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The IRS in Your Backyard! (advert.)
Come discuss employee benefits issues with industry colleagues and local, regional and national experts from the IRS, DOL and the private sector. Programs focus on current regulatory, legislative, administrative and actuarial topics.
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[Guidance Overview]
Seventh Circuit Severely Weakens ERISA 'Stock Drop' and '401(k) Fees' Cases (PDF)
"The Court's class certification rulings call into question the future viability of 401(k) plan class actions by mandating that classes share a genuine common interest. The opinion certainly suggests that a class that encompasses all participants in a 401(k) plan is too broad, given the wide-variety of investment practices and dates of entry and exit from the plan."
(Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
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Proxy Advisory Firm Accountability Initiative Featured in The Wall Street Journal
"A February 7 Wall Street Journal article highlights a letter the Center On Executive Compensation sent recently to the CEOs of the 100 largest institutional investors asking them to fulfill their independent fiduciary responsibility by more closely monitoring the proxy advisory firms they retain."
(HR Policy Association)
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401(k) Plan Provisions That Are Bad Ideas
"These provisions may increase the likelihood of administrative error, thereby increasing plan sponsor liability and the risk of plan disqualification by the Internal Revenue Service. This article states many popular plan provisions that should be avoided . . . ."
(The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.)
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A Retirement Program for the Risk-Averse
"Even the most disciplined savers are heavily relying on the stock market to reach their retirement goals. But that often amounts to a giant gamble, which is the thrust of the thinking behind a new retirement planning program that treats investing in stocks like a trip to the casino."
(The New York Times; one-time registration required)
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SEC Snoozed As 'Shadow Marketers' Skimmed Billions from Retirement Plans
"Over the past 30 years variable annuity firms, such as ING and Nationwide, have paid millions in fees and commissions to non-profit organizations, such as the National Association of Counties, the New York State United Teachers and the Alabama State Employees Association, that are neither licensed as investment advisers nor brokers in exchange for endorsements and other marketing assistance."
(Forbes.com LLC)
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Expanded Definition of 'Fiduciary' Likely to Hamstring Mutual Funds That Work with Plan Sponsors and Participants
"The DOL's proposed rule would broaden the term, which could mean companies that provide services to retirement plans would be considered fiduciaries. As a result, those service providers will curtail the investment guidance they have been providing retirement plans, charge plans more for participant investment education and complicate the rollover process for service providers as participants exit plans, critics said."
(Investment News; one-time registration required)
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New Jersey Governor Says 'Sue Me' as Pensioners Challenge Cuts
"Public workers in Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota are already suing their states, which are among 18 that want to pare pension costs by increasing employee contributions, raising the retirement age or curbing cost-of-living increases."
(Leo Kolivakis)
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New Jersey and Maryland Governors Air Dispute Over Pension Reform
"Both governors have proposed scaling back on teachers' and state workers' retirement benefits and requiring employees to pay more in contributions. The governors also would increase retirement ages and tweak cost-of-living adjustments."
(Washington Examiner)
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Women Lag Men in Retirement Savings
"A study from LIMRA finds defined contribution plan participation and deferral rates are nearly identical for women and men."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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Congressional Quartet Backs DOL Fiduciary Proposal
"[A letter] said that the legislators strongly supported the decision to re-examine the types of advisory relationships that give rise to fiduciary status . . ., and, in most regards seemed supportive of the broader ,more comprehensive definition contained in the proposed definition."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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[Opinion]
American Benefits Council Comments on Definition of Fiduciary Proposed Rule (PDF)
"[W]e believe that the proposed regulations create too broad a definition of fiduciary. [W]e are very concerned that an overly broad definition would actually have a very adverse effect on retirement savings by raising costs, inhibiting investment education and guidance for plans and participants, and significantly shrinking the pool of service providers willing to provide such investment education and guidance."
(American Benefits Council)
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[Opinion]
SIFMA Comments on a Proposed Definition of Fiduciary Regulation
"SIFMA believes the proposed regulation would have unintended consequences including, but not limited to: 1) impacting the ability of millions of Americans to save for retirement; and 2) limiting access to markets, investment products and services providers."
(Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association)
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[Opinion]
The End of the Line for Small Potato Retirement Plan Advisors and Brokers?
"I believe that the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission changing the fiduciary standard may have the impact of many brokers leaving the industry because many of the small broker dealers may not want to deal with the added liability of their brokers serving as co-fiduciaries of retirement plans."
(The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. Blog)
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[Opinion]
Why Social Security Taxes Are a Good Deal
"There had to be a point where an individual could better provide for himself or herself than Social Security would. So using my wife's income and payroll taxes as a case study, I set out to find it."
(MarketWatch)
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[Opinion]
Pennsylvania Pension Plan's Woes Are Costing Taxpayers
"Under Nicholas Maiale, a former state representative from South Philadelphia who has been chairman of SERS' board since 1992, and especially since then-Gov. Tom Ridge boosted pensions in 2001 without raising more funds to pay for them, SERS has become one of the most intensively managed public pension systems in the nation."
(Philadelphia Media Network Inc.)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Hybrid LTC Plans Cited Among 2011 Benefit Trends
"The message comes courtesy of Mark Konen, president of Lincoln Insurance and Retirement Solutions, who believes voluntary plans will continue to gain importance as more employers search for cost-effective benefit solutions."
(Employee Benefit Adviser; one-time free registration required)
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Press Releases
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