| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
April 27, 2005
Today's sponsor: Penchecks, Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Penchecks, Inc. Announces the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits! |
| Coming in May 2005, the National Registry is a web-based service
designed to reunite plan participants with their unclaimed retirement benefits. Plan Administrators and IRA custodians may register their missing participants in the National Registry’s database. Participants will be able to check the database online. If a record is found, contact information is provided. There is no charge to individual participants to use the service.
All Penchecks, Inc. missing participants IRAs are automatically included in the National Registry Database. PenChecks, Inc. is the industry leader in Benefit Distributions, Missing Participant, and Automatic/Default Rollover IRA Programs. For more information click above or call 800-541-3938. |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Employers Keep 401(k) Plan Investing Simple, Less Intimidating with Fewer Choices
Excerpt: "As part of an increasingly paternalistic approach toward employees, more companies are thinking about reducing the number of investment options in their 401(k) plans. Thirty-one percent of employers recently surveyed by Hewitt Associates said they were likely to simplify their fund selection." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Watson Wyatt Insider, April 2005 Edition, Focuses on Retirement Issues (PDF)
22 pages. The April 2005 edition contains articles titled: Pension Reform Under Active Discussion; How Do Retirement Plans Affect Employee Behavior? IRS Proposes Regulations on Designated Roth Contributions to 401(k) Plans; and, New Filing Requirements for U.S. Residents With Canadian Retirement Plans. (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Retirement Investor Report Card for December 2004 from The Vanguard Group
16 pages. Excerpt: "Vanguard's semiannual report on investment performance and behavior among defined contribution plan participants has expanded to include IRA investors, providing a more complete view of retirement savings, and the opportunity to compare the saving and investment behavior of the two groups." (The Vanguard Center for Retirement Research)
Some Companies Holding Back Pension Contributions
Excerpt: "Some companies have withheld or are considering holding back contributions to employee retirement plans this year to take advantage of a funding law that would disappear if Bush administration pension reform proposals are adopted by Congress." (Reuters)
Testimony of Ron Gebhardtsbauer at Hearing on PBGC Reform: Mending the Pension Safety Net (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The administration's recent proposal reflects many of the funding reform principles discussed in our paper, Pension Funding Reform for Single Employer Plans; namely: solvency, predictability, transparency, incentives for funding, flexibility, avoidance of moral hazards, and simplicity. In particular, their proposed use of one funding rule and one amortization period improves transparency and simplicity." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Testimony Before Hearing on PBGC Reform: Mending the Pension Safety Net, April 26, 2004 (PDF)
14 pages. Excerpt: "The Administration has stepped forward with proposals to reform the pension funding rules and the premiums payable to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC). There are a number of themes in the Administration's package that we support. For example, we agree that the funding rules need to be strengthened. We also agree that measures to allow employers to make larger contributions during good economic times are long overdue." (American Benefits Council)
Benefits and Compensation Features of the Consumer Bankrup.tcy Act
Excerpt: "On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed the Bankrup.tcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the 'Act'), a measure long sought by the banking and credit card industries to tighten the rules for personal bankruptcies. The Act also makes a limited number of changes in the rules for corporate bankruptcies. Several of the Act's provisions are relevant for employee benefit plans. This Compliance Alert highlights the principal changes." (The Segal Company)
Question and Answer on the Application of Required Minimum Distribution Rules to Annuities
Excerpt: "Does the required minimum distribution, applicable to the year he turns 70½, have to be taken from the 401(k) plan prior to the balance of the funds being transferred to the annuity, or is the annuity stream, beginning in the year he turns 70½, adequate to meet the requirements of the minimum distribution rules? Response: Yes, it is okay to transfer; the annuity stream will be adequate." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)
Offshore Pension Plans —Their Role in Global Pension Programs
Pages 16-20 of 32 pages. Excerpt: "One of the interesting aspects of many global pension programs is the offshore pension plan. This paper explores the continuing popularity of such plans and reviews their design and funding. It then considers the practical operation of offshore pension plans from the viewpoint of a practitioner in this specialized field." (Society of Actuaries)
Brief Analysis: Galveston County, Texas -- A Model for Social Security Reform
