Retirement Plans Newsletter |
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| November 2, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Advert.)
EBIA’s 401(k) Plans Manuals and Seminars! Pension Protection Act implementation, fee disclosure proposals, complex correction programs, and more. A never ending stream of regulations and other guidance has been hitting 401(k) practitioners. Need some help keeping up? EBIA’s 401(k) Plans manual analyzes and explains the new developments, puts them in context, and offers practical guidance on how to deal with the constantly shifting environment for 401(k) plans. |
[Guidance Overview]
New Law Requires Employers with Defined Benefit Plans to Post Information on Their Intranet
Excerpt: "Employers that sponsor defined benefit plans need to comply with a new requirement to post the Form 5500 actuarial information for the defined benefit plan on the employer's intranet. The requirement means that employers should be posting the 2008 Form 5500 actuarial information this year even though the DOL has not yet issued regulations." (Dorsey & Whitney)
[Guidance Overview]
Bill to Ease Multiemployer Pension Funding Is Introduced in Congress (PDF)
2 pages. Summarizes the multiemployer features of newly proposed pension funding relief legislation: the Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act of 2009 (PB&J Act), which was introduced by Congressmen Pomeroy and Tiberi. (Segal Company)
John Bogle Takes on Mutual Fund Industry as Top Court Considers Fees
Excerpt: "John Bogle helped create a mutual fund industry that has grown to $10 trillion in assets. Now the Vanguard Group Inc. founder is backing investors asking the U.S. Supreme Court to limit the fees charged by fund managers." (Bloomberg)
Supreme Court Considers Mutual Fund Fees
Excerpt: "In an era of rebellion against Wall Street pay, the Supreme Court on Monday hears arguments in a case testing whether some mutual funds are charging excessive fees. Ninety million Americans invest in retail mutual funds. The fees charged by these funds, while they may sound small percentage-wise, add up to big money." (National Public Radio)
In Quarterly 401(k) Statements, Time Heals Everything
Excerpt: "Investors may think that the market has improved tremendously over just the last few weeks. It hasn't. It's just that by the end of October, the market was more than a year beyond the stock market swoon that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers. During the worst of the 2008 panic, from the start of last September through Oct. 10, the market lost nearly a third of its value." (New York Times; free registration required)
Solo 401(k) Offers Big Tax Savings For Self-Employed
Excerpt: "The solo 401(k) plan allows you to make a contribution of $16,500 (or $22,000 if age 50 or older) of your self-employment income each year. Plus, you can also make what's called a profit sharing contribution to your plan, which could bring the maximum contribution up to $49,000 for the year." (CBS Money Watch)
Stock Gains Don't Rescue Pension Funding
Excerpt: "The stock market's 15% leap in the third quarter helped out companies on two fronts: their share prices rose, and they got a good return on their own equity investments. But one thing the bull run did not do was trigger a rise in the funded status of defined-benefit pension plans. Counter intuitively, the average funding level for plan sponsors among the S&P 1,500 companies actually fell one percentage point in the quarter, to 81% of what would be needed to pay for expected future pension obligations . . . ." (CFO.com)
Key Characteristics of Public Employee Pension Funds, Revised October 2009 (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt: "The Public Fund Survey is an online compendium of key characteristics of the nation's largest public retirement systems and is sponsored by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators and the National Council on Teacher Retirement for the purpose of increasing knowledge and understanding of the public pension community. . . . This year's Summary is the first following the sharp drop in global investment markets that occurred in 2008. . . . The fall in asset values has caused aggregate funding levels to move downward from 86.7 percent in FY 07 to 85.3 percent in FY 08." (National Association of State Retirement Administrators)
TIPS and the Nature of Inflation Protection
Excerpt: "This research note serves as a reminder that the total return on a TIPS fund is a function of both actual trailing inflation and the bond market's expectation regarding future inflation. To help investors assess the role of TIPS in a broader portfolio, we briefly review the nature of the inflation protection provided by a TIPS fund. We also frame a discussion about an appropriate allocation to TIPS in a broader taxable bond portfolio by summarizing the relative market capitalization of the TIPS market." (Vanguard)
Report Links Pension Funding Obligations to Layoffs
Excerpt: "Companies and business groups are telling lawmakers that the stepped-up pension funding is coming at the worst possible time -- in the middle of a severe economic downturn." (Workforce Management)
U.S. Census Bureau Report: Finances of Selected State and Local Government Employee Retirement Systems
Excerpt: "Finances of Selected Public Employee Retirement Systems is a quarterly survey that provides national summary data on the revenues, expenditures, and composition of assets of the largest public employee retirement systems. This survey currently consists of a panel of 100 retirement systems, which comprise 89.4 percent of financial activity among such entities. After a census has been taken, it is considered best practice to reselect the largest 100 retirement systems." (U.S. Census Bureau)
[Opinion]
Supreme Court Ought to Reverse Wrong Decision by 7th Circuit Interpreting Securities Relief Law Too Narrowly
Excerpt: "Congress addressed the problem of high fees in 1970 by adding Section 36(b) to the Investment Company Act of 1940. It imposes on mutual fund investment advisers 'a fiduciary duty with respect to the receipt of compensation for services.'" (New York Times; free registration required)
[Opinion]
Supreme Court Should Restore Fiduciary Responsibility to Mutual Fund Advisers' Fees and Remove Roadblocks Barring Investors From Statutory Remedy
Excerpt: "This problem can be so severe that former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt has described mutual fund advisory fees as a 'tyranny of compounding high costs' that are imposed upon shareholders." (National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys)
[Opinion]
Jobs in Peril: Assessing the Impact of Increases in Defined Benefit Plan Funding Obligations on Employment During an Economic Recession (PDF)
25 pages. Excerpt: "[C]ash-strapped companies are faced with the challenge of diverting to their defined benefit plans substantial amounts of money that could be used by these companies for productive capital investment. The employers who have made a long-term commitment to provide a defined benefit plan for their employees now face increases in their defined benefit funding obligations that threaten both the existence of these employers and the jobs of their employees. These extraordinary pension funding requirements potentially threaten the continued viability of those employers who sponsor defined benefit plans and could derail the economic recovery by forcing these employers to either severely curtail their capital investments or make further reductions in their workforces." (American Benefits Council)
DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc. (Advert.)
