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March 15, 2012 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Manager - Compliance and Retirement Plan Administration
for Verisight, Inc in IA

Plan Administrator
for Nationwide Insurance in OH

Director, Defined Contribution Product Development
for Prudential in NJ

Client Relations & Employee Education Specialist
for Gordon Asset Management, LLC in NC

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[Official Guidance]
PBGC Interest Rate Assumptions for Terminating Single-Employer Plans (April 2012)
This final rule ... prescribe[s] interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation for valuation dates in April 2012 and interest assumptions under the asset allocation regulation for valuation dates in the second quarter of 2012. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


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[Guidance Overview]
A Checklist for Participant Fee Disclosures Effective in 2012
"It is likely that the plan recordkeeper will produce all of the required information listed [and described in this article]. The final rule protects sponsors from fiduciary liability created in the issuance of inaccurate or incomplete information by third-party providers. However, it is the plan sponsor's responsibility to ensure that the information is distributed to plan participants in a timely manner." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Fiduciary Investigator Edward Seidle Takes Issue with Audits Clearing Kentucky Retirement System of Pay-to-Play Abuses
"Kentucky Retirement Systems ... forwarded to the SEC a document from the attorney for [a board trustee] that criticized placement agent audits performed internally by KRS and by the state's auditor of public accounts, according a news release issued by the $13.3 bil.lion retirement system. The SEC is conducting an informal inquiry into use of placement agents by the retirement system from 2004 to 2009." (Pensions & Investments)

The Real Cost of Broker Advice
"Of course, the devil is in the details. How do you project future costs of a uniform fiduciary standard for brokers and investment advisors where there is little in the way of empirical data?" (fi360 Blog)

Michigan Provides Guidance Regarding Personal Income Withholding Tax Requirement for Pensions
"Effective January 1, 2012, the Michigan tax treatment of pension and retirement benefits changed.... Under state law, pension and retirement benefits include most payments reported on Form 1099-R for federal income tax purposes....Pension administrators are required to withhold if the pension administrator is subject to Michigan's taxing jurisdiction." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)


IRS Phone Forum Is Mar. 30 (Preregistration Required); EP Determination Letter Program Update   

Sponsored by Internal Revenue Service

Important changes to the Employee Plans determination letter will be discussed by Donald Kieffer, Area Manager in the IRS Employee Plans determination letter program, along with IRS staff member Andrew Fedders. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions in advance.


Video: 'Re-Imagining Pensions' Conference
"[The video presents] options for allowing workers to purchase annuities within Social Security, as well as granting partial benefits to accommodate phased retirement. While such options technically exist today, they are buried deep within the maze of Social Security's complex provisions. Simplifying and clarifying these options would enable workers to provide themselves with a greater degree of inflation-protected longevity insurance in retirement." (Urban Institute)

DOL Sues Trustees of Labor Union Retirement and Benefit Plans to Undo Alleged Prohibited Transactions; Wants Accounting for Allegedly Misused Funds
"The suit alleges that the defendants violated their fiduciary duties as trustees by engaging in a series of prohibited financial transactions between 2006 and the present. These include the improper transfer of more than $2.9 mil.lion in assets from Local 829's pension plan to the union and its annuity, vacation and hiring hall funds, as well as the improper transfer of at least $240,000 from the pension plan and annuity fund to service providers." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Analysis by Fidelity of Investors Who Save in Both 401(k)s and IRAs
"The findings show a combined average balance of $212,600. Investors on the verge of or in retirement — between 65 and 69 — have a combined average balance of $359,000. The analysis also highlights the sharp increase in the number of Americans seeking guidance as they work to achieve their saving and investing goals." (Fidelity Investments)

Americans Value Retirement Plan Tax Incentives
"As U.S. policymakers consider tax policy and how to resolve federal budget deficits, a recent Investment Company Institute (ICI) survey reveals how Americans feel about the tax incentives defined contribution (DC) plans offer and whether retirement saving incentives should be a national priority. The message from U.S. households: Leave our 401(k) plans alone!" (Vanguard)

