Retirement Plan Relationship Manager
for Trust Company of Illinois in IL

Onsite Participant Counselor
for Diversified in TX

Benefit Calculation Reviewer on Defined Benefit Pension Plans
for The Angell Pension Group, Inc. in ANY STATE

Onsite Participant Counselor
for Diversified in IL

Retirement Sales Support Associate
for ExpertPlan, Inc. in NJ

National Sales Leader - Emerging Markets/West
for MassMutual Financial Group in AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY

Retirement Plan Sales Specialist - Internal Wholesaler
for ExpertPlan, Inc. in NJ

Director, Customer Annuity Product Retirement Plan Admin
for American Fidelity Assurance in OK

Plan Administrative Assistant
for CBIZ Actuarial, Inc. in CO

Benefit Analyst
for The Fedeli Group in OH

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"Compensation: Plan Design and Correction of Errors" Web Seminar
Nationwide on April 24, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

FTI Consulting ERISA Litigation and Compliance Breakfast Series 2012
Nationwide on April 18, 2012 presented by FTI Consulting

Adapting and Complying in the New 403(b) Environment Webcast
Nationwide on April 12, 2012 presented by NAGDCA (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc.)

Change in Social Security Offset Wasn't a Cutback, 11th Circuit Rules
"A pension plan sponsor didn't impermissibly reduce benefits when it changed the plan's Social Security offset for employees attaining age 52 .... Originally, the plan applied one offset for employees who left before age 52 and a lower offset (producing a higher benefit) for employees terminating after age 51. The employer amended the plan to eliminate the lower offset, but only for employees who hadn't yet reached age 52. The amendment didn't reduce accrued benefits, the court said, because the affected employees 'had at most an expectation of a future accrual.'" (Mercer)

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business - ftwilliam.com Plan Document Software   [Advert.]

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Videos on Retirement Security, as Recommended by the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans
"The current legislative and financial climate has generated unprecedented levels of concern about the future of retirement and financial security amongst all Foundation members. It stems from a confluence of events that include the country's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the changing role of the employer in the provision of retirement benefits, expanded accounting and regulatory disclosures and liabilities and the ever-increasing costs of health care." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Defined Benefit Plan Funding: A Downloadable Excel Spreadsheet for What-If Scenarios
"Because this model has distilled the mechanics of a pension fund to a single page of data and calculations, it offers a glimpse of how pensions operate that is relatively understandable and extremely transparent. This model is not intended in any way to replace the far more complex models used by actuaries, but it can be quite useful to illustrate, for example, how very sensitive the required annual contribution to a pension is to any change in other assumptions — especially the rate of return." (Union Watch, a project of the California Public Policy Center)

Downturn Leads to Rise in Costly 401(k) Loans by Minorities
"While millions of workers used money from their retirement savings to pay expenses during the Great Recession, African Americans and Hispanics dipped into their 401(k) plans at a much higher rate." (USA TODAY)

Four Easy Steps 401(k) Plan Sponsors Can Take to Insure a Well-Documented Investment Due Diligence Process
"What the DOL desires, quite simply, is to see a clearly articulated process that the 401k plan sponsor faithfully implements and executes continuously. The DOL doesn't want to get in the middle of the active vs. passive debate or the value vs. growth argument. As long as 401k plan sponsors act consistently to an established due diligence process, they have fulfilled at least this portion of their fiduciary duty." (Fiduciary News)

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.

Funded Status of U.S. Pensions Rises More than Three Percentage Points in March 2012
"The best quarter for U.S. equity markets in a decade helped to drive the funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in March 3.6 percentage points higher to 79.8 percent, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management. U.S. stocks have now risen for six consecutive months." (BNY Mellon)

Defining an Advisor's 'Fiduciary' Status: Legal, Behavorial and Principles Standpoints
"What does it mean when financial advisors say they are serving in a fiduciary capacity? Can they say they are fiduciaries even if they don't acknowledge it in writing? How similar are the best practices associated with a suitability standard to those of a fiduciary standard? Can an advisor who is subject to a suitability standard still offer clients a fiduciary standard of care?" (Financial Advisor)

The Anatomy of the Boomer Retirement Market
"Beginning in 2010, the first group of boomers reached retirement age. It is now time to properly characterize this generation of Americans born between 1945 and 1964 so that advisors can truly appreciate the colossal nature of the task at hand." (Financial Advisor)

The Role of REITs and Listed Real Estate Equities in Target Date Fund Asset Allocations (PDF)
"[W]e demonstrate that an allocation to U.S. or global listed REITs and real estate equities increases the expected long-term investment performance and diversification benefits of a retirement savings and investment portfolio, and in particular, a target date investment portfolio." (Wilshire)

Retirement Assets Total $17.9 Tril.lion in Fourth Quarter 2011
"Total U.S. retirement assets were ... up 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 and about unchanged for the year. Retirement savings accounted for 36 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of 2011." (Investment Company Institute)

Defined Contribution Plan Participants' Activities, 2011 (PDF)
"The small share of participants that stopped making contributions in 2011 was slightly higher than the share that stopped contributing in 2010. In 2011, 2.7 percent of DC plan participants stopped contributing, compared with 2.4 percent during 2010." (Investment Company Institute)

Should Households Base Asset Decumulation Strategies on Required Minimum Distribution Tables? (PDF)
"Households managing wealth decumulation in retirement must trade off the risk of outliving their wealth against the cost of unnecessarily restricting their consumption. Devising an optimal decumulation plan, reflecting uncertain mortality and asset returns, is well beyond the abilities of most households, who likely rely on rules of thumb. Using numerical optimization, we compare one such rule of thumb — consuming the age-related percentage of remaining wealth specified in the IRS Required Minimum Distribution ... tables — with alternatives and with the theoretical optimal." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

IRS Ruling on 401(k) Deferred Annuities Balances Spousal Rights and Employer Burdens
"Employers may immediately rely on Rev. Rul. 2012-3, which is part of a broader effort to encourage lifetime retirement income options. The conclusions reached about different annuity designs reflect regulators' efforts to preserve spousal rights without unduly burdening plan administrators." (Mercer)

ESOP Diversification (Part Four)
In the latest installment of her ESOP Operational Issues column on the NCEO Web site, Nancy Dittmer continues her discussion of ESOP diversification. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

Union Can Be Required to Indemnify Employer for Withdrawal Liability
"In Shelter Distribution Inc. v. General Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers Local Union No. 89, the [court] held that it is not a violation of public policy for a union to indemnify an employer through a provision in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for contingent withdrawal liability under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA) to a multiemployer pension plan covered under [ERISA]." (Practical Law Company)

New York Public Workers Rush to Join Pensions
"Unions acted rationally and were right to inform their members of changes to the legislation, prompting this surge in applications. It was a no-brainier for members to lock in pensions." (Pension Pulse)

Bipartisan JOBS Act Provides Significant Reforms to Public and Private Securities Offerings
"Some provisions, such as the IPO-related ones, are effective immediately upon signing into law, and some, such as the elimination of general solicitation in Rule 506 offerings, crowdfunding and the new small issue exemption, will require adoption of related SEC rules." (Faegre Baker Daniels)

Repercussions for Stock Plans in the JOBS Act
"The JOBS Act [Section 501] now greatly expands the exception for private companies and stock plan awards by amending [a section of the 1934 Act] to read as follows: (A) within 120 days after the last day of its first fiscal year ended on which the issuer has total assets exceeding $10,000,000 and a class of equity security (other than an exempted security) held of record by either — (i) 2,000 persons, or (ii) 500 persons who are not accredited investors (as such term is defined by the Commission)[.]" (Winston & Strawn LLP)

Congress Passes JOBS Act in Effort to Make Raising Capital Easier and Provides Exemption from Certain Financial Disclosure and Governance Requirements
"[An Emerging Growth Company] will not have to comply with the 'Say-On-Pay', 'Shareholder Approval of Golden Parachute Compensation' and 'Disclosure of Pay Versus Performance' provisions that were included as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; the SEC rules to implement the last listed provision have not been adopted. Furthermore, an EGC may elect smaller reporting company scaled back disclosure under Item 402 of Regulation S-K with respect to executive compensation disclosures." (Hinshaw)

Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act Exempts Emerging Growth Companies from Certain Compensation-Related Reporting Requirements
"The House of Representatives and the Senate each passed the [JOBS Act], which aims to facilitate business formation by reforming capital requirements for emerging growth companies. President Obama is expected to sign the JOBS Act on Thursday, April 5th." (Practical Law Company)

Senate Bill Introduced to Extend Variety of Federal Employee Benefits to Same-S.ex Partners
"Legislation that would allow a range of benefits for same-s.ex domestic partners of federal employees gained a boost last week with the announcement of 20 new Senate co-sponsors and the endorsement of 35 organizations.... In addition to health benefits, under the Lieberman/Collins Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, same-s.ex domestic partners of federal workers living together in a committed relationship could get retirement, family and medical leave and long-term care benefits." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Employees vs. Independent Contractors: A Benefits Perspective
"Employers and their advisors have used several techniques to limit the group of workers that are covered by benefit plans. Before the enactment of [ERISA], some employers divided their operations into multiple business entities with one business employing high-paid employees who earned generous benefits and another business employing rank-and-file employees who earned no or minimal benefits. This technique was limited by ERISA's controlled group rules, which resulted in the aggregation of employee groups for discrimination testing purposes." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Employee Ownership Update for April 2, 2012
NCEO Executive Director Loren Rodgers discusses new initiatives from the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, the Secretary of Labor's comments on re-proposing the DOL's fiduciary rule, UK proposals on options and employee ownership, Deloitte's global share plan survey, low awareness of company facts among U.S. workers, and new employee ownership fellowships at Rutgers. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

New 2012 Health Care Benefits Data: Nearly Half of All Employer Plans Have Zero In-Network Deductibles
(HighRoads, Inc.)

HealthPlan Holdings Appoints Stephen Saft as CFO, CAO
(HealthPlan Holdings, Inc.)

NovaSom, Inc. and Jefferson School of Population Health Enlighten Employers on Economic Impact of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
(NovaSom, Inc.)