| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
January 24, 2007
Sponsored by: RELIUS® Education – Seminars and Conferences for Retirement Plan Professionals
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| 2007 Orlando Advanced Pension Conference |
| Orlando, FL - February 12-14. Join us in sunny Florida for this timely conference where you can learn about the impacts and opportunities resulting from the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). Our faculty of leading ERISA experts will discuss PPA's newly released Notice 2007-7, Automatic Enrollment, Participant Communication, Rollovers and Cashouts, PPA Amendments, and more. The program also features a Washington Update with Brian Graff, a two-hour "Ask the Experts" forum, twelve concurrent sessions, and over 900 minutes of continuing education credits. Space is limited -- Register today!
Relius Education by SunGard. |
Pension Protection Act of 2006 Financial Executives Checklist
Excerpt: "Designed for financial executives, the checklist is a high-level summary of the key provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, with specific attention given to those topics that have the greatest impact on the financial management of single employer defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans." (Hewitt Associates)
Text of IRS Form 5558 (Rev. Jan. 2007): Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns (PDF)
3 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Court Declares Outdated PBGC Mortality Table Use Invalid
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has ruled that an employer with a terminated defined benefit plan improperly calculated lump-sum distributions using an outdated mortality table from the nation's private-sector pension insurer." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Overview of New Developments for Automatically Enrolled Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "These provisions benefit both employers and employees by increasing participation in retirement plans. Additionally, the 404(c) protections for default investments should benefit plan sponsors because of fiduciary protections, and participants because their accounts will be invested in professionally designed portfolios." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)
Fidelity Testing 'Auto Catch-Up' Provision
Excerpt: "Fidelity Investments is testing new auto plan features under which participants already contributing at or close to the maximum to their 401(k) plans are automatically bumped up close to or all the way to the 'catch-up' limit available to workers 50 years old or older." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Opinion: Rethink State Retiree Pay in New Hampshire
Excerpt: "THE STATE'S $2 billion shortfall in employee retirement funding could be as high as $6 billion when all benefits are tallied. For comparison, the total state general fund budget is $1.4 billion. If the system is not fixed, a financial train wreck like the state has never seen is on the way. The situation is so dire that the head of the State Employees Association has said publicly that his organization would be open to hiking employee contributions to the retirement plan." (UnionLeader.com)
Minnesota Auditor Says State's Largest Pension Funds Face Shortfall
Excerpt: "The pension funds for hundreds of thousands of government workers and retirees aren't as fiscally fit as thought and face looming challenges, according to a report from the state legislative auditor." (AP via KARE-11)
Overview: DOL Interim Guidance Regarding the PPA's Periodic Benefit Statement Requirement (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This guidance applies to qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans that are subject to the ERISA reporting and disclosure rules, including multiemployer plans and ERISA section 403(b) plans." (Prudential Retirement)
House Passes Bill to Deny Pension Payments to Lawmakers Convicted of Certain Felonies in Future
Excerpt: "The House bill would withhold pensions from lawmakers convicted of any one of five categories of felonies, including bribery and perjury, but would protect those who have already been convicted." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Fiduciaries Are Held to the Standard of a Knowledgeable Investor and Have Duty to Seek Help
Excerpt: "ERISA's rules require that, when selecting and monitoring plan investments, fiduciaries use 'the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent man acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims.' (Emphasis added.)" (PLANSPONSOR via Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)
CalPERS May Manage Funds of Private Investors
Excerpt: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System may begin managing retirement money for people who aren't public workers, putting it in competition with private mutual fund companies such as Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group." (Bloomberg News via Los Angeles Times; free registration required)
Pension Assets More Than Double Over Decade, According to Study
Excerpt: "The value of pension fund assets in the world's major markets more than doubled over the past 10 years to $23.2 trillion at end-2006, with the United States retaining its top ranking, Watson Wyatt said [today]." (Reuters)
Boomers' Big Inheritance: Is It Enough to Make Up for Small Nest Eggs?
Excerpt: "The coming cycle of inheritances is billed as the greatest wealth transfer in US history. But don't expect it to finance the retirement of baby boomers or their children. The reality, according to one new survey, is that when people do receive an inheritance, it's typically well under $100,000. And most people will receive no inheritance at all." (The Christian Science Monitor)
AXA Equitable Retirement Scope: Results for the United States, with International Comparisons (PDF)
119 pages. Excerpt: "American retirees' financial situation is one of the most comfortable. They benefit from a sufficient income. They have the highest positive gap between income and the amount needed for household expenses. American retirees rank first in home ownership. American retirees rank first regarding the preservation or improvement of their living standards. American retirees rank first to note an improvement of their life quality after retirement." (AXA Equitable)
Sponsored by: Investment Company Institute
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| February 7: The Latest Word from Washington on Retirement Plan Issues ... |
| Get up-to-the-minute insights from Labor Department and IRS officials on the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the most comprehensive revision of pension law since ERISA in 1974, at the Investment Company Institute’s Pension Protection Act Developments Conference in Washington, DC on February 7. The conference also features an address by Vanguard Group Chairman and CEO John Brennan.
