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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
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Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles, official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Gives Plan Sponsors Flexibility to Expand Pre-Tax to Roth Conversion Opportunities
"An in-plan Roth conversion feature offers flexibility to participants, but what about the plan sponsors? ... [S]ponsors can decide whether to allow participants to convert all pre-tax amounts to Roth amounts, or whether to allow conversions for only some types of pre-tax amounts.... [P]lan sponsors will not have any withholding obligations with respect to converted amounts. Roth conversion features also are not considered protected benefits. In other words, a plan sponsor that adopts this feature could decide in the future to restrict its scope or eliminate it completely, so long as the takeaway is applied on a non-discriminatory basis."
(Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
Hardship Distributions: Rules, Documentation and Limits (PDF)
"[A]uthorizing a plan distribution that does not meet the requirements can disqualify the entire plan and lead to adverse tax consequences for plan participants and for the plan sponsor. It is important for sponsors to understand the hardship rules and to have procedures in place for making distributions and documenting a participant's need in a manner that will satisfy the IRS in case the plan is chosen for examination."
(Kravitz)
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ERISA Class Actions After Wal-Mart and Comcast -- Practice Points for Defendants (Part III: Experts)
"If the class claims challenge plan investments, consider using an expert to analyze whether there is a lack of commonality, typicality or even possible conflicting interests and actions regarding the challenged investments. If the class claims challenge disclosures, consider using experts to analyze whether there were common, uniform understandings and actions in relation to the challenged disclosures."
(Proskauer Rose LLP)
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Overcome a De-Risking Pitfall
"[Y]ou may have researched your options and decided on the right program for your company under the assumption that communication channels will be reasonably clear. Yet what you don't know about your past employees may have a substantial and costly impact on your efforts.... [T]he issue presents a very real threat to de-risking strategies such as lump-sum distributions or annuity buyouts."
(Treasury & Risk)
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[Advert.]
Premium Educational Event for Taft-Hartley Trustees
Attend FRA's Taft-Hartley Benefits Summit to effectively manage your fund's investments and ensure your members' health & welfare benefits remain top-notch. Feb. 10-11, 2014 - Lake Buena Vista, FL. Mention FMP164 during registration for 10% discount.
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Continued Lawmaker Concern on How Expanded Fiduciary Standard for Advisors Would Impact Middle Class
"[T]he real challenge is that the market for advice is so complex, consumers have trouble choosing at all, and as research has shown, such environments of 'information asymmetry' can lead to a 'market for lemons' where the quality declines as dishonest businesses drive the honest ones away. In turn, this suggests that in the end, applying a consistent fiduciary standard for those who offer advice may actually be the single best way to drive down the cost of advice for consumers!"
(Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)
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Investment Selection and Monitoring: It's Not Monkey Business
"So what's a committee to do? Put away your darts and ask yourself the following two questions: [1] Do I and my fellow committee members have the necessary experience and expertise to evaluate the available universe of investments, and then select and monitor the performance of a well-diversified lineup of investment options for our company's retirement plan? [2] Given all of our other corporate duties and responsibilities, can I and my fellow committee members devote the time that's necessary to prudently perform this function?"
(Vanguard)
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Peer Pressure Could Help Raise Deferral Rates
"Participants are shown a projection of how on track they are for an adequately funded retirement. In addition to the percentage of total account balance that is funded, a sliding lever beneath allows a participant to make changes to the deferral rate to instantly see the effect of increasing contributions. They can also compare their progress in saving for retirement with others in their peer group, as well as the top-tier savers."
(PLANSPONSOR.com)
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Ten Steps for DC Plan Sponsors in 2014
Among the ten steps are: "Help prepare employees [for retirement readiness].... Explain fees and promote disclosure.... Help manage risk.... Deliver future financial security.... Align your DC Plan with your corporate sustainability strategy."
(Mercer)
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Flaws of Adopting Cost Cutting in Switching Public Employees to DC Plans
"[P]ublic pension systems appear poised to emerge stronger than before the financial crisis thanks in large part to state policymakers' resistance to calls for extreme measures, while undertaking prudent state reforms and enjoying economic recovery.... Although the environment back in 2008 appeared fertile for a wholesale switch to individual defined contribution accounts from defined benefit pensions, it never happened.... [W]hy did policymakers stick with their defined benefit plans in the face of financial pressure and the corporate trend away from them?"
(Pensions & Investments)
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IRA Investors Manage Retirement Decisions Carefully
"73% of traditional IRA-owning households reported that they have a strategy for managing income and assets in retirement, and that their strategy involved multiple steps. Their strategies include things such as setting aside emergency funds, developing a retirement income plan, reviewing insurance policies, determining retirement expenses, and determining when to take Social Security benefits."
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
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Nurses Are Saving More for Retirement But Want More Guidance
"[O]ne-quarter (26%) of nurses with a workplace retirement savings plan have accumulated assets of more than $100,000, up from 18% in 2011. Participation in workplace retirement plans remains steady at 85%. However, among those participating, saving rates are less than optimal especially among younger generations: Gen Y (5%), Gen X (6%) compared to 10% of Boomers.... Sixty-two percent of nurses report not saving enough for retirement. More than half (53%) feel retirement planning is overwhelming and 79% are looking for guidance."
(Fidelity Investments)
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[Opinion]
Veterans Lack 'California Rule' Pension Protection
"Why can the pensions of veterans who put their lives on the line during military duty for the nation be cut, while the pensions of everyday state and local government workers in California are legally protected from cuts? ... Military pensions lack this court protection, and so does the general federal retirement plan, Social Security. Both can be cut. The protection California courts have given state and local government pensions is exceptional. In what some call the 'California Rule,' the pension promised on the date of hire becomes an uncuttable contract not only for service already provided, but also for service the worker will provide in the future."
(Calpensions)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Perceived Value of Employer-Provided Benefits Falls Amid High Out-of-Pocket Costs
"Benefits remain a critical element of the employee experience, and the vast majority of workers agree that benefits are just as important to them as their salaries. But according to [a survey] of 1,506 U.S. retirement plan participants who also receive health benefits, the perceived value of benefits is eroding among workers who complain about out-of-pocket health care expenses. The fall-off is most pronounced among workers under 50, 30% of whom say benefits are 'definitely worth it' -- down from 45% who said so in 2011."
(Mercer)
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Press Releases
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