[Guidance Overview]
IRS Provides Due Date for Filing 2009 Form 8955-SSA
"The due date for filing Form 8955-SSA for the 2009 and 2010 plan years is the later of: (1) the due date that generally applies for filing the Form 8955-SSA for the 2010 plan year, and (2) August 1, 2011. Thus, for example, for the 2009 plan year or a short 2010 plan year, the due date is August 1, 2011."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
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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]
Another Fire District Settles Pension ADEA Claim
"An EEOC news release said the suit alleged that [a fire district] prohibited volunteer firefighters over age 62 from accruing credit toward a 'length of service award,' the equivalent of a retirement pension, because of their age."
(PLANSPONSOR)
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Some Employees Must Defer Retirement Until Age 75+
"Widespread financial illiteracy plus increasingly longer life expectancy equals an unpleasant retirement for many, according to Olivia Mitchell, a professor of insurance and risk at the Wharton School."
(Australian School of Business at UNSW / Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
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DOL Detractor Reveals Due Diligence Secret to 401k Plan Sponsors
"Brian H. Graff, who testified on behalf of the ASPPA, NAIRPA and CIKR, said, 'It is also important to point out that the proposed regulation would not, as some commentators have suggested, preclude commission-based brokers and advisors from working with sponsors, and thus would not eliminate an important distribution channel for plans."
(Fiduciary News)
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Upcoming EBSA Webcast Series: 'Getting It Right: Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities'
"March 23 - Speakers from [DOL] will present information on the basic fiduciary responsibilities and on prohibited transactions and exemptions under ERISA. March 24 - Speakers from [DOL] will present information on the reporting and disclosure provisions of ERISA and the Department's voluntary correction program."
(U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
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401(k) Account Balances as Monthly Retirement Income (PDF)
"About a year ago,[DOL] and Treasury issued a request for information (RFI) about sustainable retirement income. The RFI asked about both insured and uninsured solutions. . . . This bulletin quotes four of the questions asked by those agencies and provides the answers given by [the Institutional Retirement Income Council]."
(Reish & Reicher)
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O.E.C.D. Sees Need for Retirement Age to Rise
"Retirement ages in advanced economies will have to rise by more than currently planned if countries hope to cover the increase in costs resulting from aging populations . . . ."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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Kansas Panel Blocks Bill on 401(k)-Style Pension
"Other critics of moving toward 401(k)-style plans argue that doing so sets up competing systems, both of which require contributions by the state, even as it must close the long-term funding gap for its traditional plans."
(Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
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More Plans Opt for Co-Fiduciary Advisers
"More than half of the respondents in a new study work with a limited scope investment adviser (ERISA Section 3(21)(a)), where both the adviser and the plan sponsor have co-fiduciary responsibilities on the investments for the plan and share in the liability."
(PLANSPONSOR)
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DOL Asked to Add to Participant Disclosure Rules
"The [GAO] has recommended that [DOL] look into ways retirement plan sponsors and participants can be made more aware of the risks of investments that may have distribution restrictions."
(PLANSPONSOR)
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Equity Returns in the Coming Decade
"This brief discusses a broader way of viewing the prospect for equities. The return on stocks will depend on corporations' profitability."
(Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
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GAO Testimony: Issues Involving Securities Lending in 401(k) Plan Investments
"Participants and some plan sponsors are often unaware that 401(k) plan investment options are engaged in securities lending with cash collateral reinvestment and that these arrangements can pose risks to plan participants. Current disclosures on these transactions are often not transparent, although certain government and private sector entities are taking steps to make these arrangements more transparent and less risky."
(U.S. Government Accountability Office)
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GAO Report: Certain 401(k) Plans' Investment Options and Practices That May Restrict Withdrawals Not Widely Understood
"To ensure additional protection for plan participants, appropriate information for plan sponsors, and to better inform the study required by the Dodd-Frank Act, as it conducts its consultative analysis to assist the SEC and CFTC, Labor should also analyze stable value funds specifically in a 401(k) investment context to identify those situations or conditions that prevented plan sponsors from withdrawing from stable value funds, such as contract restrictions, and take appropriate regulatory steps to assist plan sponsors in fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities."
(U.S. Government Accountability Office)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Employers Continue to Reduce Benefits
"In the last six months, 20% of employers reported that they reduced employee benefits, the highest level since the fall of 2008."
(Employee Benefit News; free registration required)
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Press Releases
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