ASPPA

Plan Consultant
for Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group in NY

401(k) Relationship Manager
for Industry Leading Financial Services Firm in CA

Senior Manager, Global Retirement
for AECOM in CA

Pension Consultant / Administrator
for Jim Hallinan Pension Consulting, LLC in CT

Director, Business Development
for Tegrit Retirement Plan Services in OH

PAS Client Services Manager
for Milliman in TX

Senior Relationship Manager
for Milliman in TX

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Health Care Reform Developments in 2012 and Beyond: Don’t Wait!
Nationwide on January 23, 2012 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Massachusetts Health Insurance Market Outlook Seminar
in Massachusetts on February 7, 2012 presented by New England Employee Benefits Council

CFDD

Participant's Estoppel Claim Rejected for Failure to Show Pension Calculation Error Was Intentional
"The court also rejected the participant's claim that he'd relied to his detriment on the mistaken calculations when he signed the severance agreement. He undermined this argument by his own admission that he has no current wish to rescind his agreement and renegotiate the terms." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

DATAIR! New Features – Flexible Pricing – Module Integration   [Advert.]

Proposals, Testing, Administration, 5500s, 1099Rs, Plan Documents
401(k), New Comparability, 403(b), Non-qualified Plans
(888) 328-2474    Sales@DATAIR.com    www.DATAIR.com

New DOL Regs Offer More Investment Advisers the Opportunity to Provide Advice to Participants in 401(k) Plans and IRAs
"The relief provided under the New Regulations will not apply to any transaction for which the conditions under the New Regulations were not satisfied. Further, if a fiduciary adviser has engaged in a pattern or practice of noncompliance with any of the applicable conditions of the New Regulations, the prohibited transaction relief will not apply to any transaction connected with the provision of investment advice during the period of such noncompliance." (Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP)

ERISA Pension Protections Avoided Through Church Affiliation
"Legal exemptions that allow church-affiliated organizations to sidestep Employee Retirement Income Security Act protections for their defined benefit pension plans increasingly are being used for less-than-holy purposes, according to pension activists who see a disturbing trend among plan sponsors." (Business Insurance)

Discretionary Trustees vs. Directed Trustees
"The perception that trust companies and other such entities ordinarily provide legal protection to plan sponsors for the selection, monitoring, and replacement of plan assets is wrong. While the custodial and trustee services offered by trust companies and other such entities are valuable, even a directed trustee under ERISA, such as a trust company, cannot offer plan sponsors legal cover simply because their agreements with these sponsors make sure that the sponsors — not the directed trustee — remain ultimately liable for plan assets, in accordance with the law of ERISA." (Morningstar Advisor)

Teachers' 403(b) Plans Becoming More Like Corporate 401(k) Plans
"Much of the current change is being driven by Internal Revenue Service rules that began taking effect in 2009 and that give plan sponsors administrative and compliance responsibilities for employees' 403(b) investments. Change also is coming as growing numbers of teachers face cuts to their traditional pensions, giving them more incentive to sock away money in 403(b)s, consultants and school officials say." (The Wall Street Journal)

How Would the President's Fiscal Commission's Social Security Proposals Affect Future Beneficiaries? (PDF)
"Using the Dynamic Simulation of Income Model, we project how Social Security benefits and payroll taxes would change were Congress to enact the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's proposal. . . . Projected benefit reductions relate closely to lifetime earnings: Lower earners are largely shielded, higher earners face significant reductions." (Urban Institute)

2011 NTSAA 403(b) Compliance Resolution Summit
"All three of the Summits have contributed greatly to the resolution of what were systemic problems through the adoption of best practices that most in the industry can follow. The result has been the standardization of processes and procedures that most can utilize for a smoothly operating 403(b) plan." (National Tax Sheltered Accounts Association via American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)

Understanding the Three Main Pillars That Create the Foundation for Retirement in the U.S.
"[T]hose pillars consist of Medicare, Social Security and Retirement Plans. Each of these pillars is complex in its own right." (Seeking Alpha)

Retirement Fund Fees May Get Squeezed by 401(k) Disclosure Rules
"Some companies that offer 401(k) investment funds share fee revenue with firms that provide recordkeeping or brokers that sell retirement plans. The amount flowing between funds and their service partners may be more than $5 bil.lion annually, according to BrightScope Inc., a San Diego-based firm that tracks 401(k) data. The Labor Department rules, which may still change, will give employers details on those transactions." (Bloomberg L.P.)

Using Employer Stock in Qualified Plans
"The troubled economic conditions and turbulent markets of the past few years have generated a surge in lawsuits against plan fiduciaries when employer stock has dropped precipitously." (Investment News; free registration required)

Maryland Considering Shift in Teacher Pension Costs to Counties
"Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is weighing a proposal to shift some of the pension costs for the state's public school teachers to the local governments that employ them. . . . A spokesman for Maryland's counties said the local governments would vigorously oppose any effort to shift teacher pension costs." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

SPARK Institute Releases Spreadsheet Templates Of Its Data Layouts For Non-Registered Investment Product Disclosures For Retirement Plans
"The Data Layouts are designed for use by non-registered investment product providers (e.g., bank collective investment funds, non-registered 'fund of funds,' separately managed accounts and annuities) and record keepers to share information that retirement plan administrators must disclose to participants under the Department of Labor's participant disclosure regulations . . . ." (The SPARK Institute)

Milliman 100 Monthly Pension Funding Index, December 2011
"This monthly index projects the funded status for pension plans included in the Milliman Pension Funding Study, reflecting the effect of market returns on plan assets and the impact of interest-rate changes on plan liabilities. The monthly Pension Funding Index offers an ongoing assessment of the often volatile movements that have come to characterize corporate pension funding." (Milliman, Inc.)

The SPARK Institute Letter to DOL re: Delay of 408(b)(2) Regulations (PDF)
"Some record keepers have already built fee summaries and have initiated rollout of their new 408(b)(2) materials. Any change to the interim final rules is likely to require systems and coding changes, as well as changes to processes, procedures, documents and communications for the vast majority of record keepers." (The SPARK Institute)

The SPARK Institute Follow-Up Letter on Delayed Release of Final 408(b)(2) Regulations (PDF)
"Since the final regulations have not yet been released, the vast majority of record keepers have indicated that they will not be able to comply with the regulations by April 1, 2012. Even if the final regulations are unchanged from the interim final regulations, recordkeepers no longer have enough time to complete planned communications and distribute the required disclosures to their customers." (The SPARK Institute)

List of Expiring Federal Tax Provisions, 2011-2022
"For purposes of compiling this list, the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation considers a provision to be expiring if, at a statutorily specified date, the provision expires completely or reverts to the law in effect before the present-law version of the provision." (The Joint Committee on Taxation)

Generous Benefits, Recognition Energize and Retain Workers
"Employee retention is one of the best ways to keep your business running smoothly. The Society for Human Resource Management refers to retention as a key economic driver. 'It costs an organization a significant dollar amount whenever an existing employee must be replaced.'" (San Angelo Standard Times)

403(b) Compliance Summit Report Released
(National Tax Sheltered Accounts Association)

Former CMS Official Mary Sowers Joins Mercer’s Government Human Services Practice
(Mercer)