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PAS Client Services Manager
for Milliman in CO

PAS Client Services Manager
for Milliman in TX

Administrator and Relationship Specialist
for Qualified Plan Administrators, Inc. in GA

Paralegal
for UNITE HERE HEALTH in IL

Associate Actuarial Manager - Stable Value Pricing
for Prudential in NJ

Plan Implementation Manager
for ASPire Financial Services in FL

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Pension & Benefits Resources; Timely, Topical, and at your Fingertips
Nationwide on June 6, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters AccuDraft

DOL Issues Advisory Opinions Providing Important Guidance on Open MEPs
"If the DOL's views in the Advisory Opinions were to apply to similar arrangements, among other potential consequences, each participating employer would be required to: (1) Separately file Form 5500s for their plans. (2) Engage in annual plan audits (assuming there are 100 or more employees participating in the plan). (3) Obtain a separate fidelity bond for the plan." (Practical Law Company)

Earn ERPA, ASPPA & EA CE Credit! Sign-up Today.   [Advert.]

Employers and practitioners - get clear on how to handle protected benefits to ensure plans are not inadvertently disqualified. Attend the ASCi Dealing with Protected Benefits Webcast June 21 at 2pm ET. Click here for more info.

Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
Other than an employee organization group, a Professional Employer Organization, or a trade association, what would constitute enough "commonality" to be allowable as a single Multiple Employer Plan? How about a single common owner across all of the employers (what if they only hold 1%, 5%, or some other percentage)? What do you think constitutes organizational commonality/control for single MEP purposes—a common board of directors? (BenefitsLink.com)

The Final 408(b)(2) Regulation: Impact on Broker-Dealers (PDF)
"[Key considerations for broker-dealers include] (1)The compliance date is extended from April 1, 2012, to July 1, 2012. (2) The indirect compensation disclosure must include a description of the 'arrangement' pursuant to which the broker-dealer (or an affiliate or subcontractor) will receive indirect compensation. (3) The preamble provides for simplified compensation disclosures for Broker-Dealers [under certain circumstances]. (4) 'Trailing' payments received after the completion of services are still received 'in connection with' those services, thus requiring disclosures.... (5) [I]nsurance brokers and agents selling pension plan arrangements are covered service providers if they receive indirect compensation." (Drinker Biddle)

DOL FAQs on Participant Fee Disclosure Address Window Arrangements (PDF)
"FAQ-30 suddenly explores new ground. It discusses a situation in which a plan offers a platform consisting of a large number of investment alternatives, none of which are designated by the plan fiduciary as designated investment alternatives—i.e. a window arrangement. Positively, the FAQ finds that the platform itself is not a designated investment alternative, subject to the investment-related disclosure requirements. However, the DOL then states, 'Whether the individual investment alternatives are designated investment alternatives depends on whether they are specifically identified as available under the plan.' ... Suddenly, the Department is adding new disclosure requirements for broker window investments beyond the well-understood language in the final rule." (Plan Sponsor Council of America)

FREE Webinar on Section 409A Pitfalls   [Advert.]

Practical Law Company free webinar, June 13, 1:00PM ET. Regina Olshan of Skadden, Daniel L. Hogans of Morgan Lewis: Avoiding Section 409A violations and correcting common compliance mistakes. CLE credit available in NY, pending for IL, TX and VA. Register Here.

Investors May Be Stoking the Volatility They Fear
"The question for many funds is whether you close your eyes and hope greater diversification will be enough to see through another meltdown, or whether you deliberately build in plans to head for the bunkers quickly to avoid the worst when it happens. Both seem to be going on in parallel." (The New York Times; free registration required)

4 Countries With Better 401(k) Plans Than the United States
"A recent Government Accountability Office report recommends that the Labor Department examine retirement accounts in these four countries for ideas about how to improve retirement accounts: Australia ... Chile ... Sweden ... [and the] United Kingdom." (US News and World Report)

Individual Retirement Account Balances, Contributions, and Rollovers, 2010: The EBRI IRA Database(tm) (PDF)
"In 2010, IRA owners were more likely to be ma.le, especially those whose accounts originated from a rollover or were a SEP/SIMPLE. Among all IRA owners in the database, nearly one-half (45.8 percent) were ages 45-64. Focusing on those owning traditional or Roth IRAs, 9.3 percent of the accounts received contributions, and 12.1 percent of the individuals owning these IRA types contributed to them in 2010. Among traditional IRA owners, 5.2 percent contributed, while 24.0 percent of those owning a Roth contributed to it during 2010." (EBRI)

