ASPPA

Pension Consultants/Administrators
for Northern NJ Mid-Size Pension Consulting Firm in NJ

Retirement Plan Sales Specialist - Internal Wholesaler
for ExpertPlan, Inc. in NJ

Plan Administrator Assistant
for The Senex Group in CA

401K Sales Hunter
for Automatic Data Processing in OH

Chief Enrolled Actuary
for Los Angeles Based HR Outsourcing Firm in CA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Doherty Employer Services in MN

Vested Interest Account Manager
for PNC Bank in PA

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401(k) Rekon Advisor Symposium- Salt Lake City
in Utah on September 8, 2011 presented by 401(k) Rekon

Compliance Assistance Workshops - Six Free Workshops
in Texas on August 25, 2011 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Compliance Assistance Workshops - Six Free Workshops
in Texas on September 14, 2011 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Private Health Care Exchanges: a Case Study in Increasing Value While Reducing Costs
Nationwide on September 15, 2011 presented by Extend Health

Do's and Don'ts of Hardship Distributions from Retirement Plans, Updated 8/8/2011
"To avoid jeopardizing the qualified status of the plan, employers and plan administrators must follow both the plan document and legal requirements before making hardship distributions." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

DATAIR Defined Contribution Plan Software   [Advert.]

Software for proposals, compliance testing, statements and periodic administration for "DC" plans. System handles 401(k), Profit Sharing (including Cross Testing), 403(b), ESOP, and NQ plans. Cost-effective PC-based system for TPAs and consultants.

FASB Changes to Accounting Rules for Employers Contributing to Multiemployer Pension Plans (PDF)
"The new rules, which will be officially issued in September, require less disclosure than FASB's 2010 exposure draft would have required. The new rules are effective for publicly held companies for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2011 and for other companies for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2012." (Buck Consultants, LLC)

Understanding the Duty to Collect Contributions
"We have recently become aware of increasing DOL activity in establishing and enforcing a trustee duty to collect delinquent contributions, in spite of plan provisions insulating the trustee from that responsibility. This Technical Update will describe the current situation." (SunGard Relius)

Fifth Circuit Agrees That Plan Administrator Cannot Revoke QDRO for Suspected Lack of Good Faith Divorce
"Although plan administrators generally are not required to analyze an order's validity under state domestic relations law, an earlier DOL advisory opinion that also addressed allegedly fraudulent divorces (but was not mentioned by the court) advised that if a plan administrator had received credible evidence that an order was fraudulently obtained, it should take reasonable steps to determine the order's credibility." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

Fast Facts & Figures about Social Security, 2011
"Fast Facts & Figures answers the most frequently asked questions about the programs SSA administers. It highlights basic program data for the Social Security (retirement, survivors, and disability) and Supplemental Security Income programs." (U.S. Social Security Administration)

Affluent Investors Motivated to Save for Financial 'Freedom' Rather than Retirement
"The study, 'Acquiring Mid-Career Accumulators: Positioning Advice and Disclosing Fees with Upshifting and Downshifting Investors,' found that many investors are not planning to retire, but to have a back-up option if they want to leave their job . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Defined Contribution Plan Participants' Activities, First Quarter 2011 (PDF)
"The commitment to contribution activity in 2011:Q1 continued at the high rate observed in 2010:Q1. Only 1.0 percent of DC plan participants stopped contributing in 2011:Q1, compared with 1.1 percent during 2010:Q1 and 2.7 percent during 2009:Q1." (Investment Company Institute)

Trends in the Fees and Expenses of Mutual Funds, 2010 (PDF)
"On average, fees and expenses incurred by investors in long-term mutual funds declined in 2010. Stock fund investors in 2010 paid an average of 95 basis points (0.95 percent) in fees and expenses, down 3 basis points from 2009." (Investment Company Institute)

IRS Seeks Comments on IRA Required Minimum Distribution Reporting
"Written comments, which should be received on or before September 19, 2011, should be directed to: Yvette B. Lawrence, Internal Revenue Service, Room 6129, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20224." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

Standards for ERISA Compliance: Vendor Management (PDF)
Here is a list of eight standards and principles formulated for vendor management in ERISA retirement plans. (Investment Fiduciary Leadership Council, Inc.)

