| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
March 16, 2007
Sponsored by: ASPPA
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Advanced Actuarial Conference – Boston, MA, June 5-6, 2007 |
| Designed by practicing pension actuaries specifically to address their unique and specialized needs, this conference covers a wide variety of current and timely issues. Workshops and general sessions will be dedicated to topics including PPA, Future DB Policy Initiatives, Yield Curve, RP 2000 Mortality Tables and Hybrid Plans. Join your fellow pension actuary colleagues at this one of a kind event. |
Quarterly Benefit Statements: Practical Examples
Excerpt: "This Technical Update will demonstrate a practical approach for handling several different plan situations. This analysis is based on our reading of ERISA, as amended by PPA, and the FAB." (SunGard Corbel LLC)
Overview: Plan Compensation and Disability
Excerpt: "A frequently asked question we wanted to address: Is disability pay included in compensation for qualified plan purposes? The answer: 'It depends.'" (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
Overview: Disclosure of Discretionary Match
Excerpt: "Is an employer required to inform employees before the plan year begins if the employer is going to stop a discretionary match that has been given on an annual basis, each year for a number of years? No. Although it may seem strange in this world of full disclosure, by definition a discretionary contribution allows an employer to make an annual decision about plan contributions and then inform the participants." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
Table: State Constitutional Protections for Public Sector Retirement Benefits (PDF)
11 pages. (National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems)
Nearly 20% of Workers Plan to Stay on After Retirement
Excerpt: "Eighteen percent of small businesses say their older workers plan to keep working after retirement and 56% say they see the advantage of letting them stay, according to a recent survey." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Pension Plan Risk: Using the Calm Before the Next Storm
Excerpt: "This research suggests many companies are thinking more about how to sustain their pension plans than about how to shut them down. The pension scare at the beginning of this decade has given corporate CFOs cause to rethink how to analyze their risk related to pension plans and how they plan to manage it in the future." (Towers Perrin)
Big Deficit Seen in New Jersey Pension Fund
Excerpt: "A prominent member of the council that oversees investments by New Jersey's pension funds said yesterday that the state has been vastly underestimating how much money it should have to pay for retirement benefits that have been promised to employees." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: EBSA Regulations Clarifying Timing and Order of QDRO Issuances
Excerpt: "The regulation, which is effective on April 6, 2007, includes examples to address various circumstances involving the timing of a domestic relations order." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Employee Ownership Update for March 15
NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen discusses the exclusion of ESOPs from the retirement reform proposals in the Presidential budget; a CD from the IRS on correction programs for retirement plans; and states (such as California) that tax S corporation ESOP earnings as income. (National Center for Employee Ownership)
Global Retirement Update, March 2007 (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Hewitt's monthly reports summarize retirement and financial management legislative developments and trends from around the world." (Hewitt Associates)
Analysis: SEC and Federal Reserve System Propose Bank-Broker 'Push Out' Rules
Excerpt: "The exemption would permit a bank to accept orders to effect transactions in securities in an 'employee benefit plan account' or an 'individual retirement or similar account' for which the bank acts as custodian if the bank meets various conditions and restrictions designed to 'protect investors and prevent a bank from using the exemptions to operate a securities broker in the bank.'" (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP)
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated as of March 13, 2007, for Retirement Plans (PDF)
5 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)
Opinion: 'Saving' Social Security Won't Secure Retirement
Excerpt: "Social Security is not a retirement system; it is a government program that was created in the 1930s that does not reflect America's new economy of independence, ever-changing career paths and the challenges of a global economy." (Dick Armey via FOX News Network, LLC)
Retirement Plan Providers Ready for Deadline
Excerpt: "'Ninety percent of the retirement plan intermediaries that we surveyed believe that they will have signed agreements with their top 50 trading relationships by the April 16, 2007 compliance deadline,' said Larry Goldbrum, general counsel of The SPARK Institute, which conducted the survey." (Investment News; free registration required)
Text of ASPPA Comments to IRS Proposing Changes to the EPCRS Program
On March 12, 2007, ASPPA submitted comments to the IRS on updating the EPCRS, proposing two modifications to the program. (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)
Boeing Cash Balance Ruling Adds to Pro-Cash Balance Case Law
Excerpt: "Following the dictates of a recent appellate court finding about the legality of cash balance plans, a federal judge in Illinois has thrown out a legal challenge to the Boeing Company's cash balance program." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide for March 13, 2007, on Human Resources & Employment Law (PDF)
7 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
Free Webinar -- March 28th, Employment Discrimination: What Employers Need to Know with Craig J. Davidson, CEBS
Nationwide on March 28, 2007
presented by Davidson Marketing Group -- FutureOffice Network
Inherited IRAs Webinar
Nationwide on March 27, 2007
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Inherited IRAs Webinar
Nationwide on March 29, 2007
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Tax/Employee Benefits Attorney
for Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
in NY
Retirement Plan Analyst - Job #01001943
for Weyerhaeuser Company
in WA
Labor & Employment Associate - Employee Benefits
for Nixon Peabody LLP
in NY
DB Administrator
for Summit Benefit & Actuarial Services, Inc.
in OR, WI
Benefits Specialist
for The Atlantic Media Company
in DC
Manager, Actuarial Services
for ABG-MA, a BenefitStreet co.
in PA
Benefit Payment Associate
for NRECA
in VA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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