| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
January 2, 2007
Sponsored by: ASPPA • Working for America's Retirement™
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| don't Miss The Los Angeles Benefits Conference! |
| Join your colleagues January 25-26, 2007 at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City for the perfect opportunity to discuss employee benefits issues with top IRS and DOL government agency representatives. Co-Sponsored by the IRS, ASPPA, NIPA and WP&BC, this conference offers a specialized agenda highlighting the latest on pension issues. don't let this opportunity pass you by. Register NOW! |
San Francisco Is Seen As a Model of Pension Benefits Restraint
Excerpt: "Even as a bulwark of organized labor, the city has kept its pension costs in check while many others are digging deep into their general funds to pay for benefits that taxpayers were assured would cost nothing. Why is San Francisco different?" (Los Angeles Times; free registration required)
Whatever Happened to the Multiemployer Employer Withdrawal Liability?
Excerpt: "Adopted in 1980 as part of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act, the rules governing the assessment of withdrawal liability were crafted with an oftentimes maddening complexity that easily rivaled in this regard any of those to be found elsewhere in ERISA or in the tax code." (Pension & Benefits Blog)
New Law Makes It Easier for Workers to Get Advice on 401(k) Investments
Excerpt: "Although plan sponsors have always been able to provide investment advice, few actually did out of a fear of being held responsible if a participant lost money. Instead, most employers took the safer route of offering general investment education to employees, such as providing training on diversification and asset allocation modeling." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Roth IRAs Save the Best for Last with Tax-Free Distributions for Retirement Income
Excerpt: "Dallas Salisbury, who heads the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and Christine S. Fahlund, senior financial planner for T. Rowe Price, said there are several good reasons to invest in a Roth IRA if you are eligible." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Commentary -- A New Year's Wish: Why Not Try More Beneficial Benefit Planning?
Excerpt: "[L]awyers and actuaries cannot be expected to ignore the potential for problem-discovering, alert-related, problem-solving, business-generating, fee-generating professional work growing out of the new law, new FASB rules, new SEC rules, new regulations, and the like. . . . But wouldn't it be nice if we also helped our clients to remember the serious needs of their employees and the benefit-planning opportunities that are the real reason why these plans developed in the first place?" (Pension & Benefits Blog)
Art Works Fund Pension Plan for Artists
Excerpt: "Artists know their paintings and photographs can bring in rent money and profits. They might be surprised to find their creations also can generate retirement security. A new and innovative pension plan, called the Artist Pension Trust (APT), shows them the way." (Employee Benefit News)
Are Guaranteed-for-Life-Withdrawal Benefits All They're Cracked Up To Be?
Excerpt: "The guaranteed for life withdrawal benefit (GLWB) in variable annuities is being hailed as the answer to income needs in the retirement market." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Airline Captains Renew Effort to Raise Retirement Age
Excerpt: "U.S. airline captains have been forced to give up their coveted left seats at 60 since 1959, when the FAA imposed an ironclad age limit. The rule has been challenged many times in nearly five decades, but no attempt to alter it has ever succeeded." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; free registration required)
Opinion: Savings for America
Excerpt: "In the aftermath of their November election victory, Democratic leaders have pledged to work on a bipartisan basis to solve the problems facing our nation. In that spirit, I suggest that Democrats and Republicans can work together to create personal savings accounts for all Americans outside the Social Security system, an idea that politicians from both parties have supported for years." (Jeff Sessions Special to The Washington Post via Star Telegram.com; free registration required)
Opinion: Lessons on Social Security
Excerpt: "What could be more satisfying for a conservative than to destroy the signature creation of the president who gave us the American 'welfare state,' Franklin Roosevelt?" (The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky))
Commentary: In Planning for Retirement, Don't Neglect Old Age
Excerpt: "From a distance at least, [retirement] looks wonderfully flexible and strictly voluntary. If I cannot afford to retire at age 62 or 65 or whatever, no problem -- I'll just keep working a while longer. This misses some vital parts of the matter. In its most compelling meaning, 'retirement' is a euphemism for 'old age.' There is nothing optional about old age, nor about many of the expenses, burdens and other liabilities it may bring." (Bloomberg News)
Web-Smart Savers -- Online Tools Enhance Financial Education But Still Not Used Optimally
Excerpt: "As a growing number of employers offer financial education to their employees, online tools play an important role in that education, but employers may be disappointed in the amount of use the those tools get." (Employee Benefit News)
