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March 9, 2012 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Plan Administrator
for Noble-Davis Consulting, Inc. in OH

Retirement Planning Officer
for First Merchants Bank in IN

Actuarial Consultant
for DCS Retirement Group, Inc. in GA

Actuarial Analyst
for DCS Retirement Group, Inc. in GA

Lead Legal Analyst - ERISA
for T. Rowe Price in MD

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Webcasts and Conferences

Worker Classification: When an Independent Contractor is Really an Employee
Nationwide on April 3, 2012 presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits

The 22nd Annual National Institute on ERISA Litigation
in District of Columbia on June 7, 2012 presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits

Cash Balance Summit 2012
in Louisiana on March 17, 2012 presented by Payden/Kravitz


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[Guidance Overview]
Court Dismisses Claims of Improper Investment Selection
"[The New York District Court Judge] noted that decisions in which courts have allowed allegations of imprudence to go forward rested on allegations that the defendants selected certain funds out of self-interest or demonstrated clear incompetence." (PLANADVISER.com)


401(k) Investment Lineup Summit   [Advert.]

Sponsored by Pensions & Investments

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]
Late 2011 IRS Guidance Affects Filing Process for Qualified Plans
This article addresses Announcement 2011-82, Rev. Proc. 2012-6 and Notice 2011-97, as they apply to individually designed plans and pre-approved plans. (Groom Law Group)

Wal-Mart and Merrill Lynch to Pay $13.5 mln to Settle Claims of Excessive 401(k) Fees
"Wal-Mart was accused in the suit of failing to offer retirement plans that limit the amount of fees and expenses that are charged when employees make investments." (Bloomberg)

Americans Contributing Record Low Amounts to IRAs
"The study [by Investment Company Research] shows an alarming and continued drop in adoption of Individual Retirement Accounts as an investment vehicle.... [The] number of middle-class Americans who contributed to any form of retirement account for the 2010 tax year dropped to [an] astonishing low of 15% - a number never before seen since IRAs were first introduced." (Greene IRA Success)

GAO Testimony Before the Senate Special Committee on Aging
"About 42 mil.lion workers, or about one third of all private-sector employees, work for employers with less than 100 employees and recent federal data suggest many of these workers lack access to a work-based retirement plan to save for retirement. (Government Accountability Office)


Web Based Plan Design System. Simple and Affordable.   [Advert.]

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GAO Report on Private Pensions: Better Agency Coordination Could Help Small Employers Address Challenges to Plan Sponsorship
"Based on available data, about 14 percent of small employers sponsor some type of retirement plan.... Small employers and retirement experts identified several challenges to starting and maintaining retirement plans.... GAO recommends that Labor convene an interagency task force with Treasury, IRS, and SBA to coordinate existing research, education, and outreach efforts to foster small employer plan sponsorship. GAO also recommends that IRS consider modifying tax forms to gather complete, reliable information about SEP IRAs." (Government Accountability Office)

Video: Why It's Hard to Save
"Longtime Brookings economist and former presidential adviser Barry Bosworth examines why saving rates in the United States have fallen so precipitously over the past quarter century, why the initial consequences were surprisingly benign, and how reduced saving will affect the future well-being of Americans." (Brookings)

Participants Look to Plan Sponsors for Inflation Guidance
"[Two asset managers] discussed how inflation can diminish retirement savings and what plan sponsors can do to help their participants understand the importance of this.... 70% of plan participants are worried about inflation; however, 44% of participants have no idea what the current inflation rate is." (PLANADVISER.com)

Pool Multiple Employer Small Plans to Cover Retirement Savings Gap
"[A Prudential Retirement vice-president] maintains that permitting employers to integrate their resources into a single defined contribution plan would produce lower cost and simplified requirements making it easier for employers to contemplate offering retirement plans." (LifeHealthPro)

Investor Optimism Surges, Yet Majority Believes Retirement Future Is Out of Control
"Despite their optimism, a majority of investors, 58%, say they have 'little' to 'no' control over their ability to build retirement savings, down from 65% six months ago." (Employee Benefit News)

The Problem with Target-Date Fund Glide Paths
"The attack on target-date funds (TDFs) continues to gain steam, and for good reason. Virtually all TDFs offer a mechanical approach to glide-path management, unnecessarily exposing investors to risk — most noticeably when they are on the verge of retirement. A superior approach would keep the long- and short-term volatility of an investor's portfolio within appropriate ranges by actively managing the glide path." (Advisor Perspectives)

Mississippi Bills Strike Certain Benefits from Public Employee Retirement System's Salary Calculations
"A House bill ... and Senate companion bill ... would remove 'maintenance' benefits such as medical and life insurance coverage from salary calculations for retirement benefit levels. The bills also would limit the amount of a pay increase used in retirement benefit calculations to 8 percent if the raise came within 24 months of the employee's retirement. An exception would be granted if the raise came because of a substantial chance in the employee's job duties." (Mississippi Business Journal)

Maryland Pension Shift Plan Gaining Traction
"Maryland delegates haven't been willing to shift more of the cost of teacher pensions onto local jurisdictions in past years, but as the debate over the fiscal 2013 budget intensifies, the proposal is gaining traction in the House, officials say." (Gazette.Net)

Senate Approves Retirement-Work Hybrid for Feds
"Many federal employees are nearing retirement, so part-time work could pad federal agencies' coffers if they did not have to replace these employees entirely. Under the proposal, part-time employees would receive partial annuities and could earn additional retirement benefits proportional to the amount of time they work. Older employees also would be required to mentor younger new hires and help preserve agency knowledge." (National Journal)

