| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
September 9, 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)
Text of Final Reg Prohibiting Use of Brokerage Commissions To Finance Distribution (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The amended rule prohibits funds from paying for the distribution of their shares with brokerage commissions. The amendments are designed to end a practice that poses significant conflicts of interest and may be harmful to funds and fund shareholders." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
Study Details Retirement Plan Administration Workload
Excerpt: "A Diversified Investment Advisors (DIA) study puts a number on workers dedicated to plan administration. More than four in 10 defined contribution plan sponsors dedicate the equivalent of 7.5 full-time human resources employees to the plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Pension Plan Disclosures Urged by Sen. Kennedy: GAO Report Calls for Transparency in Proxy Votes
Excerpt: "Senator Edward M. Kennedy yesterday said he would press US pension plans to disclose proxy votes on the stocks they hold -- as mutual funds must now do -- in response to a government report calling for greater transparency in pensions affecting 100 million workers and $4 trillion of assets." (The Boston Globe)
Text of GAO Report Calling for More Transparency in Proxy Voting by Plan Trustees
45 pages. Highlights page online at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04749high.pdf - Excerpt: "Recent corporate scandals reveal that fiduciaries can be faced with conflicts of interest that could lead them to breach this duty. Because of the potential adverse effects such a breach may have on retirement plan assets, we were asked to describe (1) conflicts of interest in the proxy voting system, (2) actions taken to manage them, and (3) DOL's enforcement of proxy voting requirements." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
The One-Person 401(k) Takes Off: a New Retirement Plan Entry Has Advantages Over IRAs
Excerpt: "Financial advisors with clients who have owner-only businesses, or who fit that description themselves, may find appeal in a variation of the popular corporate 401(k) plans that have been around for more than 20 years." (Financial Advisor)
Workers Need to Evaluate Firm's 401(k)
Excerpt: "There are software programs and websites, 800 numbers and glossy brochures. Companies dump avalanches of information on employees enrolled in 401(k) retirement plans. But employer-sponsored educational materials only tell one side of the story: the employer's. It's still up to workers to figure out whether a company plan meets their needs." (The Boston Globe)
The Hewitt 401(k) Index Observations for August 2004
Excerpt: "A lackluster stock market sent more 401(k) money into fixed income investments in August, according to the results of the Hewitt 401(k) Index™." (Hewitt Associates)
Court Approves PBGC Takeover of Enron Pensions
Excerpt: "A federal bankrup.tcy judge in New York yesterday denied Enron Corp.'s request to block a lawsuit by a federal agency seeking to take control of the company's pension plans." (Bloomberg News via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Delta Air Lines to Reduce Workforce by 10%: Airline Hopes Cuts Will Avert Bankrup.tcy
Excerpt: "Delta Air Lines Inc. will cut up to 7,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring aimed at avoiding a slide into bankrup.tcy, Gerald Grinstein, the airline's chief executive, said yesterday." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Delta Air Lines Aims to Cut Jobs 12%, Drop a Hub and Reduce Pay
Excerpt: "Delta Air Lines announced yesterday that it would cut 12 percent of its work force over the next 18 months and said a bankrup.tcy filing would be 'a real possibility' as soon as the end of the month unless it could swiftly get its troubles under control." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: I Cannot Imagine A Situation Where I'd Recommend A Variable Annuity
Excerpt: "You rarely find me so deeply angry at a common investment product that I dream of blowing it to smithereens. Especially one that's sold by America's leading financial institutions, commands $393 billion in assets and sounds like a winner for retirees. But stand back, I'm going to light the fuse." (Jane Bryant Quinn in Newsweek via MSNBC.com)
Retirement Plan Fiduciary Liability and Its Abatement under ERISA Sec. 404(c)
Excerpt: "While much has been written about fiduciary liability, few fiduciaries actually understand it. The Enron case is providing the first real-time, high-profile glimpse of how deeply fiduciary liability can run. Among other things, Enron reminds us that fiduciaries can be held personally liable for all of the investment options in a retirement plan, as well as individual participant investment decisions." (Pat Byrnes and Fred Reish at Society of Financial Service Professionals)
House OKs Disclosure of Pension Info to Participants by PBGC
Excerpt: "The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to allow workers and retirees to find out from a federal agency just how severe the shortfalls are in their companies' pension plans." (Reuters via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Think Twice About Index Fund Price Cuts
Excerpt: "Attention, index-fund shoppers. Here's one blue-light special you may want to ignore. Last week, Boston's Fidelity Investments slashed the annual expenses on five of its index mutual funds ... And Fidelity isn't the only one cutting prices.... But if you aren't already a shareholder of these funds, I am not sure the news is quite so good. To understand why, you need to cast your mind back 14 years ..." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Behind the Curtain: How the 10 Largest Mutual Fund Families Voted on CEO Pay (PDF)
35 pages. Excerpt: "This report evaluates how the 10 largest mutual fund families voted when presented with the opportunity to curb CEO pay abuses at a dozen S&P 500 companies in 2004. We chose executive compensation as our benchmark because, in the words of billionaire investor Warren Buffet, 'The acid test for reform will be CEO compensation.'" (AFL-CIO Office of Investment)
Samuelson the Elder Challenges Outsourcing's Orthodoxy
Excerpt: "That untruth, Mr. Samuelson asserts in an article for the Journal of Economic Perspectives, is the assumption that the laws of economics dictate that the American economy will benefit in the long run from all forms of international trade, including the outsourcing abroad of call-center and software programming jobs." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
2004 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey
Nationwide on September 9, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
Basics of Retirement Plans
in California on September 23, 2004
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists, Northern California Chapter
Benefits Automation -- Now a Reality for Mid-Size Employers
in California on October 13, 2004
presented by ArlenGroup
Hot Issues in Executive Compensation 2004
Nationwide on September 22, 2004
presented by West LegalEdcenter
Hot Issues in Executive Compensation 2004
Nationwide on September 22, 2004
presented by West LegalEdcenter
Wrap Plans: What Are They, How Do They Work, Should I Get One?
Nationwide on September 22, 2004
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
CalPERS Responds to Lawsuit Announcement Regarding Private Equity Transparency
(CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System))
CPI Expands to Ten Regional Offices with the Opening of Tampa, Florida Consulting Office
(CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.)
Health in the Age of Obesity; Are Companies Ignoring the Skinny on Fat?
(The Marlin Company)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Benefit Implementation Specialists
for Constantin Control Associates
in NC, NJ
Account/Client Services Manager
for Zenith Administrators
in CA, WA
Business Developer Manager
for Merrill Lynch
in CA, NM, NY
Consulting Actuary
for RSM McGladrey
in IL
HUMAN RESOURCE OUTSOURCING CONSULTANT
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Employee Benefits Attorney (568 BW)
for Marvel Consultants, Inc.
in IL, MI, OH
Underwriting Analyst (Medical)
for Precept Group, Inc.
in CA
Pension Administrator - Defined Benefit
for American Express Tax & Business Services
in AZ
Benefit Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Health Benefits Analyst
for The Segal Company, a leading employee benefits consulting firm
in NY
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