Final Report to New Zealand's Inland Revenue: 'KiwiSaver Evaluation Literature Review' (PDF)
52 pages. Excerpt: "New Zealand is introducing a new saving incentive scheme called KiwiSaver on 1 July 2007. The goals of KiwiSaver are to improve the financial position of New Zealanders in retirement, increase aggregate private saving in New Zealand, and reduce New Zealand's reliance on external debt. . . . This report reviews the international literature on saving incentives that is relevant for gauging the probable outcomes of KiwiSaver and designing ways to measure its outcomes." (The Urban Institute and The Brookings Institution)
Editorial: Chilean Government Plans to Pursue Larger Government Role in Chileans' Old-Age Security
Excerpt: "The overarching problem for Chile -- and the real lesson for the United States -- is that private savings are not a substitute for a guaranteed core tier of old-age support. The first measure of success of a retirement system is not how much certain individuals manage to sock away, but whether the system as a whole provides basic dignity for all. By that measure, Chile's privatized system has failed and Social Security has succeeded." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Opinion: Nigeria -- Pension Reform Act 2004 and Deregulation
Excerpt: "THE issue of rewarding the Nigerian worker after years of active service has been a source of concern to the various tiers of government. In a country where life expectancy approximates to the commencement of real active life in other climes, the issue of pension and gratuity becomes even more challenging." (allAfrica.com)
Sponsored by: Mid-Sized Pension Management Conference
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| PPA 2006: New Plan Management Tools for the Road Ahead |
| The road to successful plan management has taken a number of detours in recent years. Plan sponsors are constantly reminded of the fiduciary potholes, plan design u-turns and regulatory speed traps they face every day. And now, the "PPA" super highway is open to traffic! The Pension Protection Act of 2006 has produced sweeping new changes that will directly affect your retirement plan. Find out exactly which route you should take by attending the 2007 Mid-Sized Pension Management Conference, scheduled for January 28-31, in Orlando, Florida. |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Editorial: Holding the Line on Accounting and Stock Options
Excerpt: "Fudging the grant date for stock options doesn't quite have the spotlight-grabbing immediacy of Enron's collapse, but it is still gaming the system at the expense of shareholders." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Greying Workers Wanted for Hire in an Aging Japan
Excerpt: "Japan revised laws this year to require companies to retain older staff, but many are extending work only to a favored few. The trend is a cause for concern, analysts say, not only because shunning older workers deprives companies of the same skills that powered Japan's rapid economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, but because it deprives senior citizens of income." (Reuters via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Commentary: Staggering Public Pension Debt Must Be Paid
Excerpt: "The pension and retiree health benefits promised to state and local government workers are not necessary to recruitment, nor, except in the case of police, fire and other public safety jobs with considerable dangers, particularly justified." (Bruce Kesler via The Examiner)
Overview: IRS Rules for Electronic Plan Notices and Elections (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Complying with the IRS rules for electronic plan notices and elections includes: Determining if the final regulations present an opportunity to provide certain plan notices in a more efficient and cost-effective manner, [and,] For those plan sponsors that already provide electronic communications, determining whether any changes are necessary or desirable to comply with the regulations, and Coordinating any changes with system vendors." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Spouse Absent for 18 Months Can Get Death Benefits
Excerpt: "The US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted summary judgment to a surviving spouse who claimed he was owed benefits from his deceased wife's benefit plans in spite of having been absent from the marriage for 18 months prior to her death." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Wisconsin Ban on G. ay Marriage Does not Stop Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "The Attorney General of Wisconsin has ruled that the state's ban on s.ame-sex marriage does not mean employers must stop providing domestic partner benefits to employees." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
2006 Cost of Management Ratios (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "[F]rederic W. Cook & Co. introduces its first research report on Cost of Management Ratios. The purpose of this report is to present a source for competitive data summarizing the annual cost of NEO total compensation as a percent of three key size criteria: market capitalization, revenue and net income." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Compensation Experts Offer Ways to Help Curb Executive Salaries
