| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
October 14, 2004
Today's sponsor: Pension Benefit Information
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Pension Benefit Information will locate your lost participants! PBI, the industry standard in locating lost participants, has reunited over 900,000 missing participants with their benefits! We don't just retrieve an address from a database and leave the research to you. We communicate an important message and confirm the correct address with your participant. PBI’s proprietary process fulfills your fiduciary responsibility & exceeds all guidelines by the IRS, DOL and PBGC for a "diligent" search. Do it once, do it right!
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Report for Congress: Automatic Enrollment in 401(k) Plans (PDF)
10/14/04. Excerpt: "Automatic enrollment, in which a percentage of the employee's salary is placed in an individual account without requiring the worker to take any action, has been shown to increase worker participation in ... retirement savings plans. As of 2003, automatic enrollment had been adopted by an estimated 8% of §401(k) plans. About 1% of plans with fewer than 50 participants and 24% of plans with 5,000 or more participants had adopted automatic enrollment by 2003." (Patrick Purcell, Congressional Research Service, U.S. Congress)
401(k) Plan Experts Discuss Marketplace Trends and Fiduciary Duty Problems
Excerpt: "A panel of 401(k) experts discussed marketplace trends and fiduciary duty issues at an October 5, 2004 luncheon .... Erin Sweeney from the U.S. Department of Labor, Thomas Kim and Kathy Ireland of the Investment Company Institute, and William Schmidt, a partner at Kirkpatrick and Lockhart LLP, all of whom specialize in employee benefits, were on hand to discuss fees and expenses associated with retirement plans." (CCH Pension & Benefits News)
History and Progress of the Church Pension Bill
Excerpt: "H.R. 1533, amending the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to permit church pension plans to invest in collective trusts, has passed the House and now goes to the President for his signature. .... The bill, approved by voice vote, would make it easier for church plans to diversify their investments and to share the risk of transaction costs with other pension plans." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier on BenefitsBlog.com)
FASB Proposes New Accounting for All Defined Benefit Plans That Pay Lump Sums
Excerpt: "FASB reached a tentative decision [October 13, 2004] that could dramatically affect the balance sheets and pension expense of all employers that sponsor defined benefit plans with lump sum options." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
New York State Pension System Recognizes G.ay Spouses
Excerpt: "New York State is moving to officially recognize same-sex marriages from Canada for the first time, at least in one limited area: State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi has ruled that the state's pension system will treat g.ay couples with Canadian wedding licenses the same way it treats other married couples." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
New York State Pension Fund Honors Same-Sex Marriages for Purposes of Retirement Benefits
Excerpt: "The New York State and Local Retirement System will treat same-sex marriages as it treats any other marriage for the purposes of retirement benefits, making it the first government program in New York to respect all marriages equally. In a recent letter ..., state Comptroller Alan Hevesi wrote, 'Based on current law, the Retirement System will recognize a same-sex Canadian marriage in the same manner as an opposite-sex New York marriage, under the principle of comity.'" (Crain Communications)
The Principal® 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security-2004
Excerpt: "We understand that financial security is a critical element in employers' success in recruiting, retaining and motivating employees. That's why we searched nationwide for the 10 best companies for employee financial security. After all, it takes real commitment to select and provide benefits that contribute to employees' sense of financial security." (Principal Financial Services, Inc.)
PBGC Deadlines Disaster Relief in Response to Hurricane Ivan in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and MS
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Hurricane Ivan in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Ivan in North Carolina
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Hurricane Ivan in North Carolina. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Ivan in Georgia
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Hurricane Ivan in Georgia. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Severe Storms and Flooding in Ohio
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from severe storms and flooding beginning August 27, 2004, in Ohio. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
PBGC Deadlines Disaster Relief in Response to Tropical Depressions Frances and Ivan in PA
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Tropical Depressions Frances and Ivan beginning September 8, 2004, in Pennsylvania. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
PBGC Deadlines Disaster Relief in Response to Severe Storms, Flooding, and Landslides in WVA
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from severe storms, flooding, and landslides during the period September 16-27, 2004, in West Virginia." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Jeanne in Puerto Rico
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Hurricane Jeanne in Puerto Rico. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Disaster Relief Relating to PBGC Deadlines in Response to Hurricane Jeanne in Florida
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the major disaster declared by the President of the United States on account of damages from Hurricane Jeanne in Florida. The PBGC is taking this action under its authority in section 4002(i) of ERISA, which was added by the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-134, 115 Stat. 2427." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
2004 Wilshire Report on City & County Retirement Systems: Funding Levels and Asset Allocation (PDF)
23 pages. Excerpt: "This is [Wilshire's] second report on the financial condition of city- and county-sponsored defined benefit retirement systems and is based upon data gathered from the most recent financial and actuarial reports provided by 104 retirement systems." (Wilshire Associates)
Opinion: California Public Employees' Retirement System Pretty Liberal with the Cash for Investments
