| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
April 14, 2006
Today's sponsor: www.ftwilliam.com
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Q. What did over 300 leading-edge TPA/Consulting Firms discover last year? |
| A. www.ftwilliam.com
Sign-up for our free on-line demo and find out how www.ftwilliam.com can make your life easier (and save you money).
Email us at sales@ftwilliam.com or call Holly Roussel at 414.226.2442. * Patent pending |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Pension Rule Could Lower Company Net Worths, According to Study
Excerpt: "Over all, [the study by] Milliman found, adopting the proposed accounting change would wipe away about 8 percent of corporate America's net worth, revealing hidden weaknesses all across corporate America." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
PBGC Chief Examines Defined Benefit Plan Funding and Accounting Rules
Excerpt: "[O]utgoing PBGC executive director Bradley D. Belt ... assessed the current state of the defined benefit system at a March 13, 2006 meeting of the National Association for Business Economics held at the University of Texas School of Law." (CCH Pension & Benefits)
Have a Plan for Dividing Pension in Divorce
Excerpt: "Every situation is so unique, but particular care must be made when discussing or negotiating retirement assets. One of the most misunderstood, yet most powerful, financial assets is a pension plan." (The Huntsville Times; registration required)
2006 Pension Reform Legislation As It Affects Multiemployer Plans
The NCCMP has posted the following: a 1-page Failure to act sanctions chart at http://www.nccmp.org/legislative/reform2006/SanctionSummary_v5.pdf; a 3-page document on major Conference issues to be resolved at http://www.nccmp.org/legislative/reform2006/MajorConfIssues3-9.pdf; and a 38-page chart on the reform legislation Compared to the Multiemployer Pension Plan Coalition Proposal at http://www.nccmp.org/legislative/reform2006/SideBySide_Final206.pdf. (National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans)
How to Invest for a Long and Happy Retirement
Excerpt: "Coming up with a strategy to make a nest egg last for two or three decades has become even more difficult because the outlook for many income-producing investments is so bleak. While people have traditionally relied on a diversified portfolio of bonds to kick off the money they need to live on, 'the yields are so low that you simply can't rely on them for the income you need,' says Mark Berg, president of Timothy Financial Counsel in Wheaton, Ill." (SmartMoney)
Plan Sponsor Survey Results: What Funds Are Drawing Your Participant Transfers?
Excerpt: "Perhaps establishing that some participants ARE paying attention, a full third of this week's respondents said that transferring participants were favoring international equities on their retirement plan menu (however, one respondent characterized that shift as 'chasing past performance in international')." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
World Perspectives: Insuring Occupational Pensions
Excerpt: "One measure of a civilized society is the way it cares for its older members. It can only be fair that pension scheme, or plan, members receive the security in retirement they have been promised." (AARP)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Newsletter: Employee Benefits Developments, March 2006
Topics include 'The DOL issues two new FMLA opinion letters,' 'New York City's Equal Benefits Law found invalid,' 'Wal-Mart can't 'wrap',' 'Participants not bound by arbitration clause between investment manager and plan,' and 'Error-prone COBRA notice procedures costly to employer." (HodgsonRuss)
Newly Posted Events
2006 Spring Summit "Keeping Your Head Above Water in the Employee Benefits Ocean"
in California on May 9, 2006
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Los Angeles Chapter
Code Section 409A Workshop
Nationwide on June 7, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Legislative Update
in Massachusetts on April 26, 2006
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council (ABC) of New England
New - Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans
Nationwide on June 7, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
SEC Executive Compensation Update: New Proxy Disclosure Rules and Practices
in District of Columbia on May 19, 2006
presented by BNA, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
S&P Releases Latest Index Versus Active Fund Scorecard
(Standard & Poor's)
USW Wins Lifetime Health Care and Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Thousands of American National Can Co. Retirees
(United Steelworkers)
Most Americans Fail to Make the Grade When Tested Beyond the 'ABC's' of Financial Literacy
(Northwestern Mutual)
Health Care, Union Coalition Issues Call to Arms Against Small Business Health Plan Legislation
(American Chiropractic Association)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Consultant
for Veritude, A Fidelity Investments Company
in MA
Analyst - Contract position
for Veritude, A Fidelity Investments Company
in MA
Trust Operations Manager
for Trust Company of Illinois
in IL
Associate Healthcare Compliance Analyst (Supervisor)
for Great-West Corporate
in CO
Recordkeeper
for Guidant Financial Group, Inc
in WA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- 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.
Published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
Housekeeping: