Retirement Plans Newsletter |
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| November 25, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
BenefitsLink Wishes You a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holiday
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! BenefitsLink newsletters and news updates on our Benefits in the News web page will resume publication on Monday, November 30. (BenefitsLink)
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (Advert.)
DOL One-Day Compliance Programs: Electronic Filing, 2009 Forms 5500 and other DOL Updates Attend this one-day workshop where DOL representatives will provide a comprehensive walk-through of:
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[Guidance Overview]
Overview of Year-End Compliance Deadlines: Qualified Plans, 403(b) Plans and 409A Plans
4 pages. Excerpt: "Multiple deadlines are approaching at year-end, including required amendments and notices for qualified retirement plans, required plan documents for 403(b) plans, required changes to maintain qualified performance-based compensation under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code ('Code'), and a correction opportunity for operational failures under Section 409A." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)
How to Plot a Less Precipitous Investment Path for Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "Given what has happened [to retirement plan investments], both [employers and employees] now recognize the increased importance of controlling risk. Plan design approaches that better balance surety and risk for both employers and employees should be a key component of future plan design considerations. This means: §401(k) plans must transform their focus from cash accumulation vehicles into secure retirement plans through the application of progressive investment alternatives, including annuity options. Defined benefit (DB) plans must consider variable benefit formulas, including the next generation of cash balance programs and other 'hybrid' approaches." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Retirement Security and the Stock Market Crash: What Are the Possible Outcomes
Excerpt: "This paper simulates the impact of the 2008 stock market crash on future retirement savings under alternative scenarios. If stocks remain depressed as after the 1974 crash, 20 percent of pre-boomers born 1941-45 and 22 percent of late boomers born 1961-65 would see their retirement incomes drop 10 percent or more. Working another year would reduce the share of these big losers to 14 percent for late boomers. Because most pre-boomers were already retired, their share of big losers would decline slightly, to 19 percent. Delaying retirement would disproportionately benefit low-income people because their additional earnings exceed their stock market losses." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
401(k) Plans and Race (PDF)
Excerpt: "The brief proceeds as follows. The first section documents the differentials in eligibility, participation, and contribution rate by race using the SCF. The second section reports how the race variables are affected once demographic and plan variables are included. The third section concludes that while additional variables can eliminate the significance of race, all is not necessarily right with the world. African Americans and Hispanics are still less likely to have the kinds of jobs in which participation in a 401(k) plan is possible; they are less likely to have the earnings, job tenure, and other factors that would cause them to participate in a plan; and, once in a plan, they are less likely to have the taste for saving that would result in a high contribution rate." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
Amicus Brief of Law Professors in Support of Respondents, Conkright v. Frommert
Excerpt: "One of the Supreme Court's labor and employment cases this term is Conkright v. Frommert, which addresses the question of whether a court must continue to give deference to a plan administrator's interpretation of a pension plan after the first interpretation has been found to be arbitrary and capricious under Firestone. Our very own Paul Secunda, along with eight other professors, have just filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the respondents/employees (go here to download Law Professors' Conkright Amicus Brief in Support of Respondents)." (Workplace Prof Blog)
[Opinion]
Rep. Lloyd Doggett's 'Dear Colleague' Letter Regarding Retirement Fairness Act, H.R. 4126 (PDF)
2 pages. (American Benefits Council)
DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc. (Advert.)
