Pensions & Investments

Client Manager Health & Welfare Administration
Buck Consultants a Xerox Company
in TX

Lead Manager, Retirement Plan Service (RPS) Institutional
T. Rowe Price
in MD

Benefits Associate
FordHarrison LLP
in GA

Associate VP & Regional Sales Consultant
United Retirement Plan Consultants
in TX

Client Relationship Manager
MullinTBG, A Prudential Financial company
in CA, FL, NY, TX

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International Benefits: Are Your Plans Ready for Global Expansion?
February 7, 2014 WEBCAST
(Littler Mendelson)

Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Webinar Series I
February 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))

Affordable Care Act 101 Webinar
February 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA))

HIPAA HITECH 101
March 11, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

Health Care Reform for Employers: Now What?
March 21, 2014 in IN
(Lorman Education Services)

Annual HR Forum
May 1, 2014 in VA
(Corporate Synergies)

Pension Focus Conference
May 29, 2014 in MO
(Pension Consultants, Inc.)

First Annual Partner Conference
June 9, 2014 in DC
(BPAS)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Creates Level Playing Field for Suspensions of 401(k) Safe Harbor Contributions (PDF)
"Since the new rules will apply to both matching and nonelective contributions for plan years beginning after 2014, it would be advisable for all employers who may wish to make a mid-2015 reduction to or suspension of their safe harbor 401(k) plans to provide the updated notice in 2014 unless it can confidently be predicted that the employer will be operating at an economic loss in 2015." (The Wagner Law Group via 401 (k) Advisor)  

[Advert.]

Professional Development with ASPPA

Are you looking for ways to expand your professional opportunities? Look no further than ASPPA certificates and credentials! Register for these exams and show employers you are ready to take the next step in your career.

[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Eliminates Early Flat-Rate Premium Payment Requirement for Large Plans, Including Multiemployer Plans
"[T]he final rule makes October 15 the sole filing date for flat-rate premiums for large calendar-year plans. Plans are no longer required to make estimated premium payments or filings. The change affects single employer plans, as well as multiemployer plans." (Segal)  

When Do 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need Lawyers
"When attorney services should be used: The Design Stage ... Plan Document Review... A Service Provider is Hired... The TPA Issues Annual Reports... A Problem with the Plan... Significant Corporate Events... Terminating Your Plan... During Your Annual Plan Governance Review." (Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)  

California State-Run Private-Sector Retirement Plan Gets Donors for Start-Up Costs
"[A California] attempt to create the first state-run 'automatic IRA' for workers with no retirement plan has its first donors, authorization to hire consultants and a favorable response from a wide range of groups asked for advice.... Secure Choice would not require employers to contribute to the plan. But opponents of the De Leon bill argued that employers will be burdened with distributing forms, answering questions, collecting opt-out forms and transferring contributions." (Calpensions)  

SEC's Examination Program Issues a Risk Alert on Investment Adviser Due Diligence Processes
"The Risk Alert indicated that the Staff's observations were based on more than 10 examinations of SEC-registered investment advisers to pension plans and funds of private funds. The Staff noted that it did not examine commodity pools or registered investment companies. Also, the Risk Alert did not address the due diligence practices of advisers directly managing alternative investments. Rather, it focused on advisers selecting those underlying managers. Thus, in light of the limitations on the Risk Alert's scope, it should be seen as applying to a specialized market segment: advisers making discretionary investments in alternative products managed by other advisers." (Sutherland)  

[Advert.]

ERISA Audits: What We All Knew but Forgot - Feb. 13 Webinar

Understand potential audit triggers and hot button areas, the scope of audits, what to expect in such audits, and best practices to avoid audit complications. Special BenefitsLink discount.

You Can Thank or Blame Richard Stanger for Writing Code Section 401(k)
"How 401(k) grew from an insignificant provision into a behemoth that transformed retirement savings and started an industry that holds $4 trillion in Americans' assets is a study in the sometimes unintended consequences of Washington action. Consider: The initial provision was estimated to have a 'negligible effect upon budget receipts.' Now, defined contribution plans are the fifth-biggest tax break for individuals, with an estimated revenue loss to the government of $61.4 billion in fiscal 2014." (Bloomberg)  

Don't Ignore No-Name Brands in Your 401(k): Examining Collective Trusts
"401(k) participants may take great comfort in knowing their retirement assets are in the hands of one of the investment world's best-known names, and many 401(k) fixtures are there because of these funds' popularity and their solid past performance. But that doesn't mean you should completely bypass the non-name-brand funds -- usually called collective trusts -- particularly if you're willing to do some homework up front." (Morningstar via Yahoo News)  

Detroit Sues Retirement Funds to Void Pension Bonds
"Detroit on Friday filed a lawsuit in U.S. bankruptcy court seeking to invalidate $1.44 billion of debt sold to fund public worker pensions -- a move that also could void the ill-fated interest-rate swaps contracts that were a factor leading Detroit into bankruptcy. The lawsuit contends that the city and its retirement systems violated Michigan law when they set up 'sham' service corporations and funding trusts to facilitate the debt sales in 2005 and 2006." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Corporate Pension Plans Mark Sad Milestone
"For the first time since Pensions & Investments began listing the largest U.S. retirement plans, not a single corporate name appears in the ranking of the 10 largest defined benefit plans.... Thirty years ago, four corporate plans were among the 10 largest defined benefit plans ... Many separate, and yet intertwined, events in the 1980s led to the new corporate retirement plan reality[.]" (Pensions & Investments)  