Excerpt: "The current debate over Social Security reform is reminiscent of the discussions that occurred in Galveston County, Texas, in 1980, when county workers were offered a retirement alternative to Social Security: At the time they reacted with keen interest and some knee-jerk fear of the unknown. But after 24 years, folks here can say unequivocally that when Galveston County pulled out of the Social Security system in 1981, we were on the road to providing our workers with a better ...." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
CRS Report for Congress: Social Security Reform-- President Bush's Individual Account Proposal (PDF)
33 pages. Excerpt: "Analyzing the President's [Individual Account] proposal using assumptions on investment returns and administrative costs provided by the Social Security Administration, we find that the total of the reduced Social Security benefit plus the annuity that would be available using the actual [Individual Account] balance would exceed Social Security current-law promised benefits if the account earns the 4.6% annual real rate of return projected by the Social Security actuaries" (Laura Haltzel, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress)
Rep. Thomas Petri Proposes Social Security Baby Bond Program
Excerpt: "A member of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee is promoting a new strategy for beefing up federal retirement income insurance funding. Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., has introduced a bill, H.R. 1800, that calls for the federal government to contribute $1,000 to a Personal Social Security Investment Account for each child born in the United States." (National Underwriter)
Senate Panel Mulls Social Security Plans; Four Reforms Debated
Excerpt: "The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday began crafting a bill to reform Social Security, and it didn't take long to see how contentious the job will be. ....... [T]he panel heard testimony from four private citizens with plans that would restore Social Security's long-term solvency." (Investor Business Daily via Yahoo! News)
Bush Social Security Reform Plan Would Make Some Buy Annuities
Excerpt: "It sounds appealing: Create your own personal account with Social Security taxes, and when you die, leave the money to your heirs. It will belong to you, President Bush and his allies say repeatedly. You'll own it. But many retirees will have to use a big chunk of their nest egg to buy an annuity, which guarantees a monthly income but disappears when you die." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Hearing: Living Stronger, Earning Longer: Redefining Retirement in the 21st Century Workplace
Links provided to Member Statements by Senator Herb Kohl and Senator Gordon Smith and to Witness Testimony by Frank Robinson, Manager, Washington Nationals; Barbara Bovbjerg, Director, Education, Workforce and Income Security, US Government Accountability Office; Kathlyn Peterson, Medical & Surgical Transcriptionist, SSM Health Care; Laurie Barr, Oregon Health & Science University; Doug Holbrook, American Association of Retired Persons; and, Valerie Paganeilli, Watson Wyatt Worldwide. (U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging)
Hearing: Proposals to Achieve Sustainable Solvency, with & without Personal Accounts, April 26, 2005
Links to Member Statements: Charles Grassley, IA, and Witness Statements: Mr. Robert Pozen, Chairman, MFS Investment Management; Mr. Michael Tanner, Director, Project on Social Security Choice, Cato Institute; Mr. Peter Ferrara, Senior Fellow, Institute for Policy Innovation; Mr. Peter R. Orszag, Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution; and, Ms. Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security, National Women's Law Center. (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance)
Poverty-Level Annuitization Requirements in Personal Retirement Accounts Social Security Proposals (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "Little attention ... has been paid to policies that would govern the distribution of account balances. This analysis considers such policies with respect to the annuitization of account balances at retirement using the Social Security Administration's Modeling Income in the New Term (MINT) model and a modified version of a recent legislative proposal to evaluate the effects of partial annuitization requirements." (Social Security Administration)
Newly Posted Events
“Getting It Right” - New Compliance Assistance Seminar for Plan Fiduciaries
in New York on May 26, 2005
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Disaster Relief Announcement
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
The Principal Financial Group Offers Relief to Migraine Sufferers; New Migraine Care Program Provides Support for Members, Mitigates Effects Painful Chronic Disorder
(Principal Financial Group)
U.S. Department of Labor Bars Pennsylvania Man from Serving as Employee Benefit Plan Fiduciary
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Penchecks, Inc. Announces New Web-Based Service to Help Retirement Plan Sponsors Locate Lost Participants
(Penchecks, Inc.)
American Library Association Teams With The Investor Protection Trust And Kiplinger To Promote Investor Education In U.S. Libraries
(American Library Association)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Fund Administrator
for Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans
in IL
Clerical
for KSA Insurance Agency
in GA
Retirement Plan Case Manager for TPA Firm
for Stephen H. Rosen & Associates, Inc.
in NJ
Client Service Coordinator
for HaynesHitesman PC
in KS, MO
Handy Links:
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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