Consultant Retirement Plan Administrator
for Harbridge Consulting Group (a BPAS Company) in NY

Marketing Manager, Retirement Plan Services
for T. Rowe Price in MD

Retirement & Pension Plan Administration & Consulting
for Retirement Plan Administration, Consulting and Design Business in CT, NJ, NY

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Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending, Utilization and Quality of Care in the Private Commercial Insurance and Self-funded Employer Group Insurance Populations Webcast
Nationwide on January 14, 2013 presented by Society of Actuaries

"ERPA Test Review for Part I - A 3-Session Web Seminar"
Nationwide on January 2, 2013 presented by SunGard Relius

"ERPA Test Review for Part II - A 3-Session Web Seminar"
Nationwide on January 8, 2013 presented by SunGard Relius

View All Webcasts and Conferences

 

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Retirement News for Employers, Fall 2012 Edition (December 13, 2012)
Includes links to tips and IRS resources about Hurricane Sandy relief, plan operations, IRAs and IRA plans, and retirement plan-related forms and publications. (Internal Revenue Service)

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[Guidance Overview]

DOL Proposes Expansion and Refinement of ERISA Abandoned Plan Program (PDF)
"The program as originally adopted was purposefully unavailable to most bankruptcy trustees in Chapter 7 liquidations, whom DOL nonetheless deems to be fiduciaries when administering the debtor's ERISA plans. DOL has now reconsidered that decision and proposes to make the abandoned plan program available to a Chapter 7 trustee or its 'eligible designee,' with specific rules ... The proposal also notes that, as before, the IRS will not challenge the tax qualification of a plan terminated under the abandoned plan program or take adverse action against [Qualified Termination Administrators] including bankruptcy trustees, if three conditions are met. Generally, the IRS will not expect an EPCRS filing as a condition for abandoned plan relief." (Sutherland)

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Extends Deadline for DB Plans to Adopt Section 436 Amendments
"[P]lan sponsors submitting determination letter applications on or after February 1, 2013, for individually designed plans must adopt the Code Section 436 amendment prior to submitting the application. Determination letter applications that are filed prior to February 1, 2013 (Cycle B plans), do not need to include provisions complying with Code Section 436." (McDermott Will & Emery)

Text of IRS Press Release: Plan Now to Get Full Benefit of Saver's Credit; Helps Low- and Moderate-Income Workers Save for Retirement
"Low- and moderate-income workers can take steps now to save for retirement and earn a special tax credit in 2012 and the years ahead, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The saver's credit helps offset part of the first $2,000 workers voluntarily contribute to IRAs and to 401(k) plans and similar workplace retirement programs. Also known as the retirement savings contributions credit, the saver's credit is available in addition to any other tax savings that apply." (Internal Revenue Service)

Pension Funds Pulled $6.4B from Hedge Funds in October
"Pension funds' love affair with hedge funds is cooling off. They yanked a collective $6.4 billion from hedge funds in October, the third month this year they have pulled out money ... Although pensions have handed $15.7 billion directly to hedge funds so far this year, that's still a far cry from last year's $78.5 billion and $65.7 billion in 2010." (New York Post)

The Fiscal Cliff and Retirement Plan Caps on Deductions
"There is currently talk, in connection with 'avoiding the fiscal cliff,' of 'capping' retirement savings tax benefits, generally in connection with a broader cap on tax deductions or tax preferences or tax expenditures. [This article considers] first, some of the conceptual problems that such a cap would present, and, second, how a cap might affect participants." (October Three)

Pension Buyouts and Annuitization Could Hurt Your Retirement
"Around the country, employers have increasingly moved away from pension plans that require them to take responsibility for their workers' retirement benefits.... But the move away from pensions goes beyond changes for new hires. Companies have also taken some dramatic steps to try to make their pensions easier to handle, or when they can, to get rid of having to deal with them entirely." (Motley Fool)

Report on Retirement Readiness in the Not-for-Profit Higher Education Industry (PDF)
"This report offers plan sponsors specific insights in ... Optimizing Plan Design and Administration ... Supporting Investment Diversification ... Increasing Employee Engagement and Guidance ... [and] Assessing Participant Retirement Readiness[.]" (Fidelity)

California Public Employee's Lump Sum $609,000 Check Shows True Retirement Cost
"More than 111,000 employees who left jobs as employees of the 12 most populous U.S. states collected $711 million last year for unused vacation and other paid time off ... California employees accounted for 39 percent of that total.... The lump-sum retirement payments, seldom granted in private industry, mirror a broader trend in which California's public employees receive far more than comparable workers elsewhere in almost all job and wage categories, from public safety to health care, base salary to overtime." (Bloomberg)

