Pensions & Investments

Retirement Plan Relationship Manager/Business Development
AEPG Wealth Strategies
in NJ

401(k) Administrator
TPS Group
in MA, ME, NY

Customer Service Representative
BlueStar Retirement Services
in FL

Employee Benefits Recordkeeper
First American Bank
in IL

Retirement Plans Regional Sales Manager
Mutual of Omaha
in OK, TX

Retirement Plans Regional Sales Manager
Mutual of Omaha
in KS, MO

5500 Specialist
Plante Moran
in MI

Client Manager
Hill, Chesson & Woody
in NC

403b/401k Administrator
Farmer & Betts
in OR, WA

Plan Administrator
Howard Simon & Associates
in IL

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"Don't Be Caught Short: Understanding Short Plan Years" Web Seminar
January 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

"403(b) Plans: Understanding Universal Availability" Web Seminar
January 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Ethical Standards of Employee Benefits Practice – What to Ask and Say to Clients, and What to Tell the IRS Phone Forum
January 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Top 10 Plan Designs for the Small Employer, and Creative Plan Corrections – St. Louis
January 30, 2014 in MO
(SunGard Relius)

Ethical Standards of Employee Benefits Practice – What to Ask and Say to Clients, and What to Tell the IRS Phone Forum (Rebroadcast)
February 6, 2014 WEBCAST
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Workshop
February 11, 2014 in CA
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

IRA Academy
April 29, 2014 in TX
(PenServ Plan Services, Inc.)

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[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Revises View of Coverage for Puerto Rican and Other Territorial Plans (PDF)
"If employers do not want PBGC coverage and hope to save the cost of PBGC premiums, they may wish to consider ways to position their plans to fall outside the PBGC's revised view of the coverage requirement for Puerto Rico and Guam employer plans. For plans no longer covered, presumably a refund of past premium payments can be pursued. If no longer covered, steps should also be taken to remove any PBGC coverage language from the plan's summary plan description. If PBGC coverage is desired for Puerto Rican qualified plan participants, then either a U.S. trust or an irrevocable section 1022(i)(2) election by the administrator of a plan with a Puerto Rican trust would be needed." (Buck Consultants)  

[Advert.]

Half-day Specialty Topics Seminars – 17 Cities in January

Learn the top ten plan designs for small employers and features that can help save money. Learn to use EPCRS principles to correct common and uncommon errors and retain qualified plan status. Up to 8 hours of CE credits available. Register today.

[Guidance Overview]

Overview of 2014 Annual Qualified Retirement Plan Deadlines (PDF)
"[This] chart provides an explanation of key plan events for Section 401(a) and 401(k) defined contribution plans and the deadline for each. The chart is intended as a tool to assist employers with monitoring the key annual plan requirements." (ING)  

ESOP Trustee Indemnification Stymied by Arbitrator's Legally Unsupportable Analysis
"The buyer entered into the purchase transaction fully informed, and signed indemnification agreements with apparently no intent to honor them. The ESOP trustees then appeared before an arbitrator who decided that the DOL's longstanding guidance was subject to no deference, and rejected established Sixth Circuit precedence, under the 'narrowest standards of judicial review in all of American jurisprudence.' The arbitrator's decision was legally unsupportable, and the trustees lost anyway. Does binding arbitration control your costs in the context of ERISA plans, or expose you?" [Schafer and Block v. Multiband Corp. No. 13-1316 (6th Cir. Jan. 6, 2014)] (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

DOL's Heightened Focus on Plan Fiduciaries
"The DOL is seeking legislative change that would allow it to set its own audit quality standards and is advising plan administrators to take notice of audit quality. Administrators should insist that the audit firm have extensive EBP experience and that the audit is comprehensive in scope. It is the responsibility of the administrators to insure that the audit complies with DOL standards." (William Gallagher Associates)  

Fidelity Is Sued Again Over In-House 401(k) Plan
"The plaintiffs claim the plan should have negotiated a direct recordkeeping arrangement with Fidelity, like other large plans do. They claim that all the way back to 2007, a reasonable per head fee would have been $20-$27. Instead, they claim that Fidelity was collecting approximately $335 per head through the revenue sharing collected.... [T]he plaintiffs also claim that Fidelity failed to disclose these practices to the plan participants and may have even reported inaccurate information on the plan's Form 5500." (FRA PlanTools, LLC)  