Software for Retirement and Cafeteria Plan Documents DATAIR Plan Document System. Choose your documents: RETIREMENT PLANS: 401(k)/Profit Sharing, 403(b), DB, Cash Balance; CAFETERIA PLANS: 125, HSA, HRA Choose your formats: * Long format Standardized and Nonstandardized Prototypes * Short format Standardized and Nonstandardized Prototypes * IDP format Volume Submitters * Prototype format Volume Submitters Contact sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474 |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Two Issues Under Final Regulations Governing Employee Stock Purchase Plans Under Code Sec. 423
Excerpt: "The final regulations set forth the categories of employees that may be excluded from coverage under an ESPP or an offering under the ESPP. The Regs permit multiple offerings under an ESPP with different exclusions applicable to the one or more corporations whose employees participate in the particular offering. Thus, an employer has the ability to make future and overlapping offerings that are more (or less) inclusive than prior offerings under the ESPP." (Michael Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
Additional DOL Guidance on 2009 Form 5500 Schedule C Reporting (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The new FAQs confirm that health and welfare plans currently exempt from Schedule C filing requirements (i.e., certain plans with respect to which premiums and benefits are not paid from a trust) will remain so. The fact that there are revenue sharing payments among the plan's service providers will not require the plan to complete a Schedule C. However, group health and other welfare plans that are funded through a trust will have to file Schedule C and are subject to the indirect compensation reporting rules. The FAQs also provide that certain health plan fees will be treated as transaction-based fees for Schedule C reporting purposes." (Buck Consultants)
Bank of America Urges Dismissing Investor Lawsuit
Excerpt: "Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has asked a Manhattan federal court to dismiss an investor class-action lawsuit over its Merrill Lynch & Co purchase, including disclosures about Merrill's losses and bonus payouts. . . . Bank of America is separately defending a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the bonuses, after a federal judge rejected a $33 million accord with the agency as inadequate. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has threatened civil charges arising from the Merrill merger. . . . The case is In re Bank of America Corp Securities, Derivative, and Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 09-2058." (Reuters)
FAS 123(R) Option Assumptions: The 2008 Results
Excerpt: "Watson Wyatt recently completed its third annual analysis of stock option valuation assumptions and results under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 123(R).1 From 2007 to 2008, the percentage of companies disclosing option fair values decreased from 73 percent to 72 percent. The median percentage increase in stock compensation expense from 2007 to 2008 was 2.4 percent." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Show Employees the Value: A Companion Report to the Study of Employee Benefits, 2009 & Beyond (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Employees need to be aware of and understand the value of the benefits available to them in order to appreciate those benefits. Therefore, it is essential that benefits be successfully explained and promoted throughout the organization. Interestingly, communications can have as much impact on worker satisfaction with benefits as the range of benefits offered or the perceived dollar amount of employer contributions. The perceived value of benefits directly influences their importance to workers when selecting a job or deciding to stay with their current employer, as illustrated [in the document]." (Prudential Retirement)
Webcasts and Conferences
401(k) Plan Investment Committee--How Should It Do Its Job?in New York on December 17, 2009
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) New York Chapter
Gifts & Entertainment: Should ERISA Dampen Your Clients' Holiday Spirit?
Nationwide on December 17, 2009
presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
PBGC Forum Looks At Future of Pensions
in District of Columbia on December 7, 2009
presented by Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
Webcast: Forget about EFAST2! What's New on the Forms?
Nationwide on December 10, 2009
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
Webcast: IRC §430/436 Regulations: AFTAPs and Their Aftermath
Nationwide on December 2, 2009
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
Webcast: IRC §430/436 Regulations: FT, TNC and COB/PFB Issues
Nationwide on December 15, 2009
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
Webcast: Preparing the 2009 Schedule C
Nationwide on December 3, 2009
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
Webcast: Things I Know Now as a Lawyer - That I Wish I Knew Then as an Administrator
Nationwide on December 8, 2009
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
Health Reform Resources Now Reflect Provisions of Senate Leadership BillKaiser Family Foundation
PBGC Forum Looks At Future of Pensions
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
US Labor Department Obtains Court Order Garnishing Wages of Former Trustee of 401(k) Plan Abandoned by Rochester, NY, Employer
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Swift Transportation Selects The Principal for Retirement Plan Services
Principal Financial Group
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Client Service Managerfor Ascensus
in MN
Retirement Sales Wholesaler - Inside Sales
for ExpertPlan, Inc.
in NJ
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