Cities in New York State Borrow from Pension Funds to Make Payments Into Pension Funds
"Across New York, state and local governments are borrowing $750 mil.lion this year to finance their contributions to the state pension system, and are likely to borrow at least $1 bil.lion more over the next year. The number of municipalities and public institutions using this new borrowing mechanism to pay off their annual pension bills has tripled in a year." (Union Watch)

Should State Government Offer a Retirement Plan for Private Citizens?
"State government should offer a retirement plan to the increasing number of people whose companies don't provide a pension or a 401(k) savings program, labor groups and other advocates this week told a [Connecticut] legislative panel." (The Connecticut Mirror)

Pensions: $1 Tril.lion Economic Impact
"Pensions do more than protect older Americans after they retire; they have a distinct and significant impact on the U.S economy and play a role in job creation, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. The organization released a report in March that provides a look at defined-benefit plans' impact on the economy." (AdvisorOne)

Learn a Lot More About Your 401(k) Fees
"Experts believe that by disclosing the fee structure, more companies will include more passively managed funds that tend to be much lower in fees than actively managed funds, which employ investors who try to beat the overall market yet show only marginal success over the long term." (San Francisco Chronicle)

IRS Initiates Focused Audit Program of Safe Harbor 401(k) Plans
"The project was announced by Marcia Templeman, IRS director of employee plans examinations, on March 1 and will primarily look at whether safe harbor 401(k) plan sponsors have been making required plan contributions and satisfied the safe harbor nondiscrimination requirements." (Eisner Amper)

ERISA Traps Related to 'Retail' Annuities Purchased by 401(k) Plans
"Annuities which are designed to be purchased by individuals outside of qualified plans, or are designed for IRAs, may actually cause a number of difficulties for the 401(k) plan. They really should only be used in small, specialized arrangements where the plan sponsors are cognizant of the special challenges presented by these products." (Business of Benefits)

Best Date to Retire Tips for Federal Workers
"The retirement date is a significant date for every federal employee — both emotionally and financially. Here are some general guidelines for picking the right one." (Government Executive)

A Decision Framework for Optimizing the Social Security Claiming Age (PDF)
"The age at which an individual chooses to start Social Security retirement benefits can be arguably the most significant factor in his or her ability to maintain financial security throughout retirement. [S]ome ... believe the client should maximize years of payments from Social Security, whereas others focus exclusively on a present-value break-even age, or money's worth, analysis.... [T]he authors ... propose ... a comprehensive decision model that accounts for the net present value, longevity risk and Social Security legal strategies in properly framing the solution." (ISCEBS Benefits Quarterly)

[Opinion]
The Social Security Debate and American Democracy
"For the next 25 years, Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance ... trust funds are 100% solvent, and beyond that window, 90% solvent for two more decades. But to many people on both sides of the aisle, actuarial realities do not matter: policymakers on the left and right discuss the need to 'fix' Social Security and some commentators are quick to brand any talk about the solid finances of Social Security as demagoguery." (National Academy of Social Insurance)

[Opinion]
Statement to House Ways and Means Committee on Treatment of Closely-Held Businesses in the Context of Tax Reform (PDF)
"[The Association expresses its] strong support for [H.R. 1244], which is primarily focused on increasing employee stock ownership among S corporations by expanding the attractiveness of the ESOP to men and women who have reached a point in life when they have to 'exit' their ownership of an S corporation" (The ESOP Association)

[Opinion]
The Perilous State of Pensions
"[T]he real estate pension management business faces even greater challenges - the looming demise of traditional defined benefit plans. The whole post-World War II pension model looks as unsustainable as the government's Social Security and Medicare programs. They all worked great when you had many more people who were working than a much smaller group of current beneficiaries. Companies and local governments could keep up by putting aside money and investing it to meet reasonable liabilities But now that the baby boomer generation heads into retirement, the whole pension system slowly becomes overwhelmed and untenable." (GlobeSt.com)

[Opinion]
Structural Factors of the Municipal Pension Crisis
"Public employee pensions are sinking local governments. Over the last four years, they have even pushed some municipalities into bankrup.tcy ... While distressing, this shouldn't be surprising, since many of the causes for the pension crisis are structural." (OpenMarket)

[Opinion]
Pension Reform: Stop Billing the Grandkids
"Intergenerational equity is the maxim that today's taxpayers should pay for today's services, so (1) we don't pay for current operations with long-term bonds, (2) debt repayments such as school building bonds and highway bonds are aligned chronologically with the benefits derived from the users, and (3) pension funds and other deferred benefits (such as OPEB) are actuarially funded rather than pay-as-you-go. In short, one generation should not burden the next generation for the public services it receives today." (Governing)

[Opinion]
Opportunities for Savings: Removing Obstacles for Small Businesses (PDF)
Statement of American Council of Life Insurers before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Includes a set of principles developed by ACLI for encouraging increased retirement plan coverage and retirement security. (American Council of Life Insurers)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Executive Pay Programs Stabilize, Reflecting Best Practices
"While the majority of companies reported making changes to plan performance measures in 2011, most companies are stabilizing their annual and long-term incentive programs despite renewed market volatility in the latter part of 2011." (Society for Human Resource Management)

National Consumer Protection Week: Securing Your Health and Retirement Benefits
"[The week is a] coordinated campaign among federal and state government agencies and non-profit groups that encourages consumers nationwide to take full advantage of their consumer rights and make better-informed decisions. When most people think of the [DOL], they don't think consumer protection. But it's [EBSA's] job to ensure that workers, as consumers of investment products and health insurance coverage provided by their employers, know their rights and receive the benefits they pay for." (U.S. Department of Labor)

Press Releases



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