|
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter
|
|
|
|
401(k) Investment Lineup Summit [Advert.]
Ensure your 401(k) plan can adapt to changing economic & financial currents and participants can reach their goals. Practical 1 day seminars - SF 4/17, Dallas 4/19, Chicago 4/24, NY 4/26. FREE registration for qualified plan sponsors. More info.
|
[Guidance Overview]
3rd Circuit Rejects ERISA Benefits for Siemens Plaintiffs
"The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a class action brought against electronics giant Siemens by 277 plaintiffs who said they were entitled to pension benefits if their employment ended.... All of the plaintiffs worked for Westinghouse before Siemens acquired a unit of the plaintiffs' old company, according to the opinion, and the benefits under the Westinghouse plan would not accrue if the employees got employment with Westinghouse's successor or if their employment ended after 1998[.]"
(The Legal Intelligencer)
|
|
Plan Sponsors Take Charge of Target-Date Funds
"Custom target-date funds are proliferating at the expense of their off-the-shelf counterparts, in part because plan sponsors want to have greater control over what's in a fund and have access to a wider array of investments to put in them."
(Employee Benefit News)
|
ERISA Lawyers: The Exceptionally Attorney-Client 'Privileged' Few
"The rationale of the Riggs decision has been held applicable in the ERISA litigation context. ... When an ERISA fiduciary seeks legal advice, she typically does so in carrying out her duties as a fiduciary, and thus is seeking legal advice on behalf of the plan participants and their beneficiaries. Thus, the fiduciary exception applies in such circumstances and allows a litigating participant to obtain the substance of such communications between a fiduciary and an attorney because the attorney-client and attorney work-product privileges are outweighed by the need of the plan participants and beneficiaries to have the otherwise protected information."
(Fox Rothschild LLP)
|
Web Based Plan Design System. Simple and Affordable. [Advert.]
Use LIMITED CENSUS DATA and a FIVE MINUTE UPLOAD to create a side-by-side analysis of various retirement plans: Integrated, Age Weighted, New Comparability, Cash Balance, and 401k. At a glance, assess financial and tax advantages and identify an optimal solution. Learn more.
|
|
American Airlines Pension Battle Might Spread
"[American Airlines'] story puts a spotlight on broader questions about the future of traditional pensions. These include whether corporations should be able to use bankrup.tcy court to shed pensions; how to balance the stresses businesses face in tough times against their retirement promises to workers; and the future health of the PBGC itself, which faces a record $26 bil.lion long-range deficit accrued from pension failures over the extended recession."
(Reuters)
|
New 401(k) Disclosure Rules Help Financial Advisors
"Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis recently said, 'When businesses that sponsor retirement plans, and the workers who participate in those plans, get better information on associated fees and expenses, they'll be able to shop around and make informed decisions that will lead to cost savings and a larger nest egg at retirement.' You can help your clients by leading the effort to shop their plan for them."
(Financial Advisor)
|
The Last 401(k) Generation?
"Last week many of the nation's biggest thinkers on retirement got together in a Senate hearing room to discuss the future of pensions and retirement. There were representatives of unions, employers, financial services providers, government agencies and consumer groups. And the only thing they all seemed to agree on was this: The 401(k) plan has been sort of a failure."
(Reuters)
|
Coalition of Local Leaders Backs Cuomo Pension Plan
"[New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg and a coalition of two dozen local leaders, who collectively represent 15 mil.lion residents, are pushing legislators to support a plan proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The governor wants to raise the retirement age to 65 from 62 for most new workers and allow for a voluntary 401(k)-type retirement plan."
(Bloomberg)
|
The Most Compelling Challenges in 401(k) Education
"Even if the plan sponsor finds the perfect teacher, a 401k education program can fall victim to common misconceptions employees have about their 401k plan ... Worse, [one expert] points out, these misconceptions can infect even the highest levels of the company [and most commonly] include 'their responsibilities as a sponsor, as fiduciaries, embedded costs, their potential liabilities, committee expectations, focus of DOL audits and how much more education participants need.'"
(Fiduciary News)
|
|
Recent DOL Initiatives: Questions Answered
"Questions from a webinar titled 'Managing and Protecting Your Employee Benefit Plans: New [DOL] Initiatives', answered by Sherwin Kaplan, former co-chair of the Bloomberg BNA Pension & Benefits Publications Advisory Board."
(Bloomberg BNA)
|
Trends in Employee Financial Issues: Year in Review 2011
"Employees continued to show improvements in their ability to manage cash flow, indicated they are paying bills on time in greater numbers, reported increased emergency savings, and are also displaying higher rates of paying off credit card balances in full. As a result of improvements in managing day-to-day finances, employees have been able to shift their focus to longer term financial planning issues such as retirement planning."
(Financial Finesse)
|
2012 U.S. Pension Risk Behavior Index Survey (PDF)
"Over the past four years, ... plan sponsors [have shifted] away from an asset- and returns-centric approach to managing their plans toward a more balanced mindset ... [They] no longer believe they can rely on traditional portfolio diversification alone to
meet their future obligations."
(MetLife)
|
Pension Fund Executives Most Concerned about Liabilities
"Underfunded liabilities are again the most important risk factor facing U.S. corporate defined benefit plans, according to the 2012 MetLife U.S. Pension Risk Behavior Index survey. Underfunding of liabilities was selected as the most important of 18 different pension fund risk factors 66% of the time. That number remained unchanged from last year."
(Pensions & Investments; free registration required)
|
Scandals Spur Action on Public Pension Forfeitures
"23 states have some kind of pension forfeiture provision related to committed crimes, while 27 states plus the District of Columbia do not.... Some require forfeiture for felonies; others open it to misdemeanors as well. In some ... specific crimes are listed for which a public employee can lose his or her pension. But in others, the state law stipulates more generally that pensions can be revoked for any crimes related to official duties."
(Governing)
|
|
Press Releases
|
|
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
Phone (407) 644-4146
Fax (407) 644-2151
Jeanette Hull, News Editor
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Lois Baker, J.D., President
Holly Horton, Business Manager
Copyright © 2012 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
All materials contained in this newsletter are
protected by United States copyright law and may not be
reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed,
published or broadcast without the prior written
permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of
third party materials, the owner of that content. You
may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or
other notice from copies of the content.
Links to Web sites other than those owned by
BenefitsLink.com, Inc. are offered as a service to
readers. The editorial staff of BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
was not involved in their production and is not
responsible for their content.
More useful links:
|
|