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July 25, 2012 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Compliance Testing & Form 5500 Analyst
for OneAmerica/AUL in IN

Insurance Sales Professional - Employee Benefits Producer
for Meeker-Magner Company in IL

Director, Retirement Key Account Management
for Prudential in CA

Pension Administrator
for Compensation Benefit Planning, Inc. in KS

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Webcasts and Conferences

IRA Essentials
in California on October 11, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Georgia on December 4, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Georgia on December 5, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in California on October 12, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Oklahoma on November 8, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Oklahoma on November 9, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Pennsylvania on September 25, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Pennsylvania on September 26, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Kansas on November 15, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Kansas on November 16, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Texas on October 25, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Texas on October 26, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Minnesota on September 25, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Minnesota on September 26, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Texas on October 23, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Texas on October 24, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Minnesota on October 16, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Minnesota on October 17, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Wisconsin on October 4, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Wisconsin on October 5, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Advanced IRAs
in Wisconsin on October 3, 2012 presented by Ascensus

IRA Essentials
in Wisconsin on October 2, 2012 presented by Ascensus

Pension Factor 2012 Webinar
Nationwide on July 26, 2012 presented by National Institute on Retirement Security

Social Media Survey
Nationwide on July 24, 2012 presented by Centurion Consulting Group

Withholding Tax Recovery for ERISA Plan Sponsors: Improve Plan Performance by Securing Legal Entitlement
Nationwide on August 13, 2012 presented by Globe Tax Services, Inc.

Social Media Survey
Nationwide on July 24, 2012 presented by Centurion Consulting Group


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Retirement Plan Fee Disclosures Cause Some Employers to Change Investment Providers
"While plan sponsors have only just started receiving their fee disclosures, some of them are displeased with the fees they're paying, particularly the cost of insur.ance for group annuities.... Though everyone is focusing on the participant fee disclosures that will be coming up at the end of August, it's really the disclosures to plan sponsors that will create waves, advisers noted. Employers who are dissatisfied with the services they're getting for the fees they pay are ready to make some changes." (Investment News; free registration required)


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COLAs Vanishing from Pension Plans
"As more and more of retirement saving is directed to 401(k) plans, the prevalence of COLAs will shrink even further. Even as companies begin to offer retiring workers who have accumulated 401(k) balances the option of taking installments over 10 years instead of a lump sum, 'the type of annuity products available in defined-benefit plans don't exist in 401(k) plans,' says [Alan Glickstein, senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson]. Plan sponsors have 'an increasing interest" in the range of benefits offered employees invested in the defined contribution plans when they retire ... We will see more annuities in those plans, plus annuity options with a built-in escalator,' to provide retirees some protection against the rising cost of living over their retirement years." (Human Resource Executive Online)

DOL Sues Independent Fiduciary for Approving ESOP's Purchase of Stock from Owner at Allegedly Inflated Price
"The suit names as a defendant First Bankers Trust Services Inc., which was hired as an independent fiduciary to advise the company's ESOP on whether, and at what price, to purchase shares of SJP Inc. from its majority shareholder, Vincent DiPano. DiPano, who also is named as a defendant, was a fiduciary of the plan as well as an officer and member of the board of directors of SJP Group. The ESOP, too, is a defendant. The suit alleges that on or around April 16, 2007, First Bankers Trust Services did not fulfill its fiduciary duties when it approved the ESOP's purchase of 38 percent of the outstanding stock of SJP Group from DiPano for $16 mil.lion, which was more than fair market value. DiPano allegedly sold his shares to the plan for what he knew or should have known was in excess of what the stock was worth." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Americans Less Fearful Than Most About Retirement Savings
"[M]ore than four out of five people, or 82 percent of respondents, were worried about their financial situation after retirement and that almost nine in 10 people, or 89 percent, believed it is important for them to start saving immediately. By comparison, roughly one in five Americans, more than the global average of 16 percent, said they were confident about their rate of savings for retirement. Americans were also more optimistic than most about their general post-retirement financial situation, with 70 percent of respondents saying they were worried compared to the global average of 82 percent." (Reuters)

Slow Going on SEC Rules for Fiduciary Duties and Oversight of Investment Advisers and Brokers
"[Dodd-Frank's] two provisions that most directly affect the investment advisory world—a universal fiduciary duty rule for retail investment advice and improved adviser oversight, perhaps through a self-regulatory organization—remain stalled. The reason for the slowdown is that the controversial fiduciary-duty and SRO issues are a microcosm of democracy. Every group with a stake in each of them is getting its say, which means that the rulemaking and lawmaking processes are grinding slowly." (Investment News; free registration required)

Near-Bankrupt San Bernardino Targets Pension Bonds, Retiree Health
"San Bernardino, the third California city planning to file for bankrup.tcy since June, would default on debt, freeze vacant jobs and quit paying into a retiree health fund under a three-month proposal to be submitted to the city council on Tuesday.... Prepared for the council's Tuesday meeting, the plan recommends deferring $3.6 mil.lion in debt and lease payments, including on pension bonds and infrastructure bank loans." (Reuters)