One in Four 401(k) Participants Invests Solely in Target Date Funds
"Nearly a quarter of 401(k) participants invest solely in target-date funds — a six-fold increase over the past five years, according to new Vanguard research. Adoption among new participants is considerably higher, with 64 percent of employees entering their plan for the first time investing in a single target-date fund." (LifeHealth PRO)

CalPERS Cuts Assumed Rate of Return to 7.5%
"But the risks of stagflation (low growth, high inflation) are rising. Interestingly, the panel adopted the recommendation from CalPERS' chief actuary to adjust its long-term, assumed inflation rate to 2.75% from 3%. If stagflation takes hold, they'll have to adjust it once again." (Pension Pulse)

CalPERS OKs Reduction in Investment Forecast
"CalPERS gave final approval [on Wed. Mar. 14] to a quarter-point reduction in its investment forecast, but will look at softening the fiscal impact on government budgets. The lowered forecast will cost the state an extra $167 mil.lion a year, and will also raise costs for the school districts and municipalities that belong to the California Public Employees' Retirement System." (The Sacramento Bee)

CalPERS 'Smoothing' Eases Employer Rate Shock
"CalPERS is planning a two-year phase in of a rate increase resulting from a lower earnings forecast adopted [March 14, 2012], continuing a 'smoothing' policy that softens the impact of rising pension costs on deficit-ridden state and local government budgets." (Calpensions)

Senate Passes Pension Funding Relief in Highway Bill
"The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved allowing corporate defined benefit pension plans to base their contribution calculations on interest rates over a 25-year average rather than current interest rates, which have sent contribution payments soaring." (Pensions & Investments)

Enrolled Actuaries Report, Winter 2011 (PDF)
This edition includes the following: GASB Unveils Preliminary Views on Financial Projections; Research Projects Private Pension Funding Costs; Updated Social Security and IRS Amounts for 2012; Is 411(d)(6) Dead? and Recent Developments for Hybrid Plans. (American Academy of Actuaries)

[Opinion]
Statement of ICI Executive Committee on Money Market Fund Regulation
"The SEC has indicated that it is now considering fundamental changes to money market fund regulation. It appears that these changes either would require money market funds to abandon their stable per-share net asset value or would impose capital requirements and restrict redemptions. We are concerned that these changes will eliminate the utility of money market funds for most investors. As a result, these funds no longer would serve, as they do today, as a critical source of financing for businesses, banks, state and local governments, and the federal government." (Investment Company Institute)

[Opinion]
The Latest on American Airlines
"While freezing a pension plan is rarely a good thing for employees, certainly it is better than terminating a plan. With a freeze, at least the workers and retirees will get all of the benefits that they have earned up to the date of the freeze." (Pension Rights Center)

[Opinion]
Don't Ignore Retirement Insecurity
"In a recent survey, 83 percent of people said they're concerned. A 2011 Gallup survey found that more people were worried about retirement than health care costs or monthly bills. A century ago, to be old was to be poor. Thanks to Social Security, Medicare — and pensions — today's seniors are more secure. But tomorrow's seniors are worried, for good reason." (PBGC Director Josh Gotbaum, in Newsday)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

CEO Pay Characteristics Relative to Shareholder Dissent (PDF)
"With the advent of 'say on pay' in the U.S. last year, much focus has been placed on the role of total shareholder return (TSR) in determining shareholder support or opposition to the non-binding management resolution. Yet, while TSR is widely seen as the most critical driver of votes, CEO pay magnitude also plays role, as evidenced by [an] analysis of voting data for 2011." (ISS Corporate Services)

2012 Top Five Total Rewards Priorities Survey (PDF)
"This year's survey showed a dramatic shift in focus as employers pointed to concerns about talent. When asked to identify the most significant challenge facing their organization over the next three years, employers identified the shortage, motivation and retention of talent." (Deloitte/ISCEBS)

Press Releases



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