ASPPA

Plan Administrator
Nationwide Financial
in OH

Retirement Plan Account Manager
401k Advisors Intermountain (401kAIM)
in UT

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Affordable Care Act 101 Webinar
January 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA))

401(k) Essentials Plus Series
January 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Designated Roth Accounts and Roth Conversions
January 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Financial Wellness Initiatives: The Right Prescription for Employees’ Retirement Security
January 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(McDermott Will & Emery LLP)

Steering Clear Of A Pension Calamity In America
February 3, 2014 in NY
(Buck Consultants, A Xerox Company)

The Future of Employee Benefits
February 11, 2014 WEBCAST
(National Institute of Pension Administrators)

Evolution(k) How to win more ERISA business in a Post Disclosure World
March 3, 2014 in NC
(Millenium Investment & Retirement Advisors, LLC)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Updated Interest Rates for Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans
"The February 2014 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.75 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for January 2014, these interest assumptions are unchanged." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)  

[Advert.]

Best Rate Ends Friday for Health & Benefits Leadership Conference

Gain a powerful set of tools to help guide you through your strategic benefit-related decisions in 2014 and beyond at the industry's newest and most innovative health and benefits conference. Best rate ends in 3 days!

[Guidance Overview]

Counting Plan Participants: Not as Easy as 1, 2, 3
"In many cases, the preparer of the Form 5500 erroneously counts only participants whose accounts were allocated a contribution during the year, or participants who have account balances. Both methods are incorrect and result in an inaccurate participant count. In many cases, the understated participant count results in a small plan filing, when the plan is actually a large plan that would have been required to attach audited financial statements for the plan to the Form 5500." (Belfint Lyons & Shuman, CPAs)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Provides Guidance for In-Plan Roth Rollovers of Nondistributable and Distributable Amounts (PDF)
"[T]here are two provisions under Notice 2010-84 that do not apply to [in-plan Roth rollovers (IPRRs)] of otherwise nondistributable amounts. First, only direct rollovers of otherwise nondistributable amounts into a designated Roth account under the same plan are permitted. In contrast, distributable amounts may be rolled into an in-plan Roth account via direct rollover or 60-day rollover. Second, the Section 402(f) notice is not required for an IPRR of amounts that are otherwise nondistributable. By comparison, a Section 402(f) notice must be provided to the participant for an IPRR of distributable amounts." (ING)  

[Guidance Overview]

Comparing a QPAM Agreement to a Traditional Investment Management Agreement
"[T]his guide: [1] Describes the reasons a plan fiduciary may wish to appoint a [Qualified Professional Asset Manager (QPAM)] to manage a portion of the plan's assets instead of a traditional investment manager. [2] Describes the provisions that apply to both a QPAM Agreement and traditional IMA. [3] Summarizes the additional provisions necessary in a QPAM Agreement." (Practical Law Company)  

Wall Street's Whipping Boy and a World Without a Fiduciary Standard
"Congress and the government agencies are visited by anti-fiduciary advocates more than 20 times the visits seen by pro-fiduciary advocates. Wall Street's investment banks have committed to each other to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, if that is what it takes, to defeat the application of the fiduciary standard to the investment advisory activities of broker-dealers. If the SEC ever acts on the authority granted it under Section 913 of Dodd Frank ... the fiduciary standard for all who deliver investment advice will be lowered to 'suitability plus a bit more disclosure.'" (Ron Rhoades in Fiduciary News)  

[Advert.]

National Conference on ESOPs and Stock Plans: April 2014

If you work with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) or equity compensation plans, the annual Employee Ownership Conference from April 7 to 10 in Atlanta will keep you up to date on legal issues, best practices, emerging trends, and much more!

