Dodd-Frank Proposal for Swaps Margin Requirements May Hit Pension Plans
"As 'financial entities' potentially posing more risk than other swap counterparties, ERISA and governmental plans may have to post initial and variation margin on swaps that aren't cleared by a registered clearing organization, under proposed rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act." (Mercer LLC)

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Using Basic Math to Determine Needs and Progress in Accumulating Funds for Retirement
"Participants in defined benefit plans often have trouble calculating the monthly benefit earned under the plan. Unfortunately, it is also the case that almost no 401(k) participant can calculate the monthly retirement benefit equivalent of his or her account balance." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

Target-Date Funds: Some Pros and Cons
"In examining a TDF for your plan, be alert to implicit, if not explicit, representations of appropriateness. For example, materials often indicate that the particular TDF is 'age appropriate.'" (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

Auto Enrollment Helps Participation, But Saving Rates May Still Be Running Low
"Three-quarters of the Vanguard-recordkept DC plans using auto enrollment continue to default participants at contribution levels of 3% of pay or less . . . . In the last five years, plans most commonly defaulted at the 3% deferral rate (50% to 60% of auto enrollment plans). When plans offered an automatic savings escalator feature, the most common annual increase rate was 1%." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

Video: Can We Boost Retirement Security for Low-Income Workers?
"[The forum explored] ways to help low-income workers boost their retirement savings, including expanding their access to employer-sponsored defined benefit and defined contribution plans and instituting automatic individual retirement accounts." (Urban Institute)

Home Equity Withdrawal in Retirement
"We study empirically and theoretically the patterns of home equity withdrawal among retirees, using a model in which retirees are able to own or rent a home, save, and borrow against home equity, in the face of idiosyncratic risks concerning mortality, health, medical expenditures, and household size and observed house price changes." (Social Science Research Network)

Social Security Annual Statistical Supplement, 2011
"Data are preliminary and subject to revision until the entire 2011 edition is complete." (U.S. Social Security Administration)

Should You Sacrifice Your Roth IRA for a 401k Match?
"We [give] you three reasons a Roth IRA might not be the best fit all the time. [They are t]he inability to fully fund an account due to income limits, uncertainty about future income taxes, and employer 401k matches." (Retirement Online LLC)

Postemployment Cost-of-Living Adjustments: Concepts and Recent Trends for State and Local Plans (PDF)
"[State and local governments review] the costs associated with postemployment cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). While COLAs are an important component of pension plan design, different types of COLAs have different advantages and disadvantages." (Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company)

A New Approach to Retirement Planning over the Life Cycle with Safe Savings Rates
"The focus of retirement planning should be on the savings rate rather than the withdrawal rate. The 'safe savings rate' may be based on historical simulations as the savings rate that proves sufficient to support the desired retirement expenditures from a life-cycle perspective, including both the accumulation and decumulation phases." (Financial Planning Association)

Careful with Your IRA in a Financial Crisis
"The main consideration on tapping retirement assets is whether you truly are going to be able to get out of debt using them and current, or even expected, income." (TheStreet.com, Inc.)

Investors Still Contribute to Target-Date Funds after Retirement
"While asset managers have had several years to observe the contribution habits of investors saving for retirement using target-date funds, they've only had a brief period to observe how investors use the funds after the retirement date." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

SEC Proposed Rule, Extension of Comment Period for Listing Standards for Compensation Committees (PDF)
"Comments should be received on or before May 19, 2011." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

Companies Work Harder to Win Shareholder Votes on Executive Compensation
"The new atmosphere is the result of the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law, which gives shareholders at all but the smallest companies an advisory vote on executive pay, something governance advocates have long sought." (The Wall Street Journal)

Major Audit Initiatives Launched This Year by Government Agencies Involved with Employee Benefits
"As a result, the agencies have identified areas of emphasis and common errors discovered during routine and random audits. [The target page provides] a break down by agency of the targeted areas." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

12-Month Private Industry Compensation Costs, March 2010--March 2011
"Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 2.0 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2011, compared to the 1.6-percent increase for the 12-month period ending March 2010." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Newkirk Products, Inc. Acquired by DST Systems, Inc.
(Newkirk)

Financial Services Company to Restore Nearly $243,000 to 2 Pension Plans Following US Labor Department Investigations
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

US Labor Department Obtains Order Requiring Sparta, Wis.-based Quality Tool and Machine, President to Restore More than $11,000 to Retirement Plan
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

MetLife Study Finds Disability Income Insurance a Valuable Companion for Singles Wanting to Protect Their Income
(MetLife)

Canadian Employers Lack Strategy, Measurement to Deal with Workplace Stress
(Buck Consultants)

401kTest.com Added Instructional Videos - 2 Finished: 2 To Go!
(401kTest.com)

Retirement Plan Sponsors Learn Lessons From 401(K) Court Decision
(Lockton)

Fouts Invited to Serve on Prestigious TPA Advisory Council
(Qualified Plan Consultants, LLC)

DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

Retirement Plan Internal Wholesaler
for John Hancock in IL

Sales Representative
for Southern New England Start-Up TPA in ANY STATE

Retirement Plan Compliance Officer
for Heartland Financial USA, Inc. in IA

VP, Investment Product Management & Development
for Prudential in CT

Relationship Manager II
for T. Rowe Price in MD

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"401(k) Plan Current Issues Workshop" - Detroit
in Michigan on June 2, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

"Form 5500/EFAST 2 Workshop" - Detroit
in Michigan on June 1, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

"Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans" - a 3-day Seminar in 6 cities
Nationwide on June 8, 2011 presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Rekon Advisor Symposium - Bridgewater
in New Jersey on June 2, 2011 presented by 401(k) Rekon

401(k) Rekon Advisor Symposium - Scottsdale
in Arizona on June 2, 2011 presented by 401(k) Rekon