| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
February 1, 2005
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Overview: 401(k) Plans: Boosting Participation and Participant Contributions
Excerpt: "Recent research by Watson Wyatt examined the ways in which communication can boost employee 401(k) participation and contributions. The study report, 'The Importance of Financial Communication for Participation Rates and Contribution Levels in 401(k) Plans,' corroborates findings from earlier studies: Enhanced financial communication goes a long way in convincing employees to sign on to the 401(k) plan and in motivating participants to contribute to the plan." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Exchange-Traded Funds Advance in Banks' Thinking As 401(k) Investment Option
Excerpt: "Exchange-traded funds are gaining popularity as a constituent of 401(k) plans, bankers say, and may even stimulate adoption of an all-ETF 401(k) platform. Ed Mooney, a senior vice president in the wealth advisory group at Bank of New York, said a good argument can be made that ETFs can be part of an intelligently allocated 401(k) plan. And Brad Pope, a business officer in Barclays Global Investors' iShares group, said ETFs in 401(k) plans are a growing trend." (Financial-Planning.com)
Retirement Income Planning, Part 6: Providing the Information That People Need
6 pages. (Still River Retirement Planning Software, Inc.)
The Need for Your 401(k) Provider to Follow Department of Labor Rules in a Post-Enron Environment (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Does your 401(k) plan provider accept its fiduciary obligation to follow U.S. Department of Labor guidance when serving as 'directed trustee' of your plan? If not, you, as the employer and, therefore, the primary fiduciary responsible for your plan, potentially could be at risk – at risk for unwanted government audits and participant suits for breach of fiduciary duty ..." (Brown Rudnick)
Lifetime Savings Accounts Offer Politically Possible Tax Reform
Excerpt: "President Bush's tax reform panel won't finish work until the end of July. But there's one reform the White House will likely urge on Congress in just a few days. Tax-free Lifetime Savings Accounts were in Bush's last two annual budgets. It's a safe bet they'll be in his next budget due Feb. 7." (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! Finance)
Responses to PBGC Pending Proposed Rules on Electronic Filing of Annual Financial & Actuarial Info (PDF)
22 pages. Five comments received to date on this proposed rule. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
President Says Social Security Shortfall Huge, but His Tax Cuts and Drug Benefit Cost 5 Times As Much
Excerpt: "The tax cuts and the pres.cription drug bill were the President's two principal domestic priorities during his first term. Together, these policies will cost at least five times as much over the next 75 years as the Social Security shortfall (if the tax cuts are made permanent). In other words, the President's domestic policy initiatives will have resulted in fiscal problems much larger than the problem that he now says he wants to address." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Opinion: The Fight Over Social Security Is about the Numbers -- The Annual Rate of Return
Excerpt: "Schemes for Social Security privatization, like the one described in the 2004 Economic Report of the President, invariably assume that investing in stocks will yield a high annual rate of return, 6.5 or 7 percent after inflation, for at least the next 75 years. Without that assumption, these schemes can't deliver on their promises. Yet a rate of return that high is mathematically impossible unless the economy grows much faster than anyone is now expecting." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Table and Figures with Updated Long-Term Projections for Social Security (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "The Congressional Budget Office most recently released long-term (100-year) Social Security projections in The Outlook for Social Security .... As a result of both economic and technical revisions, those projections have changed slightly. The attached tables and figures present the updated projections. The Outlook for Social Security presented ranges of uncertainty around the central projections; those estimates will also be updated and will be posted in the near future." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)
Bush May Back Curbs on Private Accounts as President Courts Critics of Social Security Plan
Excerpt: "President Bush is privately expressing support for limits on the cost and risk of partially privatizing Social Security, in an effort to mollify nervous Republicans and win over dubious Democrats, according to White House aides and congressional Republicans." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Six Key Democratic Senators Oppose Bush Plan on Social Security Plan for Private Accounts
Excerpt: "Six of the seven Democratic senators from the states where President Bush plans to campaign this week for his Social Security plan say they are unalterably opposed to his main principle of diverting tax money into personal investment accounts." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: FASB Issues Revised Statement on Share-Based Plans
Excerpt: "On December 16, 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) published FASB Statement No. 123 (revised 2004), Share-Based Payment. Statement 123(R) provides comprehensive guidance on how to recognize the compensation cost of share-based payment transactions on company financial statements. The new rules affect current practice in a number of ways, the most important being that companies must recognize a compensation cost for the value of options granted in exchange for ...." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Employee Benefits in Bankrup.tcy: The Employer's Perspective and the Employee's Perspective
Excerpt: "The downturn in our economy in recent years has resulted in the frequent intersection of important federal laws, including the Bankrup.tcy Code, ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code and COBRA. This article will discuss the interplay of these laws as they relate to employee benefit issues that typically arise in a Chapter 11 bankrup.tcy of the employer who sponsors a benefit plan, and in a bankrup.tcy filing by the employee who participates in a retirement plan." (Oklahoma Bar Journal)
Newly Posted Events
Engaging Employees in Healthcare Cost Management: Care Management Programs, Consumer-Driven Health Plans and Other Options
in Ohio on February 17, 2005
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Cleveland Chapter
February Luncheon Meeting - "State of the Mutual Fund Industry and Mutual Fund Compliance"
in Colorado on February 8, 2005
presented by Western Pension and Benefits Conference-Denver Chapter
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Illinois on March 24, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Kansas on March 24, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in California on March 30, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Texas on April 1, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in New York on April 1, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in California on April 1, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Colorado on April 7, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Massachusetts on April 8, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Nonqualified Deferred Comp. Plan Workshop with 457 Update
in Washington on April 8, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
Grassley, Baucus Re-introduce NESTEG Pension Bill, Announce Plans to Look at More Reforms
(U.S. Senate Finance Committee)
Alliance Benefit Group Licensees Join Forces
(Alliance Benefit Group)
BeneSync Unveils AutoBen - Automated On-line Software Allows Employers to Build Benefit Statements In-House
(BeneSync)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(k) Account Manager
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
OmniPlus Analysts and Project Managers
for Constantin Control Associates
in NJ
Plan Specialist
for Transamerica
in CA
Regional Enrollment Manager
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in CA
Employee Benefits Manager
for Pinellas County Government Unified Personnel System
in FL
Product Manager
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
Client Services Manager
for Zenith Administrators
in AZ
Senior Defined Contribution/401(k) Administrator
for BenefitStreet, Inc.
in CA
Pension Administrator
for Hunter Benefits Consulting Group, Inc.
in IL
Manager - Plan Establishment
for Lincoln Financial Group
in IN
Client Service Coordinator - Retirement Plan Services Firm
for Veratis Institutional Advisors, Inc.
in NC
DC/401K Plan Administrator
for Retirement Plan Consulting/TPA firm
in NY
Litigation Associate
for Trucker Huss, APC
in CA
Account Manager 2
for SunTrust Bank
in DC
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