| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
April 12, 2007
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Overview: Section 415 Final Regulations (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The final rules adopt most of the provisions in the May 2005 proposed regulations, with a few notable exceptions, and add provisions reflecting amendments to Code section 415 made by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). This Legal Alert highlights the most significant provisions of the final regulations and notes the significant changes to the 2005 proposed regulations made by the final rules." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Overview: Final 415 Regulations Make Significant Defined Contribution Changes
Excerpt: "The final rules limit a plan's ability to count compensation after a participant severs employment. In general under the new regulations, compensation does not include compensation paid after an employee severs employment. However, there are 2 exceptions . . . ." (SunGard Corbel LLC)
Employers Need to Be Mindful of Risks in Selecting 401(k) Investments
Excerpt: "As baby boomers approach retirement age with too little in the kitty, prospects are growing for lawsuits over how companies have managed 401(k) plans. Well-managed doesn't mean the plan's stocks tripled in value. It means that company executives hired the appropriate vendors to handle the plan, kept tabs on them and can prove it." (The Wichita Eagle)
Creative Accounting Blamed in New Jersey Public Pension System Funding Fiasco
Excerpt: "In recounting years of accounting maneuvers that inflated the value of the pension system and temporarily decreased the amounts the state needed to contribute, Abelow and Frederick Beaver, the director of the Division of Pensions and Benefits, used words such as 'distortion,' 'ill-conceived' and 'artificially increase.'" (Asbury Park Press)
State Senators Push for Answers on Pensions in New Jersey
Excerpt: "State senators from both political parties said at a hearing [yesterday] that they had been shocked to learn that they had voted again and again in recent years for measures that had left the state pension in great distress, and they faulted the state treasury for failing to explain to them the risks of what they were doing." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: PPA and 2007 Pension Funding
Excerpt: "There is no doubt that PPA has removed significant legislative uncertainty around pension funding rules. But there are lots of details. And, as discussed [on the target page], many unresolved issues relate to near-term funding decisions. In some ways, the rules for 2012 are clearer than for 2007." (CCA Strategies)
Overview of Defined Benefit Funding -- Preparing for 2008
Excerpt: "[W]e review three 'indirect' funding issues -- issues that key off of funded status but do not necessarily affect the amount of the sponsor's plan contribution. We're going to begin with what is probably the most important and certainly the most difficult and technical of these issues -- the treatment of benefit restrictions. We follow with briefer discussions of the treatment of credit balances and the PBGC 4010 filing." (CCA Strategies)
The Milliman 2007 Pension Funding Study (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt: "Milliman has completed its seventh annual study of the financial reports of 100 large U.S. corporations that sponsor defined benefit pension plans. As a group, these companies had pension plan assets of almost $1.3 trillion and annual pension cost of $26.4 billion." (Milliman)
Florida Mental Hospital Workers Win First Round for Special-Risk Pension Status
Excerpt: "A state Senate committee in Florida approved a measure that would give state mental hospital workers who spend most of their day working with dangerous patients the same pension benefits as police and correctional officers in prison and law enforcement agencies." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
The Shift from Defined Benefit Plans to Defined Contribution Plans
Excerpt: "The authors propose a number of legal changes to reduce some of the regulatory handicaps that have attended defined benefit plans and improve the reliability of defined contribution plans as principal source of retirement income." (Samuel Estreicher and Laurence Gold via Workplace Prof Blog)
Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2004 Form 5500 Annual Reports (PDF)
61 pages. Excerpt: "The total number of pension plans fell for the fourth year in a row, by 2.4 percent in 2004, to 683,000 plans. DB plans increased by 1 percent, while DC plans fell by 2.7 percent. The decline in DC plans was led by a 30 percent decrease in the number of money purchase plans, which follows a 34 percent decrease in 2003." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Private Pension Plan Bulletin Historical Tables (PDF)
25 pages. (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Sponsored by: ASPPA
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| 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. |
| (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
Methods of Employer Benefit Plan Contribution Submission
Excerpt: "This article provides an overview of methods for collecting and processing employer contributions, with a focus on the information-processing and reporting aspects of collection." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Overview: Section 409A Deferred Compensation Final Regulations
Excerpt: "The final regulations are almost 400 pages long, but generally follow the rules provided in the proposed regulations issued in September 2005. However, the final regulations do include some revisions and additional guidance in response to comments provided on the proposed regulations." (Poyner & Spruill LLP)
The Final 409A Regulations Arrive
Excerpt: "Today, Treasury and the IRS published nearly 400 pages of final regulations interpreting how Code Section 409A applies to 'nonqualified deferred compensation' programs and describing which arrangements are or are not subject to Section 409A." (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Overview: Final Regulations Under Section 409A on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans (PDF)
3 pages. (Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.)
Newly Posted Events
25th Annual Creative Pension & Benefits Seminar
in Ohio on May 4, 2007
presented by Ohio State University Office of Continuing Education (CEd), The
Compensation - The Foundation
Nationwide on April 17, 2007
presented by SunGard Corbel
Eligibility Audits for Health Plans (Including Health FSAs and HRAs)--Protect Your Health Plans by Pruning the Ineligibles
Nationwide on March 22, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Form W-4 Best Practices- Audio Conference
Nationwide on April 17, 2007
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
Health Care Reconsidered: Options For Change - Webcast
Nationwide on April 13, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
Interactive FSA Seminar
Nationwide on April 18, 2007
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advance
in Alabama on May 15, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Texas on May 15, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Idaho on May 15, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Utah on May 16, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Montana on May 17, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Ohio on May 17, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Florida on May 17, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Advanced
in Texas on May 17, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Beginner
in Ohio on May 15, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Beginner
in Ohio on May 16, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training - Beginner
in Alabama on May 16, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
IRA Elements 2007--Essential Elements of Periodic Training -Beginner
in Texas on May 16, 2007
presented by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services
National Coalition on Health Care Meeting Featuring Former Gov. Thompson - Webcast
Nationwide on April 13, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
The Final 415 Regulations: What You Need To Know Now
Nationwide on April 26, 2007
presented by SunGard Corbel
U.S. Department of Labor To Offer Free Health Law Seminar
in Idaho on May 1, 2007
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
ASPPA Spring 2007 Proctored Examination Window -- Register today.
ASPPA (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)
PBGC Protects Pensions At Anchor Hocking
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
ExpertPlan Announces Appointment of George Sawn to its Board of Directors
ExpertPlan
Chief Financial Officers Rally Around Equity Focus for FAS 123R Compliance: Eases Stock Option Review by Auditors
Two-Step Software, Inc.
Council Encouraged By Improved Pension Funding, But Still Troubled By Demise Of Defined Benefit Plans
American Benefits Council
Most Workers Satisfied with Health Care Benefits, National Business Group on Health Survey Finds
National Business Group on Health
2007 Retirement Confidence Survey: Many Workers See, But Ignore, Retirement System Changes
Ameriprise Financial
Guardian Dental Plan Members Save More Than $220 Million in Rollover Benefit Dollars
Guardian
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Administrator
for PEN-CAL Administrators, Inc.
in CA
Benefits Analyst
for Genuine Parts Company
in GA
Retirement Plan Consultant
for Valley Forge Pension Management, Inc.
in PA
Pension Plan Administrator
for IPA Northeast, LLC
in NJ
Financial Education Consultant (Spanish/English Speaker)
for JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services
in KS, MO
Benefits Consultant/Benefits Consultant Sr.
for APS - Arizona Public Service
in AZ
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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