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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter
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[Guidance Overview]
Terminated Employee's Claim Failed because He Did Not Show that Employer Interfered with His Retirement Benefits
"The court further explained that ERISA only protects employees from interference with rights attained under a plan. Therefore, to the extent that the employee complained that the employer did not make a special exception for him by adjusting the points, he failed to carry his burden. ERISA does not require a company to alter its retirement plan for a particular employee to help the employee to otherwise qualify."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)
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The ASPPA 401(k) SUMMIT is Bigger and Better in New Orleans! [Advert.]
Come to the Big Easy for the unparalleled 401(k) SUMMIT. Join over 1,500 attendees including Broker Dealer Registered Reps, Registered Investment Advisors, Plan Administrators (TPAs) and Product and Service Professionals. Register now and save!
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Proposed Regs and New Guidance Regarding Lifetime Income Payments under Retirement Plans (PDF)
"In determining the maximum amount that can be applied to purchase the longevity annuity, all amounts previously applied to purchase such annuities would be counted toward the current limit. In addition, employers generally will be permitted to rely on an employee's representation regarding premiums paid under plans of other employers and IRAs (other than Roth IRAs) toward the $100,000 cap."
(Buck Consultants)
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Workers Would Trade Pay for Retirement Security
"Nearly half (44%) of U.S. workers are worried about reductions in their retirement benefits over the next two years, according to a survey by Towers Watson. In addition, 55% of respondents said they are willing to pay a higher amount from each paycheck to ensure they have a guaranteed retirement."
(PLANADVISER.com)
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How Much Does Retirement Really Cost?
"A new report from the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute looks at the interaction of income, expenses and savings in retirement. Using survey data from 5,000 retired households from 2000 to 2009, the report details how different socioeconomic groups of older Americans are faring in retirement."
(Employee Benefit News)
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Seven Ways to Beat the Retirement Draw-Down Blues
"Saving for retirement is something most Americans know they have to do, but many people are confused, scared and literally frozen when it comes to flipping the switch from saving to withdrawing. [Schwab] data shows that people even just a year or two away from retirement don't know how to tap their savings effectively once they transition to retirement."
(The Street)
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Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2011
"The information [allows researchers] to review different ways of approaching social security challenges that will enable [adaptation of] social security systems to the evolving needs of individuals, households, and families. These efforts are particularly important as each nation faces major demographic changes, especially the increasing number of aged persons, as well as economic and fiscal issues."
(Social Security Administration)
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To Pay New York Pension Fund, Cities Borrow From It First
"[C]ities throughout the state, wealthy towns such as Southampton and East Hampton, counties like Nassau and Suffolk, and other public employers like the Westchester Medical Center and the New York Public Library are all managing their rising pension bills by borrowing from the very same $140 bil.lion pension fund to which they owe money."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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The 4 Critical Elements of a Successful 401(k) Plan Education Program
"Being able to speak to different styles and values in one program represents the greatest impediment to success for any 401(k) plan education program. While education might best be left to professional teachers, 401(k) plan sponsors might not find that a viable option. The four key elements presented here offer a few simple steps every plan sponsor can easily afford to take."
(Fiduciary News)
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Retirement Plans: What to Look For in 2012
Analysis of the continued effect of low interest rates and market volatility on funding of defined benefit plans, and of cost and effect of new fee disclosure requirements that will become effective for defined contribution plans.
(Milliman)
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2012's Top 12 Advocacy Issues for Financial Executives
Priorities include: Alleviate uncertainty in the U.S. Tax Code for private companies.; enact corporate tax reform that lowers the statutory corporate income tax rate; achieve pension funding stabilization and avoid significant PBGC premium increases; and preserve tax treatment of employer-provided retirement plans.
(Financial Executives International)
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Do Financial Planners Advise Us to Save Too Much for Retirement? (PDF)
"There is abundant advice about how much to save, much of which urges individuals to aim to replace 80 percent of their preretirement pretax income. However, those who wait to save for retirement and follow this rule of thumb would save far too much of their gross income, and many would see their annual resources spike upward when they retire."
(Urban Institute)
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Here's What's Happening with Normal Retirement Age Regs
"As things currently stand, in just over 10 months, governmental pension plans will be required to comply with regulations issued in final form by the [IRS] in 2007 dealing with distributions from a pension plan upon attainment of normal retirement age. The IRS and Treasury have stated for the last several years that they would address serious public plan concerns with these regulations as they relate to the use of service as a component in determining the earliest age or date when a participant can retire with an unreduced benefit."
(National Council on Teacher Retirement)
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IRS Interim Report on 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire
"Because 401(k) plans represent the 'fastest growing' type of retirement plan, they have become a key focus of the IRS's retirement plan compliance efforts. The questionnaire was designed to help the IRS measure the overall compliance levels of 401(k) plans and determine how best to allocate resources to foster greater compliance. [O]ne of the results of the questionnaire would appear to be the IRS's increased focus on pre-approved plan sponsors ... and providers[.]"
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
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Updated PBGC 2010 Pension Insurance Data Tables Now Available Online
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has released in electronic form its 2010 pension insurance data tables, the core of the PBGC Pension Insurance Data Book. The data tables provide researchers, journalists and others interested in the federal pension insurance program easily accessible, detailed statistics for the single-employer and multiemployer plans that PBGC insures. The tables are available both as a PDF and in an Excel format that allows users to examine and sort the data.
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
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[Opinion]
New York Governor's Pension Proposal Looks Good
"The governor estimates that over the next 30 years, the pension fix, which has the support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and many other mayors, could save $30 bil.lion for New York City and $83 bil.lion for other state and local workers. Despite predictably strong opposition from unions and some of Mr. Cuomo's fellow Democrats, it is a generally sound approach."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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[Opinion]
California Bill Gives K-14 Educators a Second Chance at 403(b) Reform
"On February 23, 2012, [an assemblyman] introduced [a bill] that would permit competitive bidding in K-14 California 403(b) plans. The bill would 'authorize a school district, a county office of education, or a charter school to select 4 or more vendors[.]'"
(403bwise)
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[Opinion]
Response to DOL Definition of Fiduciary IRA Data Request (PDF)
"The data request suggests that the Department could draw conclusions — sufficiently reliable to base an enormously consequential regulation like the ERISA fiduciary definition — about the 'impact, if any, of conflicts of interests faced by brokers or other[s] who advise IRAs ... on IRA investors' from investment returns or trading histories in IRA accounts, analyzed against a (unavoidably, select and less than comprehensive) range of variables. [FSI] respectfully [disagrees.]"
(Financial Services Institute)
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[Opinion]
At the Intersection of Insurance and Plan Fiduciaries
"In ... Federal Insurance Company v. IBM, the Court [of Appeals of New York] denied insurance coverage for IBM under an excess fiduciary liability (apparently) policy, for a settlement by IBM of a claim that amendments to benefit plans in the 1990s violated ERISA. The Court ... found that the claim did not invoke IBM's status as a fiduciary under ERISA, essentially because it involved settlor, rather than fiduciary, functions ... [and concluded] that policy language that applied to claims against a fiduciary involving ERISA meant claims where the insured qualified as a fiduciary under that statute, and did not, contrary to IBM's arguments, involve any broader meaning of the word fiduciary."
(Boston ERISA & Insurance Litigation Blog)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Press Releases
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