| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
February 15, 2005
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
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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)
Working Paper: The Adequacy of Investment Choices Offered by 401(k) Plans (PDF)
32 pages. Excerpt: "[A] study [of] the characteristics of plans that are associated with adequate investment choices, including an analysis of the use of company stock, plan size, and the use of outside consultants." (New York University)
ERIC Comments on Distributions from a Pension Plan under a Phased Retirement Program (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "We expect the retroactive annuity starting date regulation to be interpreted to conform to the phased retirement regulations so that a retroactive annuity starting date could be elected with respect to a phased retirement benefit. We cannot think of any reason for forbidding a participant in a phased retirement program from electing a retroactive annuity starting date with respect to a phased retirement benefit." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
Report: IRA Ownership in 2004 (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "The Investment Company Institute annually surveys U.S. households to track ownership of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). The number and percentage of households owning IRAs is based on an annual survey of 3,000 randomly selected, representative U.S. households conducted in June 2004." (Investment Company Institute)
The Individual Retirement Account at Age 30: A Retrospective (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "The past 30 years clearly show that the IRA has successfully promoted and sustained retirement saving among many Americans. Individuals had $3.0 trillion in IRAs by the end of 2003. IRAs were the largest component of the $11.6 trillion U.S. retirement market, representing over one out of every four retirement dollars." (Investment Company Institute)
Opinion: U.S. Labor Secretary on Honoring Pension Promises Made to Workers
Excerpt: "Working hard and 'playing by the rules' has for generations of Americans been the guiding ethic for leading an honorable life and attaining financial security. Millions charted their career and finances based on a promise that when they retired they would have a stable income from a defined pension plan to live on the rest of their life. These workers trusted in that promise, planned around that promise and reasonably assumed that it was inviolable." (Elaine Chao via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Perspective: Outlook for Executive Compensation Governance 2005: A Recommended Plan of Action
Excerpt: "This Perspective sets out ten steps, based on our experience with companies across the country, that we believe will strengthen executive compensation governance in 2005. At the end of the article, we include a checklist for compensation committees of 'must-do' items for the first quarter of 2005." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Care Management: Take Advantage of Future Cost Savings Strategies Today.
in California on March 31, 2005
presented by Precept Human Capital Management
Newly Posted Press Releases
CPI Provides Financial Consultants a Management Tool with the Potential to Triple Assets Under Management
(CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.)
Managing and Reducing Health Care Costs.....Better Communications Saved Fortune 500 Company $1 Million in Rx
(Smith Strategic Inc)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Account Executive - Client Services
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY
Account Manager Trainee (Group Employee Benefits)
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in MA
Copy Director
for T. Rowe Price
in MD
Participant Education Consultant
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Benefits Administrator
for United Way of Central Carolinas, Inc.
in NC
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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