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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS's 2010 Form 8955-SSA and Instructions
"The IRS has released the 2010 Form 8955-SSA (Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits) and Instructions. Form 8955-SSA is a stand-alone form that replaced Schedule SSA (which was eliminated from the Form 5500 filing) for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2009 and is filed with the IRS (not the DOL).'
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
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Thrift Savings Plan Gears Up to Launch Roth Option
"Staff worked this summer and fall to install software for record-keeping of the tax options selected by participants. The next stage will allow participants to transfer funds in from other employers, and the third stage will allow them to transfer money out when they leave the plan."
(Government Executive)
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Roth IRA Answer Book [Advert.]
Roth IRA Answer Book provides in-depth coverage of the administration and operation of Roth IRAs. A team of practicing experts analyzes the most recent developments in practice, as well as legislation, regulation, and law.
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PBGC Rate Boost Plan Draws Flak
"PBGC director Joshua Gotbaum wants Congress to give the agency the authority to set premiums the way most insurers do: Let the companies with the sickest pension plans pay higher premiums and healthy plans pay less. Mr. Gotbaum notes that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures bank deposits, has been using risk-based premiums for years."
(PG Publishing Co., Inc.)
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Massachusetts Lawmakers Agree on Minimum State Retirement Age
"According to the Patriot Ledger, the final legislation adopted the Senate's proposal to boost the minimum retirement from 55 to 60, discarding a House proposal for a smaller increase to 57 in its initial version of the bill . . . ."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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AARP Launches Social Security Benefits Calculator
"The calculator is part of AARP's new 'Ready for Retirement?' effort, a 10-step approach to envisioning and planning for a secure retirement, which includes creating a budget and preparing for the unexpected."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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L.A. Judge Orders Release of County Pension Data
"[The judge] rejected arguments that the records are confidential. According to the Los Angles Times, he ruled that the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association will need to produce several variables that are used to calculate an employee's pension, including years of service at the time of retirement, additional service credits purchased by an employee and the pension formula."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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Reforming Teacher Pensions for the 21st Century (PDF)
"[The essays in this volume seek to] illuminate both the upside and downside of pension reform as it has been undertaken by various organizations, companies, and governmental units, with an eye to extracting insights and strategies for the public education sector."
(Thomas B. Fordham Institute)
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Underfunding Is Constant Worry As Stocks and Rates Dive Low
"A typical defined-benefit pension plan of an S&P 500 company was only 70 percent funded, a five-year low, as of Oct. 1, according to an asset management analysis of 350 such plans by The Bank of New York Mellon Corp."
(Trib Total Media, Inc.)
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Retirement's '4 Percent' Rule Not Sure Thing
"[E]mbedded in the 4 percent solution is the idea that an individual will have a mixture of stocks and bonds that will grow enough to replenish some of the money the person removes each year for retirement living expenses. And the brutal truth of the past few years has been that while the stock market has provided a 9.9-percent-a-year gain on average since 1926, in a single year like 2008, a person can lose more than 30 percent."
(Trib Total Media, Inc.)
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'Investors Need To Focus on How the Target Date Fund Fits into an Overall Financial Plan'
"'I can't imagine that most advisors doing comprehensive work for a client wouldn't take a look at the 401(k) plan and advise the client to put some of their money into open funds instead of a target date fund,' [a fee-only financial advisor says]. 'That gives you more control over the asset allocation, and the ability to fine-tune it.'"
(Penton Media, Inc.)
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Health Care Employers with Unaffordable Pension Plans: A Non-Bankrup.tcy Solution
"During these financially challenging times, . . . employers providing healthcare services are finding that the skyrocketing costs of funding their defined benefit pension plans are increasing operating pressures to the point of threatening their viability and ultimate survival. This article addresses this problem . . . and identifies an under-utilized legal solution that could mitigate or even eliminate a major issue that for many of them is becoming an existential financial threat. [Click on the link under 'Items of Interest' on the target page.]"
(Keightley & Ashner LLP)
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Riverside County, California, Supervisors To Contribute to Pension Plans
"Riverside County supervisors today approved changes to their pension plan and the plans of other elected officials, managers and non-union employees that will require them to make their own contributions into retirement accounts, instead of taking the money out of the general fund."
(www.MyDesert.com)
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PBGC Reports Growing Deficit in Latest Annual Report
"Without a new round of fee increases, the PBGC — which is funded by a combination of company premiums and investment returns on its $81 bil.lion in assets — could eventually require a taxpayer bailout, according to its director, Joshua Gotbaum."
(The Washington Post; free registration required)
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GAO Testimony: OPM Retirement Modernization: Longstanding Information Technology Management Weaknesses Need to Be Addressed
Given by the director, Information Management and Technology Resources Issues, before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy, November 15, 2011. "In a series of reviews, GAO found that OPM's efforts to modernize its retirement system have been hindered by weaknesses in several important management disciplines that are essential to successful IT modernization efforts."
(U.S. Government Accountability Office)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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EBRI President's Report, Fall 2011 (PDF)
"The EBRI Center for Research on Innovation in Health Benefits, under the leadership of Director Paul Fronstin, has built an initial database of claims information on nearly 15 mil.lion workers and will soon publish study results on pre- and post-conversion behavior and cost."
(Employee Benefit Research Institute)
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Employee Ownership Update for November 15, 2011
NCEO Executive Director Loren Rodgers discusses trends in company stock in 401(k) plans, the launch of the NCEO's third survey of executive compensation in ESOP companies, Innovations in Employee Ownership Award nominations, details on Zimbabwe's employee ownership plan, and nominations for the NCEO's board of directors.
(National Center for Employee Ownership)
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Press Releases
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Holly Horton, Business Manager
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