DATAIR 5500 / PBGC / 1099-R / 5300 / FAS 158 Software Pension Reporter System. Easy to use PC based software for EFAST2 electronic filing. Full instructions and expert support. Choose from 4 modules:
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]DOL Issues Additional FAQs on Schedule C for 2009 Form 5500
Excerpt: "Generally, both pension plans and those welfare plans that are required to file Form 5500 must include Schedule C to report compensation received by plan service providers. Schedule C will not be required for a welfare plan, however, unless the plan has a trust or should have a trust because Technical Release 92-01 does not apply." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
[Guidance Overview]
Last Chance to Fix Bonus Plans and Severance/Employment Agreements
Excerpt: "For those companies who have not yet revised their bonus plans or severance/employment agreements to comply with the IRS interpretation of Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 162(m) in Rev. Rul. 2008-13, 2008-10 IRB 518, now would be the time to do that in order to avoid a deduction disallowance for the 2010 annual bonus (and for long-term bonuses with a performance period beginning January 1, 2010)." (Miller & Chevalier)
[Guidance Overview]
Federal Reserve Proposes Supervisory Initiatives Over Compensation Practices at Banks (PDF)
5 pages. (Buck Consultants)
Webcasts and Conferences
2009 IRA Year-End Statements and Reports SnapshotNationwide on November 10, 2009
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Capturing Employer Plan Rollovers Snapshot
Nationwide on April 6, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Facilitating IRA RMDs Snapshot
Nationwide on October 12, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Fielding Form 5498 Questions Snapshot
Nationwide on May 4, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Beneficiary Distributions Snapshot
Nationwide on November 16, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Excesses and Recharacterizations Snapshot
Nationwide on March 9, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Excesses and Recharacterizations Snapshot
Nationwide on September 14, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Funding Snapshot
Nationwide on January 19, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Plan Establishment Snapshot
Nationwide on January 12, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
IRA Year-End Reporting (and Then Some!) Snapshot
Nationwide on November 9, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Recharacterizing Conversions and Reconversions Snapshot
Nationwide on March 23, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Recharacterizing Conversions and Reconversions Snapshot
Nationwide on September 28, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
RMD Update: Closing out 2009, Preparing for 2010 Snapshot
Nationwide on November 17, 2009
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Roth Conversion Eligibility Changes Snapshot
Nationwide on February 9, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Roth IRA Conversions Snapshot
Nationwide on December 8, 2009
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Roth IRA Conversions Snapshot
Nationwide on February 23, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Roth IRA Conversions Snapshot
Nationwide on August 3, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
SIMPLE IRA Notifications Snapshot
Nationwide on August 17, 2010
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Webcast: Current Hot Topics and Solutions for Today's Retirement Plan Challenges
Nationwide on November 19, 2009
presented by National Institute of Pension Administrators
Webcast: Social Media and Social Networks - Why all the Fuss?
Nationwide on November 12, 2009
presented by National Institute of Pension Administrators
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
City Of Jacksonville Appoints Great-West Retirement Services As The Provider Of Its 457 And 401(a) PlansGreat-West Retirement Services
Council Research Report: Pension Funding Relief Critically Necessary to Preserve Jobs, Promote Economic Recovery
American Benefits Council
2010 Steven H. Sandell Grant Program
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
2010 Dissertation Fellowship Program
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
J.P. Morgan Funds Launches Online Target-Date Evaluation Tool
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
State Retirement Plan Administrators Reaffirm Strong Opposition to Pay-to-Play
National Association of State Retirement Administrators
Freedom One Announces GetSMART, a Fiduciary Certification for Retirement Plan Sponsors and their Investment Committees.
Freedom One Financial Group
NFN Leads the Way as National Spokesunion for Pension Reform
National Federation of Nurses
Stadion Retirement Exceeds $1 Billion in QDIA Assets
Stadion Retirement
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
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Benefits Administrator
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in IA
Benefits Specialist
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in TX
Investment Product Manager
for Prudential
in CT
Pension Administrator
for Primark Benefits
in CA
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