| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
March 30, 2007
Sponsored by: The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
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| Celebrate National Employee Benefits Day April 2 |
| On Monday, April 2, make plans to celebration National Employee Benefits Day. Tune in to www.ifebp.org for a free web cast titled "Are Your Participants Financially Savvy? How Proactive Plan Sponsors Can Make a Difference." This presentation will be of interest to those who help shape educational efforts for plan participants. It will also have tips for your own personal financial planning. For more on National Employee Benefits Day, visit www.ifebp.org/benefitsday |
The Roth 401(k): How Can It Benefit Your Participants? (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Those who may benefit by using a regular 401(k) include low-income workers, who pay no federal tax because they qualify for earned income and additional child tax credits. Many financial experts have suggested that the Roth 401(k) won't be appropriate for those who retire into a lower tax bracket." (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc.)
CalSTRS Gives Employees Retirement Planning Options
Excerpt: "The system will add 457 and Roth 403 (b) programs to the lineup of supplemental ways employee can save for their retirement." (MSN.Money)
Letter to IPSASB Regarding Additional to Time to Review Exposure Draft 31 (PDF)
Excerpt: "The American Academy of Actuaries Public Plans Task Force agrees with the International Association of Actuaries (IAA) and other organizations who have commented that more time is needed to review the IPSASB Exposure Draft (ED) 31, Employee Benefits, which would apply the principles of IAS 19 to public pension plans/schemes." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Improved U.S. State Pension Funding Levels Could Be on the Horizon (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "Although U.S. state pension funding levels fell slightly in fiscal 2005, signs are pointing to a possible easing of pressures related to prior escalations in contribution rates. There is also reason to believe that funded ratios could stabilize and improve over the medium term if investment returns and liability growth meet expectations." (Standard & Poors via National Association of State Retirement Administrators)
Overview: DOL Guidance on Clarification of QDRO Rules (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Effective August 17, 2006, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) clarified that a domestic relations order may be considered a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO), even if it: Is issued after another domestic relations order or QDRO; Revises another domestic relations order or QDRO; or Is issued following the death of the participant or at another unusual time." (Prudential Retirement)
Will an ESOP Work for You? (PDF)
Pages 1, 6 of 6 pages. Excerpt: "An ideal candidate for an ESOP is a mature company with cash flow sufficient to support debt payments on a leveraged ESOP. In a leveraged ESOP, a loan is taken out by the ESOP to buy the company stock." (Swerdlin & Company)
Germany Lifts Pension Age to 67 to Counter Demographic Changes
Excerpt: "Germany's upper house of parliament approved a bill raising the retirement age to 67 from 65, a measure aimed at countering a drain on state pension reserves caused by an ageing population." (Bloomberg News)
Overview: Department of Labor Interim Final Regulation Regarding Cross-Trading Exemption (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 modified the prohibited transaction sections of ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code, effective for transactions after August 17, 2006, to permit the purchase and sale of a security between a plan and any other benefit account managed by the same investment manager, commonly referred to as cross-trading, if certain conditions are satisfied." (Winston & Strawn LLP)
Overview: IRS Guidance Regarding Deduction Limits under the Pension Protection Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "For taxable years of plan sponsors beginning after December 31, 2005, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 modified the deductions permitted for defined benefit pension plans and the combined limit on deductions for contributions made to defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans with overlapping coverage." (Winston & Strawn LLP)
Drawing a Pension and a Salary at the Same Time
Excerpt: "The only question is why an ageing society, which will soon have too few workers supporting too many pensioners, should care if some people play both roles at once. As long as they earn their salary, adding more to the economy than they take from it, double-dippers are helping to solve the demographic problem. Delaying their retirement by raising the pensionable age might make sense. But to ban them and berate them seems doubly dippy." (The Economist via Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)
Opinion: Who Benefits and Who Suffers Most from Cash-Balance Conversions
Excerpt: "Companies eagerly began converting to cash-balance pensions in the late 1990s, and by 2003 cash-balance plans held 40% of all defined-benefit assets, according to Federal Reserve data. But when long-term employees at IBM, Xerox and other big firms woke up and found their pension benefits slashed (in some cases halved), they launched lawsuits and scored a few notable victories, which slowed the pace of conversions." (SmartMoney)
Report to Congress: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Single-Employer Plan Terminations (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulates plan terminations. It provides for three types of single-employer plan terminations -- standard, distress, and involuntary -- and imposes different responsibilities on the PBGC for each type. This report discusses ERISA's procedures for terminating single-employer plans and the PBGC's role in such terminations." (Congressional Research Service)