Excerpt: "In the past three years, CalPERS has committed up to $760 million to Burkle for investments that aim to help underserved segments of society while, of course, still making money for the retirement fund. He has been putting the money to work in a string of deals that he says will benefit minorities, women, and blue-collar workers." (BusinessWeekOnline)
IRA to Roth IRA: Now Can I Convert? Old Provision Kicks In; Taxes Still a Concern
Excerpt: "Some IRA owners who have not been eligible to convert their existing individual retirement account (IRA) assets to Roth IRAs might be able to do so in 2005. An obscure provision, buried in the 1998 Roth IRA rules, changes the conversion eligibility rule for 2005 and subsequent years. In addition, a new group of potentially eligible individuals means a new group of people who need to understand the income tax implications of a conversion.' (Bankers Systems Retirement Plan Services)
Ease the Tax Bite on Your IRA -- Convert Now to a Roth IRA at Today's Low Tax Rates
Excerpt: "The tax cuts enacted by Congress at President Bush's behest have made the rates on most income brackets as low as they've ever been. At the same time, those cuts have caused revenue shortfalls, which combined with spending on the Iraq war and new Medicare drug benefits, have created a record deficit of $477 billion. .... All of that means tax rates are sure to rise, at which point it will cost you more to convert to a Roth." (BusinessWeek Online)
Retirement Income: Traditional Replacement Ratios and Results for Workers at Large Companies (PDF)
Pages 1-12. Excerpt: "As defined contribution plans increasingly eclipse the older defined benefit plans, a growing percentage of retirees are receiving their benefits as a single lump-sum payment when they go off the payroll rather than as lifetime monthly annuity payments that were once more common. This means workers must calculate how much regular income a given lump sum would generate. The analysis ... includes a calculator that helps make this determination." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Working Paper: Post-Employment Benefits, Economics & Accounting: Moral Hazard and Benefit Designs (PDF)
40 pages. Excerpt: "This paper uses economic principles to analyze alternative definitions for end-of-period liabilities under post-employment benefit plans; the candidates, using U.S. nomenclature, are the vested benefit obligation (VBO), the accumulated benefit obligation (ABO) and the projected benefit obligation (PBO). In competitive employment markets with rational contracting we are unable to justify projected costing (PBO-based) for typical pay-related defined benefit plans." (Pension Research Council of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
A Hard-to-Swallow Lesson on Pensions and Promises and ERISA
Excerpt: "Hundreds of people here in western New York, all closing in on retirement, have learned a bitter lesson about pensions and the law that guarantees them. Two years ago, their employer, ... unexpectedly started urging them to take their pensions early, warning that they would otherwise lose their right to take their benefits in a single check. The workers signed up to receive their money right away, but the money was much less than they had earlier been told they had coming." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Issue Brief: Employment-based Retirement Plan Participation: Geographical Differences and Trends (PDF)
32 pages. Excerpt: "The new data are contained in the October EBRI Issue Brief, which analyzes the most recent Census data available and concludes that the number of workers participating in a plan increased, modestly, to 63.5 million, but was still below the previous peak of 67.1 million recorded in 2000. In the public sector, 15.2 million workers participated, matching the prior all-time high." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Deferring Income in Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans: the Dynamics of Participant Contributions
Excerpt: "This study uses newly available longitudinal data to describe contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans over time for a large, nationally representative sample of workers. The analysis examines the share and characteristics of workers who contribute to retirement plans and the level of their contributions. It describes the patterns of plan contributions over time and how spouses coordinate their contributions." (Urban Institute)
Retirement Plan Participation Bottoms Out
Excerpt: "The percentage of workers participating in employment-based retirement plans rose marginally in 2003, reversing a two-year decline, according to a new analysis from a Washington-based nonprofit group that studies employee benefits." (HR.BLR.com)
Opinion: the New Social Security System: Less Costly than the Old
Excerpt: "To compare the two systems' costs, let's first assume that Social Security is not reformed. According to Social Security's Trustees, this would lead to payroll taxes being insufficient to pay all benefits by about 2018. [T]he government at that time borrows the difference so that all benefits are honored. Such borrowing would continue through 2078 and then well beyond because the demographic trends which cause the imbalance are well established and not subject to ... change." (The Washington Times via Cato Institute)
Opinion: Attack on Pensions-- Corporate America Is Trying to Steal Our Future
Excerpt: "The corporate vultures who grabbed pension funds for profits in the 1990s are out to slash those retirement funds today-- or abandon their obligations altogether." (Social Worker Online)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Audit Board Delays Rule on Stock Options as Expenses
Excerpt: "American companies were granted a six-month reprieve yesterday on the deadline to start deducting the value of stock options granted to executives and other employees from their profits. The move will delay the reduction in reported profits for many companies, and may give them more time to lobby Congress to stop the rule from taking effect at all." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
GASB: Recognition of Pension and Other Postemployment Benefit Expenditures/Expense and Liabilities (PDF)
14 pages. GASB Proposed Technical Bulletin. Excerpt: "This Technical Bulletin clarifies the requirements of Statements 27 and 45 for employer recognition of pension and other postemployment benefit (OPEB) expenditures/expense and liabilities.' (Comment Deadline: November 12, 2004) (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
Overview: New Corporate Tax Law Requires Review of All Executive Benefit Plans Before End of Year
