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March 19, 2007


Sponsored by: ASPPA

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Banner ad for ASPPA

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.

Insurers and Funds Spar Over Plan Autopilot Options
Excerpt: "Insurers are still trying to persuade the U.S. Department of Labor to add annuities, stable value funds and guaranteed investment contracts to the list of acceptable investment choices for employees who are enrolled in 401(k) plans automatically." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration required)

Battle Raging Over 401(k) Default Investments
Excerpt: "Insurance companies are fighting a proposed Department of Labor regulation under which they would lose the ability to have annuities and guaranteed investment contracts used as default investments for 401(k)s in favor of more equity-oriented offerings from mutual fund companies." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration required)

Comments on Notice on Diversification Requirements for Qualified DC Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "The American Benefits Council (Council) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the transitional guidance provided in Notice 2006-107, Diversification Requirements for Qualified Defined Contribution Plans Holding Publicly Traded Employer Securities, and topics that should be addressed in the upcoming proposed regulations on the same subject." (American Benefits Council)

Plan Sponsor's Guide to Retirement Plan Fees (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "The Standard has recently created this guide to help educate plan sponsors on all of the key issues around 401k plan fees." (StanCorp Equities, Inc.)

An Interview with Matthew D. Hutcheson, Recent Congressional Witness on 401k Fees
Excerpt: "On March 6th of this year, Mr. Hutcheson appeared before the Committee on Education and Labor, United States House of Representatives, to provide input and insight into fees charged to 401k plans. We decided that it would be helpful to get a better understanding of his viewpoint, so we arranged this exclusive interview." (401khelpcenter.com)

Overview: New Benefit Statement Requirements for Retirement Plans
6 pages. Excerpt: "An employer that fails to provide the new benefit statement by its due date can be required to pay to each participant and beneficiary a penalty of up to $110 for each day that the statement is late." (Utz, Miller & Kuhn LLC)

Oral Pension Promises Found Insufficient for Plan Setup
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has ruled oral promises of pension coverage later committed to paper were not enough to create a legal pension program." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Court Says Summary Plan Description Can Be Benefit Plan Document
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has ruled that the provisions of a benefit plan summary plan description (SPD) are legally controlling if the SPD was the only formal written benefits document an employer had." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Overview: Reporting Qualified Charitable Distributions
Excerpt: "Several provisions in the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 were intended to encourage charitable giving. One of the most significant of those provisions allows tax-free distributions of otherwise taxable individual retirement account (IRA) assets when given to charity. . . . This article will review the basic rules for this new provision as well as the proper IRS reporting of these distributions for both IRA custodians/trustees and IRA owners." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)

Governance of the Federal Thrift Savings Plan
Excerpt: "The Thrift Savings Plan has grown into a $200 billion retirement behemoth, but its nearly 4 million participants might be surprised to learn how their money is managed." (GovExec.com)

Nevada Legislator Proposes Establishing State Worker Retirement Age
Excerpt: "Sen. Bob Coffin said Thursday he is working on a proposal to reduce the $6 billion unfunded liability of the public employees retirement system by setting a mandatory minimum retirement age similar to what is used for Social Security. Coffin, who said he still is researching his proposal, also wants to require existing public employees, who are either 10 or 15 years away from retirement age, to work longer to obtain full retirement benefits." (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

New Hampshire Retirement System Under Scrutiny: Compromise May Up Employees' Payments
Excerpt: "With public employers and employees alike concerned about the state of the New Hampshire Retirement System, lawmakers are considering a range of bills to revise the pension and benefits programs for teachers, firefighters, police officers and government workers.' (Concord Monitor Online)

Kentucky Spending Bills May Hinge on Future of Public Pensions
Excerpt: "Currently, a plan pending before the legislature seeks to overhaul state government's pension plan, which covers retirement benefits for state and county public employees, and police and firefighters across the state. Public school teachers are covered under a similar plan, which would also receive a financial boost under the proposal." (Lexington Herald-Leader)

Opinion: Pension Reform in Chile: Closing the Gap, Not Scrapping the System
Excerpt: "Chile's president recently proposed several modifications to its pension system, including a new retirement benefit funded by general government revenues. Long-time critics of Chile's pension system have been quick to claim the proposed reforms are proof of the system's failure. Unfortunately, the critics fail to distinguish between a system that functions well for contributors versus one that is designed to give benefits to noncontributors." (National Center for Policy Analysis)

