| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
September 8, 2005
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Northwest Airlines Amends Salaried Workers' Pension Plans
Excerpt: "Struggling airline Northwest Airlines Corp. ... said it amended its pension plan for salaried employees to freeze existing benefit accruals." (Reuters)
Lawmakers to Propose Pension Aid for Storm Hit Companies
Excerpt: "Companies seriously affected by Hurricane Katrina would receive temporary relief from some pension and other costs under a bipartisan proposal worked out late on Wednesday by two key senators, a congressional aide said." (Reuters)
Plan Sponsors Predict that Proposed Pension Reforms Could be Trouble
Excerpt: "Employers responding to an industry group's survey predicted lower retirement benefits for workers if Congress adopts pension reform proposals it is now considering. A news release from the Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Assets (CIEBA), ... , said respondents cited a potential shift from equities to bonds, increased costs for pension plans and a likely reduction in benefits for current or future defined benefit pension plan participants as causes for their concern." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Trade Group Wants to Help Retirement Plan Participants Affected by Hurricane Katrina
Excerpt: "The ERISA Industry Committee is asking its members for information on the number of employees who may be affected by Hurricane Katrina and the type of benefits relief necessary, such as immediate distributions or relief from payment of participant loans." (BenefitNews Connect)
Alternative Investments: An Introduction (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Alternative investments are complex and often present unique investment and fiduciary risks for trustees. This article provides a brief overview of the alternative investments class and highlights some key investment characteristics and risks associated with alternative investments." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Efficiency Gains and Social Security Reform
Excerpt: "This project has two parts. First, it proposes to generalize existing retirement models to include health and employer constraints as well as worker choice. Second, it proposes to present and analyze a Social Security reform designed to promote efficiency." (Michigan Retirement Research Center)
American Benefits Council Urges Senate HELP Committee to Address Legitimacy of Hybrid Pension Plan Design, Not Conversions
Excerpt: "Action Requested: Contact members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and urge them to clarify the legitimacy of the hybrid plan design both prospectively and retroactively. Tell them not to provide specific conversion requirements." (American Benefits Council)
Opinion: Ensuring Retirement Income Security with Cash Balance Plans (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "Increasingly, firms that offer a DB plan have changed the way benefits are calculated to a cash balance plan. These plans combine aspects of DB plans-- guaranteed benefits-- with aspects of defined contribution (DC) plans, such as 401(k) plans-- individual account balances. Cash balance plans may help a more mobile workforce accumulate more retirement savings than traditional plans, but employers may also disguise benefit cuts in the conversion." (Center for American Progress)
Behavioural Finance Offers a Tempting Alternative to Voluntary and Forced Saving for Old Age
Excerpt: "At present, most workers have to opt in to retirement-saving plans. With automatic enrolment, they have to opt out. This flick of the switch makes pension saving the default option while retaining the voluntary principle. The simplicity of the policy is deceptive. It is grounded in some quite subtle findings of behavioural finance. This branch of economics, which draws upon psychology and experiments, shows that people are not always rational, especially when it comes to saving." (The Economist)
Increased Retirement Plan Participation Among Health Care Workers, According to Survey
Excerpt: "The American Hospital Association (AHA) reports that the median participation rates of health care employees for 403(b) and 401(k) plans each increased 5% over the last year. This is a finding of the third annual survey, Retirement Plan Trends in Today's Healthcare Market - 2005, conducted with Diversified Investment Advisors." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Welcome to BenefitsLink Advertiser Fiduciary Services, Inc.
Excerpt: "Fiduciary Services, Inc. is a registered investment adviser that concentrates its practice on retirement plan investments including issues dealing with company stock. The firm also serves as independent fiduciary for Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs." (BenefitsLink.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: New Rules Limit Employer Deductions for Personal Use of Aircraft
Excerpt: "The federal tax rules applicable to personal use of a business aircraft changed on October 22, 2004, .... As a result of this change, employers have three choices: (1) treat the full cost of the personal use of the aircraft as wages to the executive using the aircraft; (2) forego an income tax deduction to the extent the cost of the personal use of the aircraft is not treated as wages to the executive, or (3) limit personal use of the employer's aircraft." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)
Financial Reporting Developments: Share-Based Payment-- FASB Statement No. 123 (Revised 2004) (PDF)
492 pages. Excerpt: "[Ernst & Young] designed this publication as a resource to help you become familiar with Statement 123(R) and assess the impact that Statement 123(R) will have on your company's financial statements." (Ernst & Young LLP)
Review Bonus, Severance, and Deferred Comp Arrangements for Compliance with Section 409A (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This article reviews section 409A and provides an action plan for employers." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)
Executive Summary: Severance & Separation Benefits -- Benchmarks (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "Lee Hecht Harrison's newest severance and separation benefits study provides the latest benchmarks to help human resources and business executives evaluate the competitiveness of their policies." (Lee Hecht Harrison)
Newly Posted Events
Aligning Health Promotion With Benefit Design Teleweb
Nationwide on September 15, 2005
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
From The Trenches: Investment Risk
Nationwide on September 13, 2005
presented by Financial Executives International and Denali Fiduciary Management Corporation
Investments and Fiduciary Issues
in Illinois on December 8, 2005
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Chicago
Medicare Part D and Why You Should Be Concerned
Nationwide on September 19, 2005
presented by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP
Staggered Remedial Amendment Periods: Understanding The New IRS Determination and Opinion Letter Program
Nationwide on September 28, 2005
presented by Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP
Washington Update
in Illinois on October 27, 2005
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Chicago
Newly Posted Press Releases
LA Chapter Meeting 9.13.05 - Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Plan Investment Strategies & Priorities
(Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Los Angeles Chapter)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Coordinator
for American Funds
in VA
Benefits Associate - Global Consulting Group
for Towers Perrin
in NY
Actuarial Associate - Global Consulting Group
for Towers Perrin
in NY, PA
Defined Contributions Reporting & Testing Analyst
for Boston Financial Data Services
in MA
Analyst, Health and Welfare Benefits
for Revlon
in NY
Product Manager- 401(k) Product Management
for Smith Barney
in NY
Pension Consultants
for Pension International Dynamics, Inc.
in NY
Benefit Specialist
for Towers Perrin
in CT
Service Delivery Manager
for ADP
in IA, UT
Retirement Plan Account Manager
for Summit Financial Corporation
in MA
Benefits Administrator
for WT Benefits L.L.C.
in TX
Daily Valuation Supervisor
for Lawrence Johnson & Associates
in CA
Benefits Consultant / Broker
for Kelley & Swain Inc.
in CA
Director, Benefits
for Brinker International
in TX
Relationship Manager
for MassMutual
in CA
Plan Design Specialist
for Boston Financial Data Services
in MA
401(k) Plan Administrator
for RPAS, Ltd.
in VA
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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