| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
June 19, 2006
Today's sponsor: InvestLink
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| InvestLink offers the "Best of Breed" Software for Defined Contribution Recordkeeping, Administration and Trading |
| InvestLink offers "Best in Class" administration and record keeping software on an Application Services Platform (ASP) for 401(k), Profit Sharing and all other Defined Contribution plans. The product was designed by administrators for administrators. This ASP platform requires no hardware investment for clients. It provides secure, disaster recovery, web-based services all at one bundled price. Additionally, InvestLink converts your old data on to our new platform at NO cost to you, with NO installation for the standard platform. Training and support included in the bundled price. Also, if you are a distributor contact us and learn more about working with us to distribute your investment products. For a free demo and pricing, contact tim@invlink.com or call Tim Slavin-CEO at 1-888-507-LINK. |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
New Roth 401(k) Increases Retirement Account Options
Excerpt: "Americans who love choices among retirement plans and new acronyms for those choices will love the new Roth 401(k), or the Designated Roth Account, or DRAC, as it is known in financial planning circles." (Rockford Register Star)
Overview of Survey Results: PSCA's 48th Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans
Excerpt: "This year's survey contains 108 tables of data on important topics such as participation rates, participant deferrals, company contributions, investment options, asset allocation, Internet usage, vesting, loans, and more. Data is frequently broken down by plan size and plan type." (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America)
SEC Proposal Looks to Place Recordkeepers-- and Plan Sponsors-- Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Excerpt: "An amendment to a rule proposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to curtail the type of market-timing investments that rocked the mutual fund industry three years ago is likely to have a potentially costly and injurious impact on the 401(k) industry. Known as Rule 22c-2, the amendment would place complex and time-consuming reporting burdens on 401(k) service providers -- and could wind up spilling over into plan sponsor pockets." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Delta Takes Steps to Avert Mass Retirement of Pilots
Excerpt: "Delta Air Lines said ... that it planned to terminate the pension plan covering 13,000 active and retired pilots and some spouses, a move intended to save billions of dollars and also prevent an exodus of pilots that could have brought much of the carrier's operations to a halt." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Federal Retirees Counting on COLAs to Bring Relief
Excerpt: "With consumer prices on the rise, federal retirees are paying more attention to inflation trends and what they mean for their pensions." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Insurers Worry About Move to Put Estate Tax Section in Pension Bill
Excerpt: "Efforts by the Senate Republican leadership to slip estate tax reform into the pending pension reform bill have life industry groups concerned that the political weight could sink the entire ship." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free one-time registration or paid subscription required)
A New-- and Harsh-- Reality for Defined Benefit Asset Management
Excerpt: "In the blink of an eye, the freezing of defined benefit plans has moved from theory to practice: America's corporations are finalizing the transfer of retirement risk from their own balance sheets to their workers. It is an evolution that will affect markedly how and when Americans retire. It also will transform investment management as we know it today." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
American Benefits Council Testimony Submitted to Senate Banking Committee on FASB Exposure Draft (PDF)
Excerpt: "[June 14, 2006, Testimony of James A. Klein, President, American Benefits Council, was] submitted on behalf of the members of the American Benefits Council regarding the implications of FASB's Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards: Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans." (American Benefits Council)
Perils and Pitfalls of ERISA Summary Plan Descriptions -- First of Two Articles
Excerpt: "Employee benefit plans are highly regulated and litigated. However, foresight and planning can avoid the risk of violating regulations and provide a winning argument in a litigated case. Nowhere is this truer than with Summary Plan Descriptions." (Employee Benefit News)
U.A.W. Says Applications for Buyouts Soar at G.M.
Excerpt: "With a week to go before the deadline, it looks like at least 30,000 United Automobile Workers union members at General Motors will opt for incentives to leave or retire -- equal to the number of jobs G.M. plans to cut." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Inquiry Into Stock Option Pricing Casts a Wide Net
Excerpt: "In the latest scandal, companies seem to have handed out stock options that were already 'in the money' on the date of grant, undermining the idea of using options as a pay-for-performance tool. The practice appears to have been widespread from the early 1990's to 2002, and possibly beyond." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Webcast: The Changing Health Insurance Market: Implications for Public Policy and for State Government Purchasers
Nationwide on June 19, 2006
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrator
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA
Sr. Benefits Analyst for Corning Incorporated
for Corning Incorporated
in NY
Conversion Specialist
for ePlan Services, Inc.
in CO
Sr. Retirement Plan Consultant
for Invesmart, Inc.
in CA
Non-Qualified Recordkeeper/Plan Manager
for Non-Qualified Recordkeeping TPA
in GA
401(k) Retirement Plan Administrator
for Stephen Eldridge & Company, Inc.
in NH
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
NOTE TO AOL MEMBERS: PLEASE DO NOT REPORT THIS EMAIL AS SPAM. This email is not unsolicited. We do not send unsolicited email. This email is coming to you because you asked to receive it by entering your email address on our web page at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
These emails are sent each workday except federal holidays.
This email has been published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor
Copyright 2006 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Anyone can receive these emails; just have them sign up at this Web page: https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
Housekeeping: