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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter
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[Guidance Overview]
A Solid, Pro-Defense Ruling on ERISA from the Ninth Circuit
"Skinner is an important decision for ERISA litigators because it is one of the first and most comprehensive appellate court discussions of equitable remedies after Amara. It also suggests that many of these remedies are fundamentally incompatible with the facts of many ERISA cases."
(Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
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Re-Imagining Pensions: Using Innovative Pension Plan Design to Reduce Risk and Increase Retirement Income
Includes links to videos of all presentations. "Covington & Burling, the Pension Rights Center, and the Urban Institute sponsored a conference on February 22, 2012, to discuss new pension plan designs to improve retirement security [which featured] three panel discussions ...: risk-sharing, coverage and adequacy, and annuitization. Panelists included Phyllis Borzi of the Labor Department, Mark Iwry of the Treasury Department, Josh Gotbaum of the PBGC, and experts from government, the business community, labor groups, academia, and advocacy organizations."
(Pension Rights Center)
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Latest Municipal and State Pension Data Show Crash Continues
"Anyone who thinks 2011 was just a transient bad bounce in a slow recovery from the Great Recession should consider the fact that according to calculations from a more comprehensive prior Census survey of 2,550 state and municipal pension plans through June 30, 2008 — prior to the market crash — funds already had lost $179 bil.lion."
(WatchDog.org)
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The Evolution of Company Stock in Defined Contribution Plans
"Since 2005, the incidence of company stock in DC plans has declined. Employer-directed contributions remain the dominant factor associated with participants holding a concentrated position in company stock. Participants in plans that direct employer matching contributions to company stock are more than twice as likely to hold a concentrated position (defined as more than 20% invested in employer stock) than plans without employer-directed holdings."
(Vanguard)
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Understanding and Managing the Risks of Retirement (PDF)
"[Survey respondents' preponderant concerns were] related to keeping the value of investments up with inflation, income varying as a result of changes in interest rates, the affordability of health care and long-term care, outliving assets, and maintaining a reasonable standard of living.... This report provides an overview of these post-retirement risks, how they are perceived, and ways Americans use to protect against them. It presents key findings on the major retirement risks explored in the 2011 survey and provides context for the results in relation to other studies."
(Society of Actuaries)
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Are You Counting on Social Security?
"Here are some things [for federal workers and the rest of us] that are important to understand about Social Security to have a realistic view of the role it will play in your retirement[.]"
(Government Executive)
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EBSA Web Page for Employers: Understanding Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses
"This booklet will help you better understand and evaluate your plan's fees and expenses. While the focus is on fees and expenses involved with 401(k) plans, many of the principles discussed in the booklet also will have application to all types of retirement plans."
(Employee Benefits Security Administration)
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Complementary Paths to Retirement: How Men and Women Can Learn from One Another (PDF)
"[W]omen are more likely to enjoy retirement and feel more excited and enthusiastic about their retirement journey. They also seem to have adapted the necessary skill set to help them cope with the transition to this important milestone. Yet for women, there are also additional challenges in preparing for retirement as a result of their lower earnings, caregiving responsibilities and relative longevity."
(BMO Retirement Institute)
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[Opinion]
The SPARK Institute Requests Transition Relief in Connection with Anticipated Fee Disclosure FAQs (PDF)
"The SPARK Institute appreciates the DOL's willingness to clarify issues concerning the disclosure regulations that have been raised by service providers, trade groups, participant groups, and plan sponsors. However, as explained in this letter, because the regulations are effective July 1, 2012 and August 30, 2012 (for calendar year plans), if the DOL interprets the disclosure regulations in a manner that is inconsistent with service providers' interpretations and already programmed disclosure solutions, service providers will need additional time to adjust their compliance approaches."
(The SPARK Institute)
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[Opinion]
New JOBS Act Will Revolutionize Retirement
"The recently passed JOBS Act may go down as one of history's most revolutionary pieces of legislation, relative to the future of planning and investing for retirement. The bill is designed to make it easier for small business to access investment capital and, by doing so, will create a new, Crowd-funding asset class as well as bring self-directed IRA's out of the shadows and into the spotlight."
(Forbes)
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[Opinion]
ACLI Statement for Senate Committee Hearing on Retirement (In)security: Examining the Retirement Savings Deficit (PDF)
Submitted to Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy for March 28, 2012, hearing. "ACLI urges this Committee to look at other proposals that would expand retirement savings opportunities. The ACLI supports reforms to and expansion of the private multiple employer plan (MEP) system to further encourage and facilitate participation by employers that are not prepared to sponsor a stand-alone retirement plan."
(American Council of Life Insurers)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Guidance Overview]
New Foreign Financial Asset Reporting Requirement with Deadline of April 17, 2012
"The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires certain U.S. taxpayers holding foreign financial assets, including an interest under a foreign pension or deferred compensation plan and foreign equity awards, to report those interests beginning with this tax filing season. Taxpayers who fail to meet their obligation to file Form 8938 are subject to significant penalties.... Note that FATCA reporting requirements are separate from FBAR reporting of foreign financial accounts[.]"
(McDermott)
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[Guidance Overview]
Presentation on Code Section 409A: Revisiting the Basics (PDF)
Topics discussed included: Arrangements subject to, and excluded from, Section 409A requirements; Section 409A election timing rules; Section 409A payment restrictions and related exceptions; A brief summary of available relief for Section 409A compliance errors.
(Morgan Lewis)
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Press Releases
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