Market Spurs High DC Plan Participant Transfer Activity in November
"On average, 62.3% of employee discretionary contributions were directed to equities for November. Participants' overall equity allocation decreased 0.3% to reach 59.2%, largely attributable to net transfer activity away from equities." (PLANADVISER.com)

November Corporate Pension Plan Funding Levels Rise
"Pension liabilities of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit pension plans decreased by $28 billion in November, while assets increased by $5 billion, bringing the Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index funded status deficit to $466 billion and the funded ratio of 74 percent.... BNY Mellon Asset Management's Pension Liability Index ... posted a 2.6-percentage-point improvement over October ... It rose to an 82.5-percent funding level, up from 79.9 percent in October... [And] Mercer's aggregate deficit in pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies decreased by $12 billion during November to $607 billion[.]" (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

Municipal Pension-Bond Sales May Increase Default Risk, Moody's Says
"State and local governments issuing bonds to bolster their pension funds may increase the chance of defaulting on their debt while probably failing to improve their credit quality, Moody's Investors Service said. The securities will have either a neutral or negative effect on a government's creditworthiness, depending on the size of the sale and the use of proceeds, Moody's said ... Turning unfunded pension promises into bonds keeps liabilities unchanged, though it raises the risk of a default as the amount of debt increases." (Bloomberg)

Making the In-Plan Guaranteed Income Decision
"[P]articipants face three dilemmas: not knowing how much to save, not knowing how to invest their savings and not knowing how to generate an income stream in retirement. Plan design features can address the first dilemma, target-date funds solve the second and guaranteed income products can help with the third." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

How to Avoid Fiduciary Mistakes With 401(k) Float Income
"[P]lan fiduciaries should negotiate with service providers about the status of float income ... Fiduciaries also should provide full and fair disclosure regarding the use of the float ... [Q]uestions ... fiduciaries [should] ask service providers regarding current arrangements and prior to signing new contracts include: How will any float income be earned and who retains it? What standards are used to determine the length of the float income on contributions that are pending investment? What is the deadline for investing a contribution? When does the float period begin and end?" (Bloomberg BNA)

Most Americans Want Financial Advice About Retirement
"A [recent] survey ... reflects that individuals want help with retirement. 71% of the individuals surveyed wanted financial assistance with retirement issues. They also found that nearly 50% of all respondents age 35-64 sought out financial advice a few times per year. Americans want to be able to receive help in a variety of different ways. The survey found that 64% of those surveyed preferred to get advice in person." (SaveMy403b)

Advisors More Optimistic About 2013 Than Clients
"Despite the fact that a majority of their clients remain nervous about the coming year, advisors are overwhelmingly positive about 2013 with only 14 percent expecting it to be worse than 2012 ... [A]dvisors said their clients remain unsure, as nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of those polled said they believe their clients are apprehensive about 2013. Less than one percent of respondents said they thought their clients were optimistic." (SEI)

Vanguard Defined Benefit Plan Sponsor Survey, 2012
"The percentage of frozen plans was almost twice that reported in Vanguard's September 2010 survey results, from 16% in 2010 to 31% in 2012. Only 43% of plans reported being open and active in 2012, compared with 59% in 2010 ... [A]lthough plans are still underfunded, average reported levels were 87.5% in 2012 versus 82.7% in 2010.... Pension risk remains the top concern for plan sponsors." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

[Opinion]

On the Right Track? Public Pension Reforms in the Wake of the Financial Crisis (PDF)
"Distinct business and labor market dynamics and regulatory pressures led to the decline of pensions in the private sector that do not necessarily apply to governments.... A policy of closing or freezing pensions and switching to DC accounts is not necessarily the best approach for government employers and taxpayers.... Freezing or closing DB plans and shifting to DC-only accounts threatens workers' retirement security, with mid-career employees being the hardest hit.... Because pensions play an important role in public sector compensation, freezing or closing DB plans and shifting to DC accounts may negatively affect the ability of public employers to recruit and retain qualified workers." (National Institute on Retirement Security)

[Opinion]

Darden Restaurant Chain's 'Worst' 401(k) Gets Even Uglier
"The 401(k) retirement savings plan the company crafted for its employees, which participants pay Wells Fargo over $700,000 annually to administer, was rated as one of the three worst in the nation by Businessweek in terms of participation rates. Worse still, workers savings are heavily invested (44%) in Darden's languishing stock.... [T]he overwhelming majority of Darden's workers will enter into retirement with virtually no 401(k) assets." (Forbes)

[Opinion]

Retirement Saving Incentives Threatened in Budget Discussions
"Among the tax incentives on the table that could be reduced or eliminated: the tax-deferred status of the inside buildup of annuities and other retirement savings vehicles. Given that these incentives are helping Americans attain financial freedom and security during their retirement years, in no uncertain terms, this would be a retirement death." (Insured Retirement Institute via LifeHealth Pro)