| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
January 25, 2006
Today's sponsor: ASPPA • Working for America's Retirement™
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| NEW! Qualified Plan Financial Consultant |
| Qualified Plan Financial Consultant, QPFC, is a new professional credential for financial professionals who sell, advise, market or support qualified retirement plans. QPFC will keep you abreast in an ever-changing marketplace while expanding your referral network. Register for exams today! |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Bill Lets Fund Firms Give Advice on 401(k)s -- Advisers See Potential for Conflict of Interest
Excerpt: "To date concerns about conflicts have helped keep the mutual-fund companies from offering advice directly to 401(k) plan participants. Under current law, mutual-fund companies are prohibited from offering such investment advice. Employers who offer retirement plans may contract with independent advisers for their employees, but many companies don't do so out of fear they could be sued by retirees who discover they didn't save enough during their working years." (The Boston Globe)
Opinion: Pensions and the Promises Broken
Excerpt: "When financially solvent companies begin to see the benefit of jettisoning their pensions in favor o[f] 401(k) plans, all workers lose. The older the employee, the larger the possible loss should the employer freeze the plan. Freezing is the new buzz word among profitable companies. Freezing a pension basically wipes away the obligation of the company to direct the money it has invested on their employee's behalf." (AXcess News)
Pension Reform Law Alters Rules for Employers in Ireland
Excerpt: "Employers in Ireland must adapt to new minimum funding rules, along with new plan administration and trustee oversight rules, under the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2005." (Towers Perrin)
German Companies Facing Higher Pension Reserve Requirements
Excerpt: "The updated Heubeck tables, which cover rates of mortality, disability and marriage, are widely used in Germany when calculating pension liabilities and determining the appropriate level of reserves. For the first time, the new 2005G tables include an explicit allowance for generational effects (i.e., different rates of life expectancy depending on an individual's year of birth)." (Towers Perrin)
Text of Publication 4492: Information for Taxpayers Affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma (PDF)
19 pages. Excerpt: "This publication explains the major provisions of the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 and the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)
Editorial: The 'Whites Only' Retirement Fund
Excerpt: "Americans tend to think that the worst forms of institutional racism simply went away after Congress passed the landmark civil rights laws of the 1960's. But black police officers in Georgia who were denied membership in a supplementary retirement fund decades ago for reasons of race know better." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans to Become Compulsory in Norway (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "All Norwegian employers will be required to sponsor a retirement plan for their employees starting July 1, 2006 under legislation approved by the Norwegian parliament." (Towers Perrin)
Text of Advisory Opinion 2006-01A for the Guidant Legal Group, PLLC
Excerpt: "[DOL was asked] Whether a lease by a company (LLC) 49% owned by an IRA to a company (S) which is a disqualified person with respect to that IRA is a prohibited transaction ...." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
PBGC Grants Exemption from Multiemployer Plan Bond/Escrow Requirement to New Dodgers Owner
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has granted a request from LA Team Co. LLC for an exemption from ERISA's bond/escrow requirement with respect to its February 2004 purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team from Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc." (CCH INCORPORATED)
Managing Retirement Plan Cost
Excerpt: "Many plan sponsors assume their service providers have their best interest in mind. Service providers are for-profit companies whose main purpose is to maximize revenue for their organizations. The sooner plan sponsors understand basic service provider economics and begin to leverage their plan assets, the sooner they will drive down total plan costs and meet heir fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA." (Blue Prairie Group via 401khelpcenter.com)
AXA Equitable Survey Finds Only One in Five Workers Knows What Their Retirement Income Will Be
Excerpt: "The AXA Equitable Retirement Scope found that, even though social security is a major income source for retirees, 92% believe the social security system is troubled or in crisis." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
SEC Wants Executive Compensation Disclosure to Be One Number -- in Plain English
Excerpt: "In keeping with the post-Enron, post-Sarbanes-Oxley spirit of transparency, the rule provides for a 'one-number, bottom-line figure' for total annual compensation, including stock options and retirement payouts, for the top executives of publicly traded firms." (BenefitNews Connect)
Additional sponsor: ASPPA • Working for America's Retirement™
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Sal L. Tripodi's 2006 ERISA Outline Book now available |
| The '06 ERISA Outline book will give you what you need to succeed. Now with five volumes, these are the books that will tell you what you need to know, including:
Order The ERISA Outline Book today! |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Newly Posted Events
Gasping for Air in a World of Benefit Plan Compliance!
in California on February 7, 2006
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference Los Angeles
Plain Talk: Safeguard Strategies to Avoid Employee Benefits Litigation - But How to Win if You Have To!
Nationwide on February 16, 2006
presented by IBF Conferences*International Business Forum
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Michigan on March 22, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in New Jersey on March 22, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Missouri on March 23, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Massachusetts on March 23, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
3100 Wal-Mart Employees on Medicaid; State Taxpayer Subsidy to Wal-Mart Over $9 million in 2004
(Center for a Changing Workforce)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
TPA Relationship Manager-Western Region
for Transamerica
in CA
Employee Benefits Professional
for Craford Benefit Consultants
in CA
Benefits Professional
for The Paragon Consulting Group, Inc.
in CA
Director of Sales and Marketing - ABRA
for CitiStreet - A State Street and Citigroup company
in MA
Chief Sales/Marketing Officer
for ASPPA - American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries
in VA
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Handy Links:
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2006 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
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