GM to Send Pension Buyout Checks to Retirees in Late August
"On August 24, GM will mail pension payments to retirees who have requested paper checks. For retirees who requested receipt by electronic transfer, the payment will be made on August 27, GM spokesman Dave Roman said on Tuesday. Roman declined to say how many retirees took the offer and said the largest U.S. automaker will offer more details about the buyouts later this year. Retirees who opted for the buyout have until August 23 to revoke their decision, he said." (The New York Times; free registration required)

40% of Boomers Begin Planning Five Years Before Retirement
"One-third of 'transition boomers,' those aged 55 to 65 and who are 10 years or fewer away from retirement, are unsure how much money they will need to cover basic living expenses in retirement ... Transition boomers rank health care costs as their biggest retirement concern (32%); 28% said their biggest retirement concern is not being able to cover basic living expenses, according to the report. Of those respondents, 64% were between 55 and 60, and 36% were between 61 and 65." (Financial Planning)

Who Claimed Social Security Early Due to the Great Recession?
"The severity of the Great Recession is projected to have increased the probability of claiming Social Security at age 62 by more than 5 percentage points. This increase was relatively uniform across the income spectrum. The affected individuals claimed six months earlier, resulting in a 4.6 percent reduction in monthly benefits." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

10-Minute Enrollment: Scaling Back Meeting Content to Drive Higher Enrollment Rates
"Consider the new employees' perspective. Quite often they would come into an enrollment meeting exhausted from two days—sometimes two weeks—of new employee orientation sessions on everything from safety procedures to workplace violence to dental benefits. The retirement plan session would begin with a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation, and despite the employees' best intentions, their attention would drift. They may have wanted to enroll in the retirement plan, but all the talk, talk, talk got in the way." (Diversified)

[Opinion]

GASB Standards Assume Away Reality
"The average public pension plan is only 41 percent funded, when calculated with the same financial methods used in the private sector, according to a recent report ... Using a fair market valuation approach that captures the value of pension benefits guaran.teed to be paid as opposed to using unrealistic Government Accounting Standards Board assumptions based on the highly unlikely expected returns on stocks, private equity, or hedge funds, Biggs finds that public pensions 'face unfunded liabilities of approximately $4.6 tril.lion dollars.'" (Public Sector Inc.)

[Opinion]

Retirement Plan 'Shadows': How to Win Your Battle Against the Money Management Machine
"Is the retirement plan industry evil? Not necessarily. But it is full of 'shadows,' or unknowns. Every industry carries them. Turns out the shadows in the retirement plan business are among the blackest, densest and least known of all. In these shadows, American investors are being robbed blind." (Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)

[Opinion]

Text of Letter from American Academy of Actuaries to Senator Orrin Hatch Regarding State and Local Government Defined Benefit Pension Plans (PDF)
"In general, we support the four essential goals you identify for public pension reform: affordability and transparency, generational equity, retirement income security, and state and local funding. But, these goals can create internal conflicts. Programs should be affordable, for example, but assuring retirement security is not inexpensive. Likewise, assuring future taxpayers have no liability for past years can conflict with goals of affordability or retirement security." (Pension Practice Council of the American Academy of Actuaries)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Compensation Committees Must Stay Vigilant Even When Say-on-Pay Vote Is Favorable
"With this year's proxy season all but wrapped up, Compensation Committees have received their 'grade' on how well they set CEO pay this past year. For most companies, the grade is quite favorable. Over 74% received more than 90% shareholder support for their Say on Pay vote, and another 10% received over 80% support. But as a number of companies can attest, support can change dramatically from one year to the next, even when no changes are made to compensation programs. Therefore, Compensation Committees need to stay vigilant and keep focused on executive pay and shareholder returns throughout the year." (BoardMember.com)

Ownership Guidelines For Stock Compensation: Getting Stricter?
"More than 85% of publicly traded companies require executives to hold a certain amount of company stock, thereby encouraging an alignment of their interests with those of the company's shareholders.... [A recent] survey on ownership guidelines for company stock at 440 publicly traded corporations in the United States. Some interesting trends emerged, some showing shifts away from past approaches to stock ownership. 'In particular,' note the authors of the survey report, 'we have seen a marked increase in the number of companies adding retention requirements to their basic ownership guidelines.'" (myStockOptions.com)

Legislators Vow to Challenge N.J. Supreme Court Ruling on Judicial Pensions, Benefits
"[New Jersey legislators] are seeking a measure that would give them the authority to amend judicial salaries for taking contributions from justices' and certain judges' salaries for employee benefits. The Constitution, written in 1947, prohibits the salaries of Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices from being 'diminished' while they are on the bench." (The Star-Ledger)

Though Less Than 10 Years from Retirement, Transition Boomers Still Have Significant Gaps in Planning
"Transition Boomers also significantly underestimate the impact inflation and taxes will have in retirement. While healthcare costs ranked as the biggest retirement concern at 32%, only 10% picked keeping up with inflation and only 6% identified taxes in retirement as a top concern. In terms of inflation, respondents were asked to predict the cost of a loaf of bread in 2022 (based on today's average price of $2.50). While 75% predicted the cost would double to $5.00 in 10 years, a full 25% showed unfamiliarity with inflation and the effect it can have on purchasing power in retirement." (Allianz Life)

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