Excerpt: "Executive compensation issues are tricky; the devil is often deep in the footnotes of proxy statements, employment agreements and stock option plans. It will take a concerted effort by both investors and boards to effect real change. . . . Here are eight steps that compensation experts say might help rein in executive pay . . . ." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Public Employee Retiree Costs in California Could Hit $100 Billion
Excerpt: "Across California . . . government agencies have been . . . promising their workers several years, or even a lifetime, of free or subsidized health insurance after they retire, but putting not a penny aside each year to pay those costs when the bills inevitably come due." (Ventura County Star)
Section 420 Transfers by Multiemployer Plans
Excerpt: "A little-noted feature of the Pension Protection Act is its provision extending to multiemployer pension plans the opportunity to transfer 'excess' assets to fund retiree health benefits. Until now, only single employer pension plan sponsors were permitted to make such transfers." (Pension & Benefits Blog)
Bethlehem Steel's Salaried Retiree Coalition to End
Excerpt: "Bethlehem Steel's Retired Employees Benefits Coalition (REBCO), representing salaried retirees and their spouses, will voluntarily dissolve by December 31, according to the Baltimore Sun." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Overview: Google's New Transferable Stock Option Program (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The Transferable Stock Option program will impact all options granted since the Company's initial public offering as well as future awards. Unlike one-time transferable option programs at other companies (e.g., Microsoft1), the Google program is an ongoing auction with multiple financial institution participants." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
NBER Working Paper Abstract: Lucky CEOs and Option Grants
Excerpt: "[The authors] study the relation between corporate governance and opportunistic timing of CEO option grants via backdating or otherwise. [Their] methodology focuses on how grant date prices rank within the price distribution of the grant month. During 1996-2005, about 12% of firms provided one or more lucky grant -- defined as grants given at the lowest price of the month -- due to opportunistic timing." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve full-text)
Stock Option Backdating and Springloading Consequences
Excerpt: "Stock option backdating and other prohibited forms of market timing can result in adverse tax, accounting and securities law consequences for both U.S. and Canadian organizations and their employees." (Employee Benefit News)
Newly Posted Events
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Ohio on February 7, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Ohio on February 9, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Texas on February 14, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in California on February 14, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Oklahoma on February 14, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Texas on February 16, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Oklahoma on February 16, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in California on February 16, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Ohio on February 6, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Ohio on February 8, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Texas on February 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Oklahoma on February 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in California on February 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Oklahoma on February 15, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in California on February 15, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Texas on February 15, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Advanced Distribution Issues and Plan Loans
Nationwide on February 1, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Amending and Restating Qualified Plans for EGTRRA
Nationwide on February 20, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Individual(k) Plans
Nationwide on February 22, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Introduction to Qualified Retirement Plan Distributions
Nationwide on January 30, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Beneficiary Distributions
Nationwide on February 6, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Fundamentals for Frontline Personnel - Part I
Nationwide on February 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Fundamentals for Frontline Personnel - Part II
Nationwide on February 15, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Withholding
Nationwide on February 8, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Employee Benefits Agenda of the New Democratic Congress Teleweb
Nationwide on January 25, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Wellness Programs After the Final HIPAA Nondiscrimination Regs -- What's Allowed, What Isn't, and What Designs Work Best?
Nationwide on January 25, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Two PPPC Employees Achieve QPA Credential
Preferred Pension Planning Corporation
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
ERISA Consultant
for DailyAccess Corporation
in AL
401(k) Administrator
for West Pension Solutions, LLC
in MD
Retirement Plan Consultant
for MBG Retirement, Inc.
in TX
Pension Administrator
for Southern Pension Services
in FL
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 2007 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/
Other useful links: