ASPPA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Third Party Administration Firm in OK

Benefits Supervisor
for CyQuest Business Solutions, Inc. in FL

VP, Retirement Key Account Management
for Prudential in CA

Compliance Analyst
for The Newport Group in FL

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Fiduciary Education Seminar
in Massachusetts on June 6, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Corporate Governance, Plan Design and Investment Fraud Webinar
Nationwide on May 15, 2012 presented by FTI Consulting

Retirement Plan Compliance Assistance Seminar
in New York on June 13, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

CFDD

Employer No Longer Contributing to Multiemployer Plan Cannot Use Sale of Assets Exemption Under MPPAA
"In HOP Energy, L.L.C. v. Local 553 Pension Fund, the key issue decided by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was whether an employer that stopped contributing to a multiemployer pension plan ... after it sold the assets of one of its divisions to another company can use the sale of assets exemption under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendment Act ... to avoid the obligation to pay withdrawal liability." (Practical Law Company)

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Are Employers Expecting Too Much From Self-Directed Plan Participants?
"More than half (54%) of employers report that employees participating in plans are not taking full advantage of the investment options, features and services offered in connection with their 401(k) plan.... More than half (52%) [of employees, on the other hand,] say they don't have the time, interest or knowledge to properly manage their 401(k) portfolio. Nearly three-quarters (73%) spend less than eight hours per year managing their 401(k) plan account." (MarketWatch)

PBGC and American Airlines Strike Deal on Frozen Underfunded Pension Plans
"The agreement removes PBGC's threat of litigation as long as the pension plan freezes do not unravel as the airline addresses other parts of its collective bargaining agreements. [American's] four defined benefit plans have assets of $8.3 bil.lion and liabilities of $18.5 bil.lion, and officials at the agency, which sits on the airline's creditors committee, have pressed American to avoid terminating the plans." (Pensions & Investments)

Federal Employees Would Pay More for Pensions Under House Bill
"The legislation ... incorporates measures approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in late April requiring current federal employees to pay 5 percent more toward their retirement over the next five years, beginning in 2013. Members of Congress would have to contribute an additional 8.5 percent to their defined benefit plan during the same time period." (Government Executive)

The Funding of State and Local Pensions: 2011-2015 (PDF)
"The stock market hovers around pre-crisis peaks, tax revenues have rebounded, and plan sponsors have raised employee contributions for all workers and/or reduced benefits for new workers, yet the funded status of state and local pension plans has once again slipped.... Because of [actuarial] smoothing, the funding results looked much better in 2009 and 2010 than developments warranted, but less good than developments in 2011. In order to highlight the impact of asset smoothing in the short run and the stock market in the slightly longer run, this brief provides an update on the funded status of state and local plans in 2011 and also reports projections for the period 2012–2015." (Center for State & Local Government Excellence)

Investment Advisers Often Tell Customers What They Want to Hear, Tout Higher-Fee Products, Finance Professors Conclude
Professor Mullainathan (Harvard) is the Assistant Director for Research at the Treasury Department's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Excerpt: "Do financial advisers undo or reinforce the behavioral biases and misconceptions of their clients? [This study uses] an audit methodology where trained auditors meet with financial advisers and present different types of portfolios. These portfolios reflect either biases that are in line with the financial interests of the advisers (e.g., returns-chasing portfolio) or run counter to their interests (e.g., a portfolio with company stock or very low-fee index funds). [The authors] document that advisers fail to de-bias their clients and often reinforce biases that are in their interests. Advisers encourage returns-chasing behavior and push for actively managed funds that have higher fees, even if the client starts with a well-diversified, low-fee portfolio." (Sendhil Mullainathan, Markus Noeth and Antoinette Schoar via National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve full text)

Governmental Pension Plans: Can Peter's Sponsor Borrow From Peter To Pay Peter?
"Whose skin is in the game when pension plans make loans to plan sponsors to pay pension contributions, and is the answer different if the plan sponsor is a government body? Those questions come to mind on learning that last year the highest elected officials in New York State authorized financially distressed local governments in the state to use a problematic borrowing scheme to defer a portion of their pension liabilities, by, in effect, borrowing from the state pension system to satisfy significant percentages of contributions owed to the pension trust for the retirement benefits of their respective employees." (By Alvin D. Lurie, Esq. on BenefitsLink.com)

Reinhart Employee Benefits Update, April 2012 (PDF)
Articles include: Clarification on Reasonable Interest Rate for Participant Loans; Final Interim Rule on Health Insur.ance Exchanges; Adoption of Preapproved Defined Benefit Plans; and Departments Issue New FAQs on SBC Requirements. (Reinhart)

ERIC President Announces Retirement; Interim Named
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

International Foundation Honors Dallas Salisbury With 2012 Public Service Award
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Lankford Releases Voluntary Benefits White Paper
(McConkey Insurance & Benefits)