Average IRA Balances 32% Higher When Multiple Accounts are Considered (PDF)
"[In] 2010 the average IRA individual balance (all accounts from the same person combined) was $91,864, while the median balance was $25,296. By comparison, the average and median account balance of all IRAs was $67,438 and $17,863, respectively. Compared with 2008, the average and median individual balances are up 32 and 26 percent, respectively." (EBRI)

Does Guaran.teed Income Really Make Sense as a 401(k) Option?
"[D]espite their popularity in polls and the imprimatur of government regulators, do fixed income investments really make sense for young workers investing for their retirement? Many financial advisers continue to sing the praises of asset allocation, and so it's not surprising to hear them justify the existence of fixed income assets in an investor's portfolio, even if that investment needs to grow over a 30+ year period.... Other advisers are more confident in historic returns and openly question whether it makes sense for young investors to opt for guaran.teed income products." (Fiduciary News)

Pension Disclosure Considerations for Municipal Securities Offering Documents
"Based on a review of GASB pension accounting and financial reporting standards, together with some high-profile enforcement cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Considerations [proposed by the National Association of Bond Lawyers] suggest four steps—conducting an initial analysis of the borrower's pension plan or system; summarizing the pension contribution funding policy and general funding practices of the obligor; describing the pension plan investment policy; and disclosing any litigation, investigations, and labor relations issues that might affect the pension plan." (Ballard Spahr)

Is the 401(k) Working as a Retirement Plan for the American Public?
A recorded audio broadcast of a discussion between Teresa Ghilarducci, economics professor at The New School, and David Wray, president of the Plan Sponsor Council of America. (NPR)

The Retirement Savings Drain: Hidden and Excessive Costs of 401(k)s
"This brief sheds light on the hidden costs of 401(k)-type individual retirement plans, details the different types of fees paid by the consumers, and uses an example investment from Demos' own 401(k) plan to illustrate these fees' heavy burden on the average account-holder. Using industry data on fees, the brief estimates the high costs of 401(k) fees to a model family over a lifetime of saving for retirement. The brief also explains the causes of the nearly universal excessive fees that investment firms charge to savers, and argues for a wholesale reform of this country's broken private retirement system." (Demos)

The Debate Over 'Open' Multiple Employer Retirement Plans (PDF)
"[O]pen MEPs are, and have always been, among the safest and most beneficial retirement plan structures when properly governed. Proper governance includes ensuring that the plan meets the provisions of ERISA, and in particular the Annual Report (i.e., Form 5500) and audit requirements.... The question of a MEP's single plan status under ERISA is not new, but the recent attention has been substantial.... What is the practical impact if an open MEP is not a single plan for ERISA purposes as the DOL's guidance suggests? On the surface all of ERISA's many requirements would then apply at the individual employer level and this might seem a cause for concern, but as a practical matter this does not have any impact on the ability of the participating employers to comply with the requirements under ERISA because ERISA compliance is outsourced to the MEP's fiduciaries." (Pentegra Retirement Services)

Dewey Bankrup.tcy Filing Raises Clawback Issues
"[The trustee in bankrup.tcy] said almost all of the firm's 250 partners have been involved in settlement discussions over clawback claims that [the trustee] pursued against the partners. He has settled with about 150 partners so far, and he said he is hoping to settle with roughly 90 others." (Fox Rothschild LLP)

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter for May 24, 2012
This monthly newsletter covers various developments in benefits-related matters. Topics this month include Indexing as an Investment Strategy and How To Help Your Employees Get Ready for Retirement. (Cypen & Cypen)

FMLA Leave: Who Decides—Employer or Employee?
"[The] DOL specifically states that... 'the employee does not need to specifically assert his or her rights under FMLA, or even mention FMLA.' ... the employee need only provide 'sufficient information' to make the employer aware of the possible need for FMLA leave.... The employer's obligations under the FMLA are clear: once it has enough information to determine whether the leave is being taken for an FMLA-qualifying reason, the employer must notify the employee as to whether the leave will be designated and counted as FMLA leave. In other words, the employer has an obligation to designate leave as FMLA-qualifying as soon as the absence becomes an FMLA-qualifying event." (FMLA Insights)

Government Agency Auditors: Not the 'Dark Side' After All
"Benefit professionals often view the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service as the 'dark side' of benefits, to be avoided at all costs. After all, they dole out penalties and conduct audits. [The author] recently spent two full days at a DOL-sponsored health benefits law compliance assistance workshop in Chicago ... Maybe it was meeting the representatives and understanding that they're real people with jobs and bosses just like the rest of us. Maybe it was the five-pound box of materials bestowed on attendees.... [The author is] now convinced that they are not the enemy. In fact, they are allies on a mission—to remove barriers to compliance." (HighRoads)