[Guidance Overview] Retirement Plan Participant Loan Extension Can Carry Unexpected Consequences Excerpt: "Two recent Tax Court decisions highlight one aspect of these participant loan rules that can easily be overlooked, thereby subjecting participants to these adverse tax consequences." (Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP) More California Public Workers Retiring Early Excerpt: "Civil service retirements in California are running 16 percent ahead of last year, suggesting that pay reductions, furloughs, diminishing resources and heavier workloads are pushing many employees to the exits, according to data from the state's largest government retirement provider. California state worker retirements from January through July rose by 13 percent over a year earlier, according to figures compiled by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, spiking shortly after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger started employee furloughs in February." (The Sacramento Bee) Pennsylvania Senate Committee Approves State Takeover of Underfunded Municipal Pensions Excerpt: "The Pennsylvania Senate has approved legislation proposing the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System take over municipal retirement systems with less than 50% of the assets needed to meet liabilities. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the takeover amendment shaped by Finance Chairman Patrick Browne for municipal plans under 50% funded: Allows 'severely distressed' plans to make reduced payments toward pension costs; Requires revised benefit plans for new hires, requiring them to contribute to their pension; Allows for defined contribution plans under which employers contribute at a set rate but the benefits are not guaranteed; Establishes a code of conduct for investment firms; and Calls for municipal pension employees in Pittsburgh to be given 'hiring priority' in the state system." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required) Interpretive Bulletin 08-1 and Economically Targeted Investing: A Missed Opportunity Excerpt: "The assets held in trust by employee benefit plan fiduciaries represent compensation earned by plan participants. In accordance with the duty of loyalty codified by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ('ERISA'), such assets must be invested with single-minded concern for the welfare of the participants and their beneficiaries. Economically targeted investing contravenes ERISA's duty of loyalty by permitting, indeed encouraging, plan trustees to invest plan assets to generate ancillary benefits for persons other than the participants whose labor is embodied in those assets." (USC Gould School of Law) IRS Tool Teaches Employees about 403(b)s Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service has created a 403(b) retirement plan mini-course for employees. The mini-course is presented as a conversation between a human resource representative and a new employee. During the presentation, the new employee asks, and the HR representative answers, common questions employees may have about the plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required) Stable-Value Funds Regaining Stability, According to Analysts Excerpt: "Stable-value funds are looking more stable these days. With the outlook improving for some of the fixed-income investments held by these funds, the possibility of a stable-value fund failing -- a prospect that was raised just months ago -- now looks unlikely. Stable-value funds, which are an option in about two-thirds of defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s, invest in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income instruments. They typically invest in highly rated corporate debt and highly rated structured securities, such as asset-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and residential mortgage-backed securities." (The Wall Street Journal) [Opinion] ASPPA to New York Times: Don't Replace 401(k) Employee Tax Exclusion with a Tax Credit, Don't Make Federal Government Guarantor of Investment Results 5 pages. Excerpt: "The editorial 'About Your 401(k) Plan' (August 24) expresses concerns about retirement adequacy based on market declines during the past year, and suggests several ways that 401(k) plans could be improved. The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) agrees that there is room for improvement. However, the 401(k) system has been remarkably successful at getting working Americans to save for retirement, and changes should enhance the current system, not weaken it. To that end, ASPPA is a strong supporter of expanding the availability of workplace savings through automatic individual retirement accounts (auto-IRAs) such as those proposed by the Obama administration. ASPPA believes payroll deduction auto-IRA arrangements will ultimately encourage more employers to sponsor 401(k) plans, and contribute on the employee's behalf." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in GeneralDomestic Partner Benefits: Corporate Equality Index 2009Excerpt: "92 percent of CEI-rated employers provide partner health coverage to employees (criterion 3a), up 16 percent from the previous year. Of these employers, 67 percent provide them to both same and opposite-sex partners of employees (just a one percentage point increase from last year)." (The Human Rights Campaign) Certain Benefits and Compensation Arrangements Excluded from FASB Codification Project Excerpt: "According to the summary of a recent board meeting, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has decided to exclude certain pension and deferred compensation plans from the definition of financial instruments included in its Accounting Standards Codification project. The Board decided that the scope of the project would include all financial instruments as defined in the master glossary of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, except employers' and plans' obligations for pension benefits; other postretirement benefits, including health care and life insurance benefits; postemployment benefits, employee stock option and stock purchase plans; and other forms of deferred compensation arrangements. FASB excluded these benefits due to their need for special attention." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans) Few Employers Planning to Beef Up Communication with Employees About Pay or Benefits, According to Survey Excerpt: "[A]ccording to Watson Wyatt 2009/2010 Communication ROI, many companies are planning to scale down their recession/recovery-oriented communications. Over the next 12 months, the study finds, only about 28 percent of companies plan to increase communications about business performance, 27 percent about benefits and 19 percent about pay." (Human Resource Executive Online) Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 Bill Bails Out Union Pension Plans, Too Excerpt: "Section 164 of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 provides that the government pay 80 cents on the dollar to corporate and union insurance plans for claims between $15,000 and $90,000 for retirees age 55 to 64. Union health insurance funds only have about 30 cents available to cover each dollar of anticipated claims, according to the Lewin Group and other research outfits." (The Examiner) Webcasts and ConferencesMandatory E-Filing of Form 5500: Are You Ready? Mastering the New EFAST2 Procedures and Rules WebcastNationwide on August 26, 2009 presented by Atessa Benefits, Inc. (Click to post your webcast or conference) Press ReleasesPSCA Offers Free Communication Program to 401(k) Plan SponsorsProfit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA) State of Kansas Streamlines COBRA Administration With Innovative Web-Based Solution CobraGuard, Inc. Medicare Prescription Benefit Program Has Exceeded Expectations RAND Corporation The Retirement Advantage, Inc. Acquires 401(k) Administrators The Retirement Advantage, Inc. (Click to post your press release) Employee Benefits JobsDirector of Strategy Analysis & Developmentfor Prudential Financial in CT Regional Sales Director - Michigan, Ohio, Indiana Territory for DailyAccess Corporation in IN, MI, OH (Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs ) EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor) (Click on banner to learn more.)
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