| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
February 27, 2007
Sponsored by: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
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| EBIA's 401(k) Plans Manuals and Seminars! |
| A must-have resource for employers, administrators, and advisors, our 401(k) Plans manual explains the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA requirements for 401(k) plans, and it explores all sorts of plan design and administration issues. Subscribers love the depth of our legal analysis and our practical, real-world tips. Topics include eligibility, vesting, contributions, distributions, plan loans, hardship withdrawals, discrimination testing, fiduciary duties, plan investments, plan corrections, and much more.
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Text of IRS Publication 4546: 403(b) Plan Checklist (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "If you answered 'No' to any of the above questions, you may have a mistake in the operation of your 403(b) plan. This list is only a guide to a more compliant plan, so answering yes to each question may not mean your plan is 100% compliant." (Internal Revenue Service)
IRS Provides Page of Official Links to Information About the Pension Protection Act
Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), signed into law on August 17, 2006, is the most sweeping pension legislation in over 30 years and includes a number of significant tax incentives to enhance and protect retirement savings for millions of Americans. For additional information, see: . . . " (Internal Revenue Service)
Overview for Participants: The Roth 401(k)
Excerpt: "What should you know before changing to the Roth 401(k) from your traditional 401(k)?" (Pension Rights Center)
Hidden Fees Lurk in 401(k)s
Excerpt: "When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he famously replied, 'Because that's where the money is.' If he were alive today, Sutton might be setting his sights on 401(k) and similar workplace retirement plans, says Carl Johnson, a pension attorney with Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson who represents employers." (SFGate.com)
How to Provide Financial Advice for Participants in Your Retirement Plan
Excerpt: "Offering employees personalized investing advice for their 401(k) plan accounts is now more doable, but choose a provider as carefully as you'd choose a plan." (SHRM Online)
2006 Survey of the Funded Position of Multiemployer Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Using the current data available, Segal is projecting that the average withdrawal liability funded ratio will have increased from 81 percent as of this survey to about 88 percent by the end of 2006. (The Segal Company)
Opinion: Calif. State Employees Should Be Required to Work Until 65 to Collect Retirement Benefits
Excerpt: "In recent years, many state and local governments increased pension and retiree health care benefits with little public concern. Indeed, some public employees now retire at age 55 with generous benefits packages that often replace most of their working income and sometimes include full family medical coverage worth more than $500,000. These additional years of comfortable leisure come at time when private-sector baby boomers are working longer and living longer." (Keith Richman in the Orange County Register)
Brief Overview: EBSA Clarifies PT Exemption for Rollover for Missing Nonspouse Beneficiaries
Excerpt: "The current exemption provides relief to a QTA that selects itself as the provider of an inherited IRA under the safe harbor. EBSA wants to make clear that the exemption permits a QTA to designate not only itself, but also an affiliate as the provider of an inherited IRA for a nonspouse beneficiary who has not returned a distribution election." (CCH Pension and Benefits)
Economic Analysis in ERISA Class Actions Involving Investments in Company Stock (PDF)
Excerpt: "In this article, the author discusses the similarities and differences between such ERISA class actions and federal securities class actions alleging securities fraud. This article also covers economic methodologies that can be employed to analyze ERISA class action allegations." (Cathy M. Niden in the Benefits & Compensation Digest)
ERISA Remedies Case Takes Another Step Closer to Supreme Court Review
Excerpt: "Last week, we wrote about the LaRue case, concerning whether Section 502(a)(2) and the 'any losses to the plan' language under Section 409 could apply to fiduciary breaches involving defined contribution/individual account plans. Although the Supreme Court did not make a decision whether or not to take this case during its conference last Friday, it did in today's Orders invite the Solicitor General to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States." (Workplace Prof Blog)
House Bill Would Grant Age 50 Retirement Benefits to Broader Class of Federal Employees
Excerpt: "The legislation (H.R. 1073) would provide Customs and Border Protection officers, police at the Veterans Affairs Department and other employees the ability to retire at age 50 with 20 years of service. Under current law, only employees classified as law enforcement officers have that benefit." (GovExec.com)
Opinion: Texas Teachers Are Not Criminals; Understanding the Now-Closed Social Security 'Loophole'
Excerpt: "The teachers [described in an article in The American Spectator] are made out to be criminals . . . . They went through a perfectly legal process to gain these benefits and they shouldn't be punished or have these benefits taken away . . . My only concern is that its a bit unfair that those 20,000 teachers got to do it, and the hundreds of thousands of others didn't." (The Teachers Advocate)
Overview of the Multiemployer Plan Benefit Cutbacks in the PPA
Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 permits certain underfunded multiemployer plans to eliminate subsidized early retirement, subsidized joint and survivor, lump sum and other benefits." (Pension Rights Center)
Sponsored by: Mid-Sized Pension Management Conference
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| A View from the Top |
| Reaching the Pinnacle of Success in Retirement Plan Management Is your retirement plan facing an uphill battle? The tough terrain plan sponsors already face -- regulatory concerns, plan design issues and fiduciary pitfalls -- has gotten even more difficult with the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Now, more than ever, employers need a plan to navigate the new administrative peaks and valleys. Make attending the 2007 Mid-Sized Pension Management Conference, March 11-14 in San Francisco, part of your plan to conquer the challenges ahead. |
| (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
Mayors in New York State Want More Control Over Skyrocketing Health and Pension Costs
Excerpt: "The cost of health insurance and pension benefits provided by cities climbed 76 percent from 1999 to 2004 and 67 percent for villages, according to the state Conference of Mayors. Those costs now account for 21 percent of city budgets. Pension costs have risen from just 1.5 percent of payroll four years ago for most employees to 10.7 percent this year. The increase has been heavier for police and firefighters: from 1.4 percent of payroll in 2003 to 17 percent this year." (The Journal News)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Gilsbar, Inc. to Manage Employee Benefits for TABASCO® Manufacturer McIlhenny Company
Gilsbar, Inc.
Significant Number of Employers Unaware of Short-Term Disability Benefit Costs
International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS)
CalPERS Launches Prefunding Plan for Retiree Health Benefits
CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System)
The STAR Group Named PLANSPONSOR’s Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year
PLANSPONSOR
New Study Reveals Devastating Consequences of Employer-Mandated Healthcare
Employment Policies Institute
Employee Benefits Consulting Firms Charles W. Cammack Associates, Inc. and LaRhette Manin Benefits Service Group Announce Merger
Cammack LaRhette Consulting
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Actuarial/Defined Benefit Professional
for The Pension Service
in CT, MA, ME
401(k) Administrator Assistant
for Pension Performance, Inc.
in IL
ACS Service Delivery Manager
for ACS
in NJ
ACS Health & Welfare Operations Coordinator
for ACS
in NJ
Retirement Benefits Manager
for Ameriprise Financial
in MN
Assistant Administrator
for WESPAC, a BenefitStreet, Inc. company
in CA
Education Specialist
for ADP Retirement Services
in DC, MD, MI, MN
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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