[Official Guidance]
'Retirement News for Employers', Fall 2011 Edition, Published by IRS
Articles include: Paying Retirement Plan Benefits; Maximize Your Retirement Savings in 2012 [through salary deferral contributions]; SEPs and SIMPLEs; Disaster Relief for Retirement Plans and IRAs; Exam Director Discusses Priorities For The Current Fiscal Year.
(U.S. Internal Revenue Service)
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The Hottest Ticket in Town! [Advert.]
ASPPA co-sponsors several regional conferences each year with the IRS to provide discussion opportunities with colleagues and local, regional and national government representatives from IRS and DOL. Check to see when we're coming to your region!
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San Jose Leaders Paint Grim Budget Picture Without Pension Reform
"San Jose's years-long battle over rising retirement costs will reach a crucial juncture Dec. 6, when the City Council is expected to vote whether to declare a fiscal emergency and set in place a March special election on a pension reform ballot measure championed by Mayor Chuck Reed."
(Marin Independent Journal)
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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. . . . [F]inancial middlemen have helped to set up websites with names such as BuyYourPension.com and pension4cash.com to connect pension recipients."
(Wall Street Journal)
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Bank of America, CalPERS Settle Suit Over Countrywide
"California's giant public pension fund and 15 other large investors settled lawsuits that accused former mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp. of costing them billions of dollars in stock losses by failing to disclose the severity of the risks posed by the easy-money loans the Calabasas lender handed out during the housing boom."
(Los Angeles Times)
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Lawsuits Targeted Board, Cain Over Retirement Fund
"[Presidential candidate Herman Cain] sat on the board of directors for Aquila Inc., a Kansas City-based utility . . . . Employees alleged in a class-action lawsuit that they were pressured into investing their retirement funds and other savings into company stock."
(Boston.com)
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New Flavor of Target Date Funds That Provides Income for Life Is Being Offered By Some 401(k) Plans
"During your working years, starting ten years before the end-date on your target date fund, Prudential guarantees that your income base -- the amount your withdrawals are based on -- will never be lower than your highest annual birthday value, plus contributions, regardless of market performance. Once you lock in your income benefit, starting as early as age 55, you are guaranteed a check for life, even if your account goes to zero. At 65 or later, the payout is equal to 5% of the account's income base. If the base goes up, you get more."
(NY Daily News)
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Comparing 401(k) Fees in The Age of Disclosure
"The study [of 525 plan sponsors conducted by Deloitte and the Investment Company Institute] found that the median participant-weighted 'all-in' fee for plans was 0.78 percent of plan assets or approximately $248 per participant."
(Business Finance)
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What Can Hawaii Learn from Other States About Pension Spiking?
"At least 14 states have revamped their pension systems in the past five years to prevent employees from 'spiking' their pay to pad retirement benefits. The Hawaii Employees' Retirement System is looking to do the same despite opposition from public employees' unions."
(Honolulu Civil Beat)
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Pensions Resist Rules That Would Magnify Liability
"The proposed changes would require states, cities, school districts and other public employers to disclose their expected pension liabilities on their balance sheets for the first time."
(Bloomberg.com)
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Looking to Pension Funds to Pay for Public Works Projects
"Pension plans are limited partners, pooling their monies with other institutional or private investors. If the investment makes money, the plans, in these cases, are entitled to a 'hurdle' rate of return. That's a percentage threshold that must be reached before profit flows to a general partner, the private-asset manager of the fund, on top of a fixed fee."
(The Wall Street Journal)
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Within 401(k) Plans, the Less Choice the Better
"The theory: We use mental shortcuts to help us make choices, but the process gets jammed with too many options. We tend to stop when we reach a satisfactory, not optimal, choice."
(The Washington Post; free registration required)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Inside The Corporate Plan to Occupy The Pentagon
"[T]he push for pension cuts and other corporate 'reforms' at the Pentagon originates from an obscure advisory panel that has existed for a decade: the Defense Business Board. Its 21 members know little about military affairs, but they are rich in Wall Street experience, including with some of the biggest companies implicated in the 2008 financial meltdown."
(Mother Jones)
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Press Releases
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