[Guidance Overview]
Tax-Qualified Retirement Plans: Amendments and Other Year-End Action Items
"It is important that plan sponsors review whether any qualified plan action items must be addressed prior to year-end. This LawFlash describes potential year-end notices and plan amendments that may be required for tax-qualified retirement and savings plans."
(Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
DOL's Final Regulations on Participant Investment Advice (PDF)
"[DOL] issued final regulations regarding provisions under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 relating to investment advice to participants in individual account plans, such as 401(k) plans. The regulations apply to transactions occurring on or after December 27, 2011."
(Buck Consultants, LLC)
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[Guidance Overview]
Responsibility to Collect Plan Contributions
"The DOL has stated that an overwhelming number of filings in its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP) involve the late deposits. Hopefully, a future modification to the VFCP program will include de minimis criteria to provide a self-correction method."
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
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MassMutual’s Award-Winning ERISA Advisory Services [Advert.]
MassMutual’s ERISA Advisory Services can help plan fiduciaries and other professionals by providing up-to-date information and easy-to-use tools that help simplify the process of maintaining the compliance health of your retirement plan.
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Sale of Pension Income Targeted by Senator
"A U.S. Senate committee is considering tackling a burgeoning and controversial business in which veterans and other retirees sell some of their future pension income to investors, with an array of middlemen profiting from the transactions."
(The Wall Street Journal)
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The Floor-Leverage Rule for Retirement
"Financial planners assume that retirees have a strong preference for consistent, predictable spending. Their widely used rule of thumb, the 4% rule, was developed to identify the maximum spending level that could be maintained throughout retirement. In stark contrast, the standard advice from financial economist may result in large fluctuations in spending. We reconcile these disparate views by augmenting the utility maximization framework of financial economists with the strong preference for consistent spending identified by financial planners."
(Social Science Research Network)
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IRS's EP Function Should Continue Efforts to Gather Needed Retirement Plan Information
"The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration . . . has found that certain information that is no longer required to be reported on annual returns processed by the Labor Department and provided to the IRS was used by the IRS's Employee Plans (EP) function to identify the characteristics of noncompliant plans for examination."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)
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ERISA Accounts, Part 2
"'ERISA Accounts,' or 'Fee Recapture Accounts,' or 'ERISA Budgets' are growing in popularity, and are becoming a frequent feature in the 401(k) and 403(b) space."
(Robert J. Toth, Jr., Business of Benefits)
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For Retirees, Selling Pensions a Risky Bet
"[A reporter] found that pensions from both state governments and the private sector have been bought by investors, but most are interested in military pensions because they come from the federal government. [The reporter] says the way the pension deals are structured circumvents the legality question of signing over the actual pension checks."
(NPR)
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Kentucky Retirement Systems Ask State for Higher Contributions
"The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that an independent actuary report to KRS trustees showed unfunded pension and insurance liabilities for the state have ballooned to more than $12 bil.lion this fiscal year and that drastic increases in the state's contribution rates are needed to fully fund retirement obligations in fiscal year 2012-13, which begins July 1."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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BNY Mellon Must Face Virginia Pension Fund's Fraud Lawsuit
"A judge in Fairfax, Virginia, . . . rejected the bank's argument that the case couldn't be brought under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act because alleged false or fraudulent claims were never submitted to the state for payment."
(Bloomberg L.P.)
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Illinois $1 Bil.lion Surprise as Pension Demands Jump
"The 19 percent increase in obligations, to $5.9 bil.lion from $4.9 bil.lion in fiscal 2012, wasn't anticipated by budget officials when they presented the current plan in February. The higher cost to Illinois's five retirement funds threatens to deepen a budget hole as lawmakers consider tax breaks for businesses threatening to leave the state."
(Bloomberg L.P.)
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Legislation Introduced to Stem Abuse of Public Employee Disability Pensions in New Jersey
"The changes in the bill include: an increase from 4 to 10 years the service credit required before a member of state pension systems becomes available for an ordinary disability pension, and a restriction of disability awards to members who sustained injuries during regular and assigned duties. Disability awards for willful negligence would be eliminated."
(newjerseynewsroom.com)
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[Opinion]
Why Raising the Retirement Age Won't Shrink the Deficit
"Washington deficit cutters often attempt to justify a higher Social Security retirement age by pointing toward rising longevity and the need to work longer. There are several problems with that argument. First, most of the longevity gains are going to affluent Americans with access to better health care and diets . . . ."
(TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. via Entrepreneur Media Inc.)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Guidance Overview]
ISS 2012 Policy Updates (PDF)
"On November 17, ISS issued updates to its U.S., Canadian, European and other international voting policies for the 2012 proxy season that will apply to all publicly traded companies with shareholder meetings on or after February 1, 2012."
(Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
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[Guidance Overview]
Upcoming Benefit Deadlines
Listed are deadlines from December 1, 2011, to January 31, 2012.
(The Law Firm of Baker & Daniels LLP)
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Press Releases
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