ICI is the national association of U.S. mutual funds, which manage more than half of 401(k) assets. |
| (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
N.Y. Pension Fund To Lead Lawsuit Over Apple Options
Excerpt: "A New York pension system will be the lead plaintiff in a shareholders lawsuit accusing Apple of illegally backdating stock options. The New York City Employees' Retirement System was named the primary plaintiff in the lawsuit Friday by U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel, according to Grant & Eisenhofer, the law firm representing the group." (AP via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Availability of Benefits Claim Forecloses Suit under ERISA Section 502(a)(3) for Equitable Relief
Excerpt: "One of the ironies that attends ERISA Section 502(a) is found in the ability of a defendant to point to potential claims (even if asserted) under Section 502(a)(1)(B) as a defense to claims under Section 502(a)(3). The origin of this defense may be traced back to the quoted excerpt from Varity Corp. This defensive maneuver is demonstrated in the recent case, Nolte v. BellSouth Corp., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 120842 (N.D. Ga.)(January 11, 2007)." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
NQDC Limits Could Mean More Taxes for Well-Off American Employees
Excerpt: "According to some reports, many top executives stand to get affected by the proposed alteration in federal tax policy. Furthermore, the Congressional Joint Tax Committee revealed that the taxes on some of the United States' more wealthy employees might increase to roughly about $806 million, spread over the next decade." (InsuranceNewsNet.com, Inc.)
Stock Ownership Playing Bigger Role in Executive Compensation Programs
Excerpt: "Programs aimed at encouraging executives to buy and hold shares of company stock have become much more common among large employers in the last few years, according to a new Towers Perrin study." (Towers Perrin)
Bill Creates Bipartisan Commission for Recommendations on Saving Medicare, Social Security Programs
Excerpt: "Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on Monday introduced a bill to establish a permanent, bipartisan commission that would provide recommendations to maintain the future solvency of Medicare and Social Security, CQ Today reports . . . ." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Opinion: Social Security's Contribution to the Fertility Crisis
Excerpt: "Instead of caring for their own parents and close relatives, those of working age are compelled by force of law and gun to pay for the retirement of everyone else. To put it plainly, social security replaces children and the family as the main support in old age by literally socializing the traditional duties of the family. Why have children when the state will take care of you in your old age?" (Ludwig von Mises Institute)
Newly Posted Events
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in Kansas on February 21, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in Massachusetts on February 21, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in North Carolina on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in Pennsylvania on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in Texas on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k) Testing Techniques Workshop
in Georgia on February 23, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
53rd U.S. Annual Employee Benefits Conference
in California on November 4, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
ERISA Basics
in Illinois on May 2, 2007
presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
Participant Forms and Notice Workshop
in Texas on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms and Notices Workshop
in Massachusetts on February 21, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms and Notices Workshop
in Kansas on February 21, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms and Notices Workshop
in North Carolina on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms and Notices Workshop
in Pennsylvania on February 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms and Notices Workshop
in Georgia on February 23, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
ReDesigning Pension Plans and Executive Compensation Conference: New Rules, New Opportunities
in District of Columbia on March 21, 2007
presented by BNA, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
Administration's Proposal for Affordable, Accessible, and Flexible Health Coverage
U.S. Treasury Department
America Tops 11 Countries in Retirement Savings
AXA Financial, Inc
John Hancock Survey: Most Americans Prefer Planning Their Will To Preparing for Long Term Care (LTC)
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services
UAW Might Assume Ford, GM Retiree Health Care Liabilities
KaiserNetwork.org
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Benefit Consultant (Sales Agent)
for Corporate Synergies Group, Inc.
in NJ
Sales Consultant
for MassMutual Financial Group
in CT
Senior Pension Administrator
for Southeast Florida TPA
in FL
Technical Manager - Aris Pension Services
for Aris Corporation of America
in PA
Global Compensation Leader
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Account Executive, Defined Contribution Plan Services
for Retirement Management Services, LLC
in KY
Sr. Actuarial Associate
for NRECA
in VA
Employee Benefits Attorney
for Kutak Rock LLP
in NE
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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