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September 25, 2006
Today's sponsor: ASPPA • Working for America's Retirement™

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2006 ASPPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Join us on October 22-25 at the Washington Hilton & Towers! Attend special sessions specifically related to the Pension Protection Act ’06. Hear the "Washington Update" from Brian Graff and the popular “Keeping Current” session given by Sal Tripodi. Visit over 80 vendors with new ideas and products in the Spacious exhibit hall. Register NOW @ www.asppa.org.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)

PBGC's October 4th Premium E-Filing Webcast
Excerpt: "To assist plan administrators and other practitioners to electronically file premiums to PBGC . . ., [PBGC] will conduct [a Webcast] that demonstrates how to file premiums online via PBGC's e-filing application called My Plan Administration Account (My PAA). [The target page is] the registration page for the Webcast." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

Overview: Seven Class Action Lawsuits Filed on 401(k) Fee Practices
Excerpt: "These cases challenge investment-related fees paid by plans to service providers, including revenue sharing arrangements between plans, mutual funds, and recordkeepers. The suits were filed against Fortune 500 employers in Missouri and Illinois by a single St. Louis-based law firm, though other plaintiffs' firms reportedly are poised to join the fray." (Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP)

New URL: Annual 401(k) Benchmarking Survey: 2005/2006 Edition
39 pages. Excerpt: "[830] 401(k) plan sponsors participated in this survey. Respondents diligently answered scores of probing questions about their plans as well as, for the first time, a series of inquiries about other rewards programs. The result is a highly 'granular' snapshot of plan characteristics, policies, and trends." (Deloitte Consulting LLP; International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists)

401(k) Participants Unsure How to Invest, According to Hancock Survey
Excerpt: "Most participants in 401(k) plans sponsored by John Hancock Retirement Plan Services say they feel unqualified to choose their own investments, according to JHRPS. A study commissioned by JHRPS, Boston, found 69% believe they don't know enough about investing, and 67% said their concern about market volatility is an obstacle to their own investing." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free one-time registration or paid subscription required)

Overview: PBGC Guidance on Use of Corporate Bond Rate and Participant Notices
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has updated its guidance on the interest rate used for determining PBGC variable rate premium and other purposes, reflecting changes made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). The PBGC has also provided new guidance on certain participant notices that reflects PPA." (Hewitt Associates)

Testimony of Fred Reish to ERISA Advisory Council on Section 404(c) Provisions (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "On Wednesday, September 21st, Fred Reish testified before the Working Group on Plan Investments of the DOL Advisory Council about changes that are needed to improve the provisions of section 404(c) of ERISA." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)

Overview: IRS Clarifies Anticutback Rule and Revises Utilization Test (PDF)
2 pages. (Milliman)

Can Retirees Manage Their Money Well Enough to Ensure Their Savings Last As Long As They Do?
Excerpt: "[F]inancial services firms are introducing a raft of new products seeking to duplicate, as best they can, the features of a group defined benefit plan at the individual investor level. Most revolve around some sort of annuity . . . with some new bells and whistles: inflation protection, payouts guaranteed for a minimum number of years, and opportunities to fund the annuity over a period of years rather than with a lump sum." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Comments on Enhanced Pension Fund Fiduciary Liability Insurance
Excerpt: "New pension laws, heightened scrutiny of fiduciary advisors and a surge in litigation would seem to make this type of enhanced coverage appealing to investment professionals in Can.ada, the U.S. and elsewhere." (Pension Risk Matters)

Testimony: Milliman's Rhonda Migdail to ERISA Advisory Council on Procedurally Prudent Investment Processes (PDF)
10 pages. Testimony of Rhonda Migdail Before the 2006 ERISA Advisory Council Working Group on Select Issues of a Procedurally Prudent Investment Process (Milliman)

Employee Private Use of a Massachusetts Cities' Cars Would Add to Pension Costs
Excerpt: "Including private use of a city car or truck in pension calculations could cost taxpayers thousands over the length of each pension." (Beverly Citizen on Townonline.com)

International Update, August 2006: Recent Developments in Foreign Public and Private Pensions (PDF)
4 pages. (U.S. Social Security Administration)

Listing of Benefits-Related Blogs on the Web
Excerpt: "Benefits in the News from BenefitsLink -- While not designated as a blog, probably because it started before blogs began, this is the best free site on the web to get information on employee benefits." (Pension & Benefits Blog)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated as of September 19, 2006, for Retirement Plans (PDF)
2 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding retirement plans. (Hewitt Associates)

Comments on Service-Provider Fee Disclosure
Excerpt: "DOL has expressed concern about the difficulty that plan fiduciaries have in discerning the actual costs of services provided to 401(k) plans and has promoted on its WEB site a 401(k) Fee Disclosure Form." (Pension & Benefits Blog)

Trade Groups Complain to DOL Over Fee Disclosure Proposal
Excerpt: "Generally, the proposed revisions would establish a new Form 5500-SF (short form), remove the IRS-only components from the Form 5500, eliminate the limited reporting for Code §403(b) plans and add new questions regarding Title I compliance, and pension plan funding." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Editorial: Guidance on Frequent-Trade Monitoring
Excerpt: "The best practices cover the following aspects of frequent-trading monitoring: Transactions subject to monitoring; Round trip identification period; Monitoring period; Participant warning notices; Purchase restriction period; Restoration of trading privileges; Reporting to funds; Trading restrictions; and, Plan sponsor and participant communications." (Employee Benefit News)

DB(k) Plans to Offer Retirement Savings Opportunity in 2010
Excerpt: "The 2006 Pension Protection Act allows for businesses with 500 employees or fewer to offer hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution plans. These so-called DB(k)s provide a low employer-paid guaranteed lifetime monthly retirement benefit that can be supplemented by voluntary tax deferred contributions from employees." (Financial-Planning.com)

Overview of the New Pension Law and Its Non-Defined-Benefit-Plan Provisions
Excerpt: "[N]early one-half of PPA's 991 pages deals with defined contribution plans, fiduciary concerns, and odds and ends related to IRA's and deferred compensation arrangements. This article addresses the matters which will be relevant for [those] who do not sponsor defined benefit plans." (Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster)

Overview of What Employers Need to Know About the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The PPA creates, revises or extends a number of rules that apply to defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans. This Update outlines key provisions employers should consider as they assess the PPA's impact on their retirement plans." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Overview of Possible Impact of FAS 123(R) on Anti-Dilution Provisions in Equity Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "Under FAS 123(R), an amendment to a plan (or the underlying award agreement) to add mandatory anti-dilution provisions will not be considered a modification of an award unless it is made in contemplation of an equity restructuring." (Haynes and Boone. LLP)

Overview: SEC Rules Are Designed to Improve Compensation Disclosure to Investors
Excerpt: "Under this broad policy, the goal of the executive and director compensation disclosure regime is to provide investors with clearer, better organized and more complete disclosure regarding the mix, size and incentive components of executive and director compensation." (CCH Pension and Benefits)

Two Sun Microsystems Public Employee Pension Fund Shareholders Want Say in Executive Pay
Excerpt: "[T]wo shareholders want to have a say in how Sun compensates its executives. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Pension Plan and the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds have proposed a measure that shareholders be permitted to vote, though only in an advisory capacity, to approve the board's compensation committee reports." (CNET News.com via The New York Times; one-time registration required)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide for September 19, 2006, on Human Resources and Employment Law (PDF)
9 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding human resources and employment law. (Hewitt Associates)


Newly Posted Events

Pension Protection Act 2006
in Vermont on September 3, 2006
presented by Executive Benefits Design Group

The Health, Economic and Legal Components of Worksite Wellness Programs Teleweb
Nationwide on October 19, 2006
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans


Newly Posted Press Releases

Making America Work
(Urban Institute)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

401(k) Account Manager
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA

Pension Consultants/Administrators
for Northern NJ Mid-Size Pension Consulting Firm
in NJ

Client Integration Transition Manager
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY

Actuarial Assistant
for Gucciardi Benefit Resources, a division of Summit Benefit & Actuarial Services, Inc.
in WI

Account Manager
for Zenith Administrators
in NV

Pension Administrator
for The Senex Group
in CA

Documentation Specialist
for The Senex Group
in CA

401(k) Administrator
for Creative Retirement Systems
in OH

Benefit Compliance Specialist
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Compliance Consultant - Experienced
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Design Consultant-Exec Compensation
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Employee Benefits Attorney
for Trenam Kemker
in FL

401(k) Enrollers/Independent Contractors - Part-Time
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in CA, FL, IL, MI, TX

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Plan Sponsor Advisors, LLC
in IL

Analytical Services Team Leader
for Kibble & Prentice
in WA

Senior Defined Benefit Calculation Analyst
for Diversified Investment Advisors, Inc.
in MA

Sr New Business Account Mgr
for Standard Insurance Company
in OR

DC Plan Administrator
for Penret Services, Inc.
in MA




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