| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
February 6, 2007
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IRS Puts a Stingy Spin on Pension Protection Act Distribution Provision
Excerpt: "[O]ne of the most exciting provisions was that non-spouse beneficiaries -- children, siblings, domestic partners, grand kids, etc. -- would finally be able to roll an inherited retirement plan to an IRA and allow the money to continue to grow on a tax-deferred basis -- or so we thought. . . . For some reason, the IRS has interpreted the law Congress wrote very differently and has decided certain non-spouse beneficiaries cannot stretch inherited retirement accounts, after all." (Fox News)
8th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey (PDF)
134 pages. Excerpt: "For the past seven years, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies has conducted a national survey of U.S. business employers and workers regarding their attitudes toward retirement. The research emphasizes employer-sponsored retirement plans, issues faced by small to mid-sized companies and their employees, and the implications of legislative and regulatory changes." (The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)
More Executives Scrutinize Company Retirement Packages
Excerpt: "In 2001, Congress passed legislation that gives businesses up to a 50 percent tax credit for expenses related to starting and administering retirement plans. This can be a real incentive, helping employers decide to offer retirement as part of the company benefit package. Such plans would need to be qualified, however, and many times they are still not an affordable option." (Springfield Business Journal)
Roth IRAs a Smart Bet for Younger Set
Excerpt: "Roth IRAs, as well as the newer Roth 401(k)s, are a smart bet for many people in their 20s and 30s, experts say. Younger workers are more likely to be in a lower tax bracket now than when they retire, making any current tax deductions less valuable, and they have enough years to save to make the tax-free withdrawals very beneficial." (Sun-Sentinel.com)
Labor Department Targeting 401(k) Fee Disclosure
Excerpt: "As the Department of Labor puts pressure on advisers to make 401(k) fees more transparent, some financial advisers are refunding fees to participants that they are being paid from mutual fund companies." (Investment News; free registration required)
Hidden 401(k) Fees Drawing Closer Attention
Excerpt: "Congress and government regulators are planning an array of moves to strengthen oversight of 401(k) accounts, which have become the linchpin of retirement savings for millions of Americans but are often burdened by hidden fees that chip away at their value." (The Baltimore Sun; free registration required)
Connecticut Insurance Firm Reshuffles Its Retirement Program
Excerpt: "A Hartford, Connecticut-based insurance company is changing its retirement savings program to include a re-engineered defined benefit pension and a beefed-up 401(k) plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Opinion: Public Pension Practices Angering Taxpayers
Excerpt: "'At a time when middle-class families are struggling to meet their own retirement and health care needs, they are reading about state and local officials bending the rules of the program to increase their [own] pension benefits,' said Daniel Clifton, executive director of the American Shareholders Association (ASA)." (The Heartland Institute)
Overview: Changes to 402(f) Notices under the Pension Protection Act of 2006
Excerpt: "Although non-spouse beneficiaries still cannot roll over a distribution to another qualified plan, the new law now allows non-spouse beneficiaries to roll over an eligible rollover distribution from a qualified plan to an IRA. The new rules also provide that these transfers will be treated as being made to inherited IRAs of non-spouse beneficiaries, which are subject to certain minimum distribution requirements." (Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.)
Tontines -- A Solution As the Benefits Landscape Changes?
Excerpt: "Defined as a type of investment pool, tontines pay dividends only to survivors. Similar to an annuity 'in that it provides a life income to a participant,' a tontine could help millions of individuals who want retirement security without too much involvement (selecting and managing investments, forecasting post-employment spending and so on)." (Pension Risk Matters)
EBRI Issue Brief: How Are New Retirees Doing Financially in Retirement? (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "Although there has been extensive analysis of the accumulation of retirement assets in the United States, limited research has been done on how quickly Americans use their assets in retirement. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this Issue Brief examines those currently between ages 65 and 75 to determine their levels of wealth in retirement, how those levels have changed, and to see if this group is on track for a financially secure retirement." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Opinion: The President's Budget and Accounting Practices
Excerpt: "[T]he official accounting is also misleading another way -- specifically, in the way it handles Social Security. In 2006, the federal government received $185 billion more in Social Security taxes than it paid out in benefits. Unlike a private company, which keeps such overages in its pension fund to cover future benefits, the White House pockets the money and declares the deficit to be smaller." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Courts Clarify Restrictions Employers May Place on Eligibility for Deferred Compensation Awards (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "On January 11, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision that affects all employers who provide deferred compensation to employees in the state of New York. At issue was whether an employer may alter the duties or compensation potential of an at-will employee who has been awarded deferred compensation that is contingent on the employee's agreement not to resign and compete." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)
ERIC States Opposition to Senate's Proposed Cap on Deferred Compensation
Excerpt: "The proposed limit on nonqualified plan deferrals is a provision of the Small Business and Work Opportunity Bill of 2007 (S. 349), a package of small business tax incentives that is currently under debate in the Senate as part of legislation to raise the minimum wage." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Commentary on Means Testing of Benefits
Excerpt: "In the just released . . . Budget of the United States Government-Fiscal Year 2008, President Bush lays out his plan to tax the wealthy. . . . According to Financial Times reporters Caroline Daniel and Krishna Guha ('Bush wants to means-test middle-class benefits,' February 5, 2007), the $2.9 trillion budget 'represents a challenge to parts of the system of entitlements enacted as part of the Great Society agenda of the 1960s.'" (Pension Risk Matters)
Newly Posted Events
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Arizona on February 22, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Kansas on March 9, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in District of Columbia on March 9, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Florida on March 14, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in California on March 21, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in Georgia on March 23, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: Advanced IRAs: A seminar for serious IRA professionals
in California on March 23, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Arizona on February 21, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Kansas on March 8, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in District of Columbia on March 8, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Florida on March 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in California on March 20, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in Georgia on March 22, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Mid-Winter Tour: IRA Essentials
in California on March 22, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: 403(b) Plans
Nationwide on March 22, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Comparing Roth and Traditional IRAs
Nationwide on March 20, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Conversions and Recharacterizations
Nationwide on March 13, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Establishing IRAs and IRA Amendments
Nationwide on March 27, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: Health Savings Account Market Entry
Nationwide on March 29, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Contributions
Nationwide on March 6, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Required Minimum Distributions
Nationwide on March 8, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: IRA Update
Nationwide on March 27, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
2007 Web/Telephone Seminar: SIMPLE IRA Plans
Nationwide on March 15, 2007
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
21st Annual Employee Benefits Institute
in Kansas on April 20, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of Kansas City, Inc.
Earned Income - Basics and Beyond
Nationwide on February 27, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
NASI Conference - For the Common Good: What Role for Social Insurance? - Webcast
Nationwide on February 6, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
Newly Posted Press Releases
Segal Combines Two Lines Of Business
The Segal Company
Still River Publishes “Nine Keys to Winning Baby Boomers’ Assets At Retirement”
Still River Retirement Planning Software, Inc.
DFW Area Physicians Recognized For Improving Quality of Care for Treatment of Heart Disease, Diabetes and Stroke
Dallas-Fort Worth Business Group on Health
Equity Administrations Solutions Inc. (EASi) Completes $1.8 Million Series B Equity Financing
Equity Administration Solutions, Inc. (EASi)
Maplesoft announces Maple-NAG Connector
Maplesoft
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Specialist
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NJ
Human Resources Analyst
for Old Mutual Asset Management
in MA
Client Relationship Manager
for Growing TPA firm
in MI
Senior Client Relationship Manager
for The Newport Group
in FL
Benefits Paralegal
for Constellation Energy
in MD
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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