Retirement Tax Incentive Bill Introduced
Excerpt: "Legislation that would provide tax incentives to encourage people to invest a portion of their retirement assets into individual annuities was introduced in the Senate . . . ." (Investment News; free registration required)
The SmartMoney Path to Retiring Early
Excerpt: "If you want to retire early, it pays to sweat the details about how much money you'll need. Start with a thorough inventory of your savings, future benefits and income. How much do you have invested? Does your company offer retirees any pension or health benefits? (To see how much you can expect from your current 401(k) plan, click here.) How much Social Security will you receive? Are you expecting an inheritance?" (SmartMoney)
Retirement Finance: Old Ideas, New Reality
Excerpt: "Greater life expectancy combined with shorter working lives has, on average, depressed the work-to-retirement ratio to a financially unsustainable level. Meanwhile, the pension programs now thought of as 'traditional' are faced with widespread deficits. Much longer lives, with improved health and vitality in what was formerly considered old age, require longer working lives and greater personal savings. [Originally published September 2006]" (American Enterprise Institute)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
CRS Report for Congress: Stock Options: The Backdating Issue (PDF)
42 pages. Excerpt: "Policy options to further reduce backdating and other timing manipulation include changes in SEC regulations and a change in the tax law. Possible benefits of a policy option may be weighed against its administrative and compliance costs." (Congressional Research Service)
Comments on the Pew Report on Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007
Excerpt: "This highly credible report does confirm that there has been a genuine shift in political values and core attitudes of the American public. Increasing concerns about personal financial security and about the plight of the disadvantaged add further support to the prevailing view that we have reached yet another point in history wherein comprehensive health care reform may be achievable." (Physicians for a National Health Program)
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Summary, December 2006
Excerpt: "[Benefits] averaged $8.30 per hour . . . ." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Newly Posted Events
Cafeteria Plans for Rookies -- How to Play by the Rules and Keep the Umpires Happy
Nationwide on April 26, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Elements of State Health Reform: Creating a Marketplace for Expanding Coverage - Webcast
Nationwide on March 30, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
Equity Incentives: The Effects of Corporate Life Events - Webcast
Nationwide on May 2, 2007
presented by Deloitte
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Pennsylvania on May 1, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Virginia on May 2, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Texas on May 3, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Pennsylvania on May 2, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Illinois on May 3, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Beginner
in Louisiana on May 1, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Beginner
in North Carolina on May 1, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Beginner
in Illinois on May 1, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Beginner
in Louisiana on May 2, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Beginners
in South Carolina on May 3, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007 -- Essential Elements of Periodic Training: Advanced
in Illinois on May 2, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
Newly Posted Press Releases
Specific Executive Pay Goals Often Omitted From Proxy Statements, Watson Wyatt Analysis Finds
Watson Wyatt
PBGC Protects Pensions At Collins & Aikman
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
Medicare Part D Pushes Employers Toward Creative Solutions for Retiree Medical Strategy
International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS)
Workscape Client Survey Reveals High Adoption Rates for Web-Based Benefits Enrollment
Workscape
Who's Who in Managed Health Care 2007 Directory Key Industry Resource for Networking, Business Development, Recruitment or Research
MCOL
Aetna Expands Efforts to Help Consumers Purchase Health Care Based on Overall Value
Aetna
Use of Consumer-Driven Healthcare Plans is Growing, but Confusion Causes Some Employees to Avoid Them
Conference Board, The
TransitCenter, Inc. Supports Proposed Federal Legislation Which Would Increase Tax Savings For Mass Transit Commuters
TransitCenter
Prepaid Health Care Cards Gain Consumer Support; Survey Finds Consumers Want Prepaid Health Care Cards to Reduce Hassles, Paperwork and Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA)
The Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care Reports Most Top Member-Satisfying Health Plans Are Nonprofits, According to New Study
Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Benefit Retirement Plan Administrator
for Loren D. Stark Company, Inc.
in TX
Consulting/Marketing Manager
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA
401(k) Business Development Officer
for BOK Financial
in AZ
Conversion Specialist
for Schloss & Co., a BenefitStreet co.
in NY
Implementation Manager
for Mercer HR Services
in MA
Health Benefits Analyst
for The Segal Company
in DC, MA
Direct Sales
for ePlan Services, Inc.
in CO
Employee Benefits/ERISA Paralegal
for Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
in WI
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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