Indiana Lawmakers Consider State-Assisted Retirement Plans
"Senator Greg Walker, R-Columbus, authored the bill and said it 'encourages savings among those in the population today without a savings account offered by an employer.' Those who sign up for the retirement plan -- and have never participated in one before -- would receive a $250 incentive in the form of a tax credit.... SB 66 will now be sent to the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee where it must pass before continuing to the Senate." (The Statehouse File)  

Pension Risk Transfer Solutions: Adding Guarantees to the DB Pension Fixed Income Conversation (PDF)
"[Pension Risk Transfer (PRT)] solutions are differentiated from terminal funding in that their utilization is not relegated to being part of a plan termination process. Rather, PRT solutions are a new guaranteed asset class for pension sponsors to consider as they evaluate their overall fixed income investment portfolio. The objective of this paper is to provide a high-level outline of the pension risk transfer solution spectrum, and challenge pension stakeholders to consider the utility of these products as part of the fixed income universe of pension investments." (Dietrich & Associates)  

Questions of Justice and Law Raised When an ERISA Plan Beneficiary Strangles His Grandmother, the Participant, to Death
"A young man, Christopher Jackson, strangled to death his grandmother, Rosemarie Little ... who had chosen Christopher to receive part of her death benefits under her employer's 401(k) plan and life insurance plan. Earlier this year a federal court decided that Christopher was entitled to none of Rosemarie's life insurance benefits, and next year a federal court will determine whether he is entitled to any of her 401(k) plan benefits. This article suggests that depriving Christopher of Rosemarie's death benefits may be unjust, may be prohibited by ERISA, and may cause the [employer's] 401(k) plan to lose its tax-qualification.... The Code makes no exception for payments made pursuant to a court order, such as the one the [employer's] plan is seeking in the interpleader action it initiated." (Albert Feuer via SSRN)  

Multiemployer Pension Funding Legislation Possible in 2014 (PDF)
"The combination of the PPA sunset at the end of this year and the financial outlook for the PBGC's multiemployer insurance program may push Congress to consider multiemployer pension plan legislation in 2014. Although comprehensive legislation has not yet been introduced in the 113th Congress on the funding of multiemployer plans, it is possible that legislation may be introduced in 2014 and that the NCCMP proposal may be the basis for such legislation. Aspects of the NCCMP proposal, however, are controversial[.]" (Buck Consultants)  

Three Ways to Cure 'Pension Envy'
"[N]on-pensioners are more likely to experience anxiety about retirement than those with pensions. While only 21% of those with government pensions and 20% of those with corporate pensions worry about making their assets last, 27% of those without pensions have this concern.... The envy directed at former government workers was particularly acute. On average, they derive 54% of their retirement income from pensions, vs. 30% for those with corporate pensions.... Short of getting hired as a government employee, what can a non-pensioner do to improve his or her retirement prospects?" (MarketWatch.com)  

[Opinion]

Text of American Academy of Actuaries Letter to Congress on Financial Accounting Standards and MAP-21 (PDF)
"Although using discount rates derived from 25-year average interest rates may help stabilize required contributions, the rates do not reflect current market conditions and do not provide a meaningful measurement of a pension plan's liabilities for financial reporting. Financial reporting of pension information should remain consistent with FASB's Conceptual Framework." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

Text of ASPPA Recommendations to IRS on Enhancements for the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) System
"ASPPA recommends that the [IRS] make system enhancements to the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system that include: [1] an efficient batch submission feature, [2] a free interface for use by employers or other filers of Form 8955-SSA, and [3] continuous access to the system. If adopted, these changes would significantly increase electronic filing by respondents, easing the burden on respondents of reporting Form 8955-SSA information." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA])  

Employee Stock Compensation: 2013 SEC Comment Letter Trends
"There were 34 companies that received comments related to stock compensation [between January 1 and September 15, 2013], and a total of 118 stock compensation comments.... 81% of the total number of comments received related to Management's Discussion & Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in all the filings reviewed; 75% of the comments received related to S-1 filings; 50% of the comments received related to disclosure, 41% related to valuation and only 9% related to accounting recognition; 47% of the comments received related to companies in the technology industry and 32% related to the pharmaceutical and life science industry, with the remainder across a variety of sectors." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)  

2014 New Year's Resolutions: Executive Benefits
"[1] Offer an executive benefits program.... [2] Offer compelling plan designs... [3] Beat the competition... [4] Educate your people -- in person... [5] Informally fund the plan... [6] Eliminate the tax cost from informal funding." (Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)  

Ascensus Expands Markets for its IRAdirect Service for IRA and HSA Programs
Ascensus

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