact be on retirement security, retirement policy and the nation's economy?" Information about purchasing the full text is online at http://www.ebri.org/store/notes.htm (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

Russia Plans Reform of Social Benefits System
Excerpt: "NPR's Noah Adams talks with NPR's Lawrence Sheets about Russian government plans to begin reforming its social benefits system. Those benefits remain largely unchanged since the Soviet era." (National Public Radio)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Chart of Proposed Deferred Compensation Changes
8 pages; prepared July 19, 2004. Excerpt: "Attached is a side-by-side comparison of the deferred compensation legislation being considered in Congress. While passage of this legislation remains uncertain, there is a good chance that some form of this legislation will be enacted this year because ..." (Dow Lohnes & Albertson PLLC)

Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the United States
Excerpt: "Shifting Demographic Parameters Shaping The Future Workforce; The Information Age And Beyond: The Reach Of Technology; A New Era Of Global Integration" (RAND Corporation)

Trends In Job Demands Among Older Workers, 1992–2002
Excerpt: "Employment increases among older adults could relieve some of the demographic pressures created by population aging, but only if older workers are physically able to perform their job responsibilities; the share of workers ages 55 to 60 in jobs that never require much physical effort increased 18 percent between 1992 and 2002." (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor)

United Says Pension, Retiree Costs Fell
Excerpt: "United Airlines' pension and retiree medical costs have fallen dramatically since last year, the troubled airline reported in its latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission." (AP via Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

What Sites Do You Visit To Keep Up with Employee Benefits Compliance and Design Developments?
Add 'em to our community-maintained list! (BenefitsLink Wiki)

Voters in Missouri Approve State Constitutional Amendment to Ban Same-Sex Marriage
Excerpt: "With 93 percent of precincts reporting, the amendment had garnered 70 percent of the vote. Voters in at least 9 other states - and perhaps as many as 12 - are expected to consider similar amendments this fall, so advocates on both sides of the debate were intensely watching Missouri's results, anxious about what they might say about voters elsewhere in the weeks ahead." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Events

Administering COBRA
Nationwide on August 12, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

Automatic Rollover Regulations and Lost Participants, plus 401(k) Corrections - Workshop/Dinner
in California on August 25, 2004
presented by National Institute of Pension Administrators

Current Issues With 401(k) Plans
Nationwide on September 14, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): The Latest IRS Guidance
Nationwide on August 19, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
Newly Posted Press Releases

Pension Plan Funding Regains Some Lost Ground, Watson N Wyatt Analysis Finds
(Watson Wyatt)

Alliance Benefit Group Rolls Out Employer Driven Health Savings Accounts
(Alliance Benefit Group)

New e-mail Service Available for Technical Guidance
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Coudert Adds ERISA Counsel Michael Kushner in New York
(Coudert Brothers LLP)

2004 Health Plan Directory Now Available in Electronic and Print Formats
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

Dorsa Consulting Launches Internet Platform To Provide Pension Consumer Education
(Dorsa Consulting)

Financial Industry Educators to Launch New Professional Designation
(Center for Fiduciary Studies)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

401(k) Administrator
for Small Suburban Maryland 401(k)/Retirement Plan TPA
in MD

Client Services / Account Mgr.
for ExpertPlan, Inc.
in NJ

Service Coordinator
for 401(k) Advisors
in CA

Consultant - Retirement Practice
for Back Bay - Boston
in MA

Conversion Tech II
for First Charter Bank/Southeastern Employee Benefits Services
in NC

Defined Benefits/Pension Plan Implementation MGR
for Mellon HR & Investor Solutions
in NJ

Vice President, Employee Benefits Compliance
for Twentieth Century Fox
in CA

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator/Consultant
for Pension Works, Inc.
in VT

Customer Service Call Center Representative
for CDM Retirement Consultants, Inc.
in MD

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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

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