UK Group Says Pension Proposal Could Undermine Generous Employer Contributions
Excerpt: "A UK pensions trade group said that offering workers a government pension scheme when they already have a workplace plan to which their employer contributes, could be a disincentive for employers to offer generous schemes, according to British newspaper The Guardian." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Staggered Amendment Cycles Working Well, IRS Official States
Excerpt: "The new process of working on determination applications based on remedial amendment cycles has already demonstrated its superiority over the previous determination letter program, according to IRS Employee Plans Director Joseph Grant, in remarks made at a recent benefits conference held in Los Angeles." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

Some More Numbers to Juggle in Figuring Out Retirement
Excerpt: "When a group of economists argued recently that Americans might be saving too much for retirement, Fidelity Investments could not have disagreed more." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Sponsored by: ASC & The ASC Institute

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Banner ad for ASC & The ASC Institute

ASC Retirement Plan Software, Documents & Education for Over 20 Years!

With ASC Compliance Testing Software you get more options and handle plans in less time! For plans that don't pass, ASC's Single-Step Processing and/or ASC's Budget Solving for the 401(a)(4) discrimination testing will automatically crunch the numbers to find the best option for your client. ASC offers a full line of retirement plan software systems and documents. Learn more at www.asc-net.com

(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

Employee Benefits Developments, March 2007
The newsletter covers rulings, opinions, etc. and cases. (Hodgson Russ LLP)

More Executive Perks Disclosed to Public
Excerpt: "Corporations are revealing more executive perks than they have in the past, according to a study released by The Corporate Library." (Investment News; free registration required)


Newly Posted Events

Elements of State Health Reform: Creating a Marketplace for Expanding Coverage - Webcast
Nationwide on March 28, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org

ERISA Update Seminar
in Florida on April 26, 2007
presented by GrayRobinson, P.A.

Executive Compensation - Strategy, Design, and Implementation
in New York on June 21, 2007
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

Executive Compensation - Strategy, Design, and Implementation - Webcast
Nationwide on June 21, 2007
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

Form 5500 -- What You Need to Know for 2006 Plan Years
Nationwide on April 19, 2007
presented by CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

Web Enrollment and the Employee Experience - Lewis "Chip" Balser, Regional VP, West Region Univers Worksite
in California on April 4, 2007
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists - Orange County Chapter


Newly Posted Press Releases

More Companies Offering Consumer-Directed Health Plans, Watson Wyatt/National Business Group Health Survey Finds
Watson Wyatt

PBGC QDRO Booklet Updated
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Council States That Health Care Reform Will Succeed Only By Combined Efforts Of All Stakeholders
American Benefits Council

Towers Perrin Acquires Global Employee Research Firm ISR
Towers Perrin

Retirement Plan Providers Ready For Rule 22C-2 Compliance Deadline, According To The SPARK Institute
SPARK Institute

Majority of Organizations Use Newsletters to Communicate Information on Employee Benefit Issues
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

March of Dimes Calls for Health Coverage for Women of Childbearing Age and Children
March of Dimes

New Product Launched to Provide Web-hosted Fiduciary Compliance Tools
Fiduciary Risk Assessment LLC

American Media Ignore Swiss Vote - Single Payer Rejected by 71% of Voters
Consumers for Health Care Choices

New SEC Executive Compensation Disclosure is Significantly Less Clear and More Lengthy Than Anticipated
DolmatConnell & Partners, Inc

Employer Survey Points to Need For Health Management, Including Incentives for Employees
IncentOne


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Plan Administrator
for Third Party Administration Firm
in FL

Compliance Testing Consultant
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY

Retirement Plan Coordinator
for The Capital Group Companies
in CA

Retirement Plan Coordinator
for The Capital Group Companies
in TX

DB Administrator
for Matthews, Gold, Kennedy & Snow, Inc.
in AZ

Senior Business Analyst
for 401(k) Recordkeeper and Administrator
in NJ

401k Plan Technician/Analyst
for YHB Retirement Services LLC
in CT

401(k) Account Administrator
for INTRUST Bank
in KS

Conversion/Transitions Manager - Institutional Trust
for M&I Trust Company
in WI

Pension DC/DB Manager
for PR and Associates
in ND

Benefits Manager
for Continuiti Interim HR Professionals
in AZ

Sr. Retirement Analyst
for Altivity Packaging, LLC
in IL

Client Coordinator
for Hill, Chesson & Woody
in NC




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