Excerpt: "The new law applies to compensation deferred after December 31, 2004. If a plan is materially modified after October 3, 2004, the law also affects amounts deferred under the plan prior to January 1, 2005.... In light of the new law, every employer that provides nonqualified deferred compensation for one or more of its employees should do the following: ..." (Ice Miller)
American Jobs Creation Act Requires Significant Action on Deferred Compensation Plans by Year End
Excerpt: "Although drafted principally for voluntary elective deferral arrangements under which individual accounts are maintained, the new rules cover a much broader range of executive compensation, including non-contributory arrangements, defined benefit plans, severance agreements and certain equity-based compensation arrangements." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)
Overview: New Legal Requirements for Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Arrangements (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The new rules will impact a broad array of common compensation plans and arrangements for employees, directors and other service providers, including nonqualified elective deferral arrangements, supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs), stock appreciation rights (SARs), restricted stock unit (RSU) programs and option stock deferral arrangements." (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP)
Overview: Congress Approves Deferred Compensation Bill (PDF)
Excerpt: "The House and Senate approved 'The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004' (H.R. 4520), a corporate tax bill that includes a number of provisions that will affect nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. The bill sets forth new requirements that deferrals made after December 31, 2004 will have to meet in order to avoid immediate taxation. President Bush has indicated that he will sign the measure into law." (Mellon Financial Corporation)
Overview: Congress Approves Dramatic Changes to the Rules Governing Deferred Compensation
Excerpt: "As part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (H.R. 4520), Congress has made far-reaching changes to the rules governing deferred compensation arrangements. The legislation, which we understand is likely to be signed by the President, will affect virtually every existing nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement. Because the new rules are generally effective for amounts deferred after December 31, 2004, employers must respond quickly to the new rules." (Buchanan Ingersoll PC)
Heads-Up on Deferred Comp Legislation: American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 Approved by Congress (PDF)
Excerpt: "The Act makes a number of significant changes to the requirements that must be met by deferred compensation arrangements in order to avoid immediate taxation. In light of the broad coverage of what is considered to be 'deferred compensation,' the Act has far-reaching implications which potentially affect a wide variety of compensation vehicles. This alert letter highlights major implications of the deferred compensation provisions in the Act." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Ernst & Young Announces Special American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 Tax Act Audio Webcast
Except: 'Since we understand many of you may be interested in this new tax law, we invite you to participate in a special audio webcast, sponsored by the Ernst & Young Tax Center. This webcast is on Friday, October 15, 2004, from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. ET.' You can register for the program by following the title link above, Click View Scheduled Events, Find the program name, Ernst & Young Tax Center: Amer. Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and click the Register button. (Ernst & Young)
Overview: New Corporate Tax Law Overhauls Deferred Compensation Rules (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Congress approved and sent to the President the 'American Jobs Creation Act' (AJCA), which includes an expansive definition of nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) and imposes new conditions for amounts to escape immediate taxation. The new law, which generally applies to amounts deferred after December 31, 2004 (with amounts deferred prior to January 1, 2005 also potentially subject to restrictions), ...." (Milliman)
Full Text of Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments Newsletter (PDF)
2 pages. Includes articles on Legislative Activity on the Benefits Front, Upcoming Key Dates, and Regulatory Roundup. (Milliman)
The 2004 Top 250 Companies: Long-Term Incentive Grant Practices for Executives (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Since 1973, Frederic W. Cook & Co. has extensively researched and published an annual report on long-term incentive grant practices for executives of the largest U.S. companies. This 2004 report, our 32nd edition, is based on the 250 largest companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ('Top 250') as reported in the Special Spring 2004 issue of Business Week magazine. Selection of these companies was based on their total market capitalization, ...." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Newly Posted Events
Benefits Compliance Day
in Texas on November 4, 2004
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS)
Benefits Compliance Day (HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, ERISA, FSLA, HSA, Fiduciary, DB Admin.)
in Texas on November 4, 2004
presented by Houston Chapter ISCEBS
Fundamentals of Employee Benefit Plans
in Texas on November 4, 2004
presented by Houston Chapter ISCEBS
Newly Posted Press Releases
Healthfirst Selects Newkirk for Multi-lingual Member Communications Program
(Newkirk)
Decline in Employment-Based Health Coverage Led to Growing Uninsured Group in 2003
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
SouthWest Benefits Association and Internal Revenue Service Announce 15th Annual Employee Benefit Conference
(SouthWest Benefits Association)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Benefit Consultant
for Lynchval System Worldwide Inc
in VA
Plan Administrator/Recordkeeper
for DR Pension Services, LLC
in NY
Pension Administrator
for PennRock Financial Advisors, N.A.
in PA
Defined Contribution Plans Account Manager (Full-time and Part-time)
for CitiStreet
in NJ
Client Reporting Associate
for First Trust Corporation
in CO
Institutional Trust System Analyst
for Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T)
in NC
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