Ohio Pension Reform in Limbo As Legislature Waits to Address Changes
"The Ohio Retirement Study Council, a bipartisan group that vets all pension legislation and oversees the systems, is seeking a second opinion from an actuarial firm about what changes should be made. This means lawmakers aren't likely to take up the pension reform bill until after the first of the year." (Cox Ohio Publishing)

Top 10 Reasons Middle-Class Retirement Is at Risk
"Household wealth dropped precipitously during the Great Recession, leaving the majority of families inadequately prepared to maintain their standard of living in retirement. And the especially weak labor market since 2007 left many households with fewer options to work longer to compensate for insufficient retirement savings." (Center for American Progress)

Text of Notice of Meeting of Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans on August 30-September 1 (PDF)
"The Advisory Council will study the following issues: (1) Current Challenges and Best Practices for ERISA Compliance for 403(b) Plan Sponsors, (2) Hedge Funds and Private Equity Investments, and (3) Privacy and Security Issues Affecting Employee Benefit Plans (other than health care plans)." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

GASB Pension Accounting Changes Should Prod Advance Planning.
"There may be some tweaking of how they calculate some technical aspects, such as the discount rate for valuing future liabilities on today's books and how employers amortize certain expenses. But there is little doubt that employer's financial statements are going to change, with greater emphasis on visibility." (Governing)

Which Fiduciary 'Cost' Matters Most: The Broker's or the Retirement Investor's?
"While increased business costs may hurt brokers forced to comply with the same rules as RIAs, it's clear the cost of not updating the definition of fiduciary entails far greater costs to retirement plan investors. In the end, who is the DOL charged to protect: the industry or the retirement plan investor?" (Fiduciary News)

A Guide to Undermining Fiduciary Duties
"In his most recent Fiduciary Corner column for InvestmentNews, Blaine [Aiken] takes a look at the Congressional model of outwardly embracing accountability and ethical behavior, while simultaneously building a system of easily circumvented rules." (Fiduciary News)

Prospective on Retirement Plans
"While it's fun and interesting to look back at what's gone on the past several years . . . . Here are five things I think we can count on for the next five years . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Thanks to Pension Crisis, Public-Sector Should Prepare for 'Lost Decade' of Compensation Correction
"The bottom line is that the cost of preserving today's benefits levels for current employees will be a long-term freeze in salaries for many, actual pay cuts in some distressed municipalities, and skinny pay increases for the luckiest -- raises that still won't keep up with inflation." (Governing)

Tax Expenditures, the Size and Efficiency of Government, and Implications for Budget Reform
"One possible explanation for the difficulty in controlling the budget is that a major component of spending—tax expenditures—receives privileged status. It is treated as tax cuts rather than spending. This paper explores the implications of that misclassification and illustrates how it can lead to higher taxes, larger government, and an inefficient mix of spending (too many tax expenditures)." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve fulltext)

45,000 Workers at Verizon Communications Businesses to Strike Over Proposed Benefit Cuts
"Verizon wants the unionized workers to start contributing to their health care premiums, including $1,300 to $3,000 a year toward family coverage. The company has also called for freezing pension contributions for current employees, eliminating traditional pensions for future workers, limiting sick days to five a year, and eliminating all job security provisions." (The New York Times; free registration required)

New York Issues More Guidance on Marriage Equality
"Same-s.ex married couples are advised by the Department to consider adjusting their withholding for New York income tax purposes to take into account their married filing status for the year[.]" (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

Fiduciary Standard Helps Foundations Prepare for Regulatory Activism
"The laws pertaining to the prudent investment of endowment funds have experienced unprecedented change over the past fifty years. A driving force of this change has been the evolving nature of endowment management, from an absolute preservation of principal standard to today's modern portfolio theory, which emphasizes total return. The evolution gave impetus to the development of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA). Following years of construction, it was introduced in 2006 as a model fiduciary law." (JonHope Publishing Company, Inc.)

ASPPA Board Announces 2012 Leadership Team
(American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA))

Benefit Informatics Introduces Advanced Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting to Help Employers Identify and Control Health Costs
(Benefit Informatics)

Mercer and Extend Health Sign Agreement to Help Employers Better Manage Retiree Health Care Benefits
(Mercer)