Now That Pension Plans Are Better Funded, Big Asset Allocation Moves Could Follow
"For many plans, [the 2013 funding] improvement will cause an automatic change in asset allocation as a result of a policy of liability-responsive asset allocation (LRAA).... Even plans that have not formally adopted LRAA policies will, in many cases, experience that same change in the cost-benefit of growth-oriented investment strategies. Many will choose to respond by dialing down the amount of risk they take. This could mean that a substantial volume of pension assets move from equities and other return-oriented investment classes into lower-risk liability-driven investing (LDI) strategies." (Russell Investments)  

Did CalPERS Get 'Nothing' Out of Paying $275,000 to Define Its 'Beliefs'?
"In an effort to create an instant, better culture to ensure sound decisions by the stewards of hundreds of billions of dollars in assets, [CalPERS] -- metaphorically behind by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter -- paid a consultant $275,000 to create its own 10 commandments to guide that new culture. But the decision to give a boatload of cash to Towers Watson & Co. to come up with 10 bedrock beliefs to save a bigger boatload of assets appears to itself have been done in a manner devoid of clear thinking[.]" (RIABiz)  

Four Excuses You Make to Avoid 401(k) Investing
"[1] Investing terminology is too confusing.... [2] I can't afford to contribute very much, so it's not worth my time...[3] The market is so high right now. It's bound to drop right after I start investing....[4] I'm just lost. There are too many investing choices, and I'm afraid I'll pick the wrong funds." (U.S.News & World Report)  

Would You Give Up Cable TV to Retire Early?
"While the cost of monthly cable packages varies significantly, the average is about $80 a month. Multiply that cost by 50 years and it totals a whopping $48,000.... If you invest that $80 a month in a low cost S&P 500 index fund that returns 8 percent annually, the amount grows to an eye-popping $638,000. That's a lot of dough to pay for 500 channels of TV most people will never watch" (U.S.News & World Report)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Two Final Rules With Implications for High-Income Taxpayers
"[By] deferring compensation, employees may be able to avoid the 3.8% tax on interest and earnings during the period of deferral that would otherwise apply to most investments held outside the employer/employee relationship. This would include nonqualified deferred compensation that either earns interest or pays dividends on shares held as nonqualified deferred compensation (like deferred RSUs). As with all income-deferral decisions, nonfinancial factors, such as the loss of flexible access to the money under the 409A rules and the credit status of the employer, would need to be balanced against the potential for increased investment earnings on pretax deferrals." (Towers Watson)  

What to Do About Employee Benefits When the Company Is Headed Towards Insolvency
"If you are a board member or senior executive of a company that is rapidly failing, what do you about employee benefits? No one has ever liked my answer: freeze the benefits. This is counterintuitive advice for someone who is trying to keep the company afloat, and who would be personally affected by the loss of benefits. But let me explain why this is so important, using a complaint that was recently filed by the DOL, and the facts as they were alleged." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

Requiem for ERISA Class Actions (PDF)
"Over the last four years, the Supreme Court decided six cases favoring mandatory arbitration clauses. Taken together, these six Supreme Court rulings strengthen the case for including mandatory arbitration clauses with class action waivers in all ERISA-regulated plans and all employment agreements. So long as the arbitration clauses and class waivers are properly drafted and the elements of contract formation are properly observed, employers will be able to eliminate their exposure to the runaway costs of class action litigation." (Baker & McKenzie)  

SEC Report Finds More Study Needed Before Compensation Disclosure Rules Will Change
"[The SEC's] recently issued Report on Review of Disclosure Requirements in Regulation S-K recommends only that the SEC take more time to 'confirm that the required information is useful to investors' and explore 'whether further scaling is appropriate.' ... This lack of action by the SEC means companies will not have any new disclosure rules to consider as they craft the Compensation Discussion and Analysis sections of their 2014 proxy statements." (Towers Watson)  

Segal Rogerscasey and Frontier Advisors Announces The Expansion of Global Investment Research Alliance – Now Covering United Kingdom and Europe
Segal Rogerscasey

ING U.S. to Become Voya Financial in 2014
ING U.S.

Commonwealth Financial Network And Castle Rock Innovations Partner To Implement Axis Retirement Analytics Platform
Castle Rock Innovations

Castle Rock Investment Certified As A Women’s Business Enterprise
Castle Rock Investment Company

Segal Group Expands Public Sector Health Practice
The Segal Group

ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors, LLC Has Been Certified For Fiduciary Excellence
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

ConnectYourCare Announces Nationwide Expansion of Sales Team to Meet Growing Demand
ConnectYourCare

Computershare Adds Retirement Eligibility Taxation Functionality For Employee Equity Plan Clients
Computershare

December State-by-State Health Exchange Analysis Released by Transamerica Center for Health Studies
Transamerica Institute

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