IRA Rollovers Offer Huge Opportunities for Advisers: How to Avoid Raising Regulators' Red Flags
"By examining the conduct of advisers as it relates to the handling of rollover assets, patterns of abuse are relatively easy to spot. Advisers and firms that operate 'rollover mills' are likely to face particularly tough questioning about the processes used to protect individual investors' interests.... Both FINRA and the SEC have said that they will be looking for conduct in the handling of rollovers that is contrary to the interests of investors.... [T]he message to advisers is clear: Whether or not advisers are technically considered fiduciaries, they should conduct themselves as such in regard to the rollover practices they employ." (InvestmentNews)  

Goldilocks and the Three Glide Paths: Part 1 - Too Hot!
"One argument that can be made is that participants investing for retirement have very long time horizons and therefore are able to take almost unlimited risk. This argument suggests the participant will find that volatility risk is irrelevant.... [C]ertainly if we were investing in a fairy-tale world which exactly mimicked the past, this could potentially all be true." (The Principal Blog)  

Evaluating Social Security Reforms in the Age of Budget Deficits (PDF)
"[A] long-run balanced budget for Social Security could also be achieved with slightly less than the current tax rate and by making two benefit reforms: gradually raising the retirement age for workers who become eligible for benefits in 2023 and after, and making the benefit formula less generous for higher earning workers.... [B]oth the current program with the taxes necessary to close its financing gap (the baseline program) and the reformed program produce comparable net results for workers across birth years and across income classes." (National Center for Policy Analysis)  

Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning: Evidence from Puerto Rico
"[N]ear 60 percent [of respondents] have tried to estimate the amount needed for retirement but less than 50 percent of them have tried to design a plan for their retirement. Of those who have made plans, less than 40 percent have met their goals and only 14 percent are very confident that they will have enough resources at retirement." (Karen C. Castro-Gonzalez via SSRN)  

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, January 30, 2014
Article titles include: [1] Flaws of adopting cost cutting in switching to DC plan; [2] Misdirected impulse to shift from DB plans; [3] Better funded pension plans could make big allocation moves; and [4] Cities with highest unfunded pension liability. (Cypen & Cypen)  

PBGC Reviving Partition Authority Despite Limited Resources
"The agency has the authority to take responsibility for those companies that have gone out of business, called partition ability, but until now has only used this authority twice -- not because the agency does not want to help, but because its multiemployer program does not have adequate funds to do so.... However, according to [PBGC Director Joshua] Gotbaum, the agency has decided, even though it is clear it needs more resources, it will use its authority to help these plans." (PLANSPONSOR.com)  

Change in Average 401(k) Account Balances as of February 1, 2014 (PDF)
Report shows change in average account balances grouped by age and tenure, from January 1, 2012 through February 1, 2014, for 'consistent' participants (those who had an account balance as of December 31, 2011). (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

The Lasting Effects of the 'Great Recession' on Gen-Xers' Retirement Outlook
11 pages. Excerpt: "GenXers' median savings for retirement has dropped 15% in the last two years, from $70,400 in 2012 to $59,800 today. Currently, of those that have money saved for retirement, 42% of GenXers have less than $50,000 saved for retirement, up from 30% two years ago. Only two-thirds (65%) of GenXers have money saved for retirement, down from 72% two years ago.... More than four out of 10 (42%) respondents are not confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, up from 20% two years ago." (Insured Retirement Institute [IRI])  

[Opinion]

The New MyRA Roth IRA Proposal: What We Know So Far
"[T]he reality is that the new MyRA is unique in its ultra-low direct deposit contribution limits, and while its fixed-income investment option isn't ideal in the long-term, the MyRA is 'forced' into a private Roth IRA rollover that can be reinvested in a more diversified manner anyway once the account balance reaches $15,000. As a result, even if the program just gains limited traction, there may be a significant boost of $15,000 MyRA 'rollover planning' in just a few years." (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

[Opinion]

'Starter Plan' or Non-Starter Idea? Obama's 'MyRA' Proposal
"President Obama referenced a statistic that 32% of workers do not have access to employer retirement plans. Yet, these workers are able to open and contribute to a private-sector Roth IRA. This IRA works exactly like the proposed 'MyRA,' except that the 'MyRA' program is limited only to bonds. Is the government's true motive simply to have control over workers' assets?" (Roland|Criss)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by Pension Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries on Proposed Revision of ASOP No. 35 (PDF)
"The language [of Sections 2.6 and 2.7] regarding a Prescribed Method may be confusing to some actuaries.... Section 3.1 ... should state that an actuary is very often able to identify two or more reasonable assumptions... It is not clear why the language [of Section 3.5.1 and 3.5.2] was changed from 'the actuary should establish an appropriate balance between refined methodology and materiality' to 'the actuary should consider the balance between refined assumptions and materiality'... Section 4.4 ... should include a statement that the Principal is the party that determines what is confidential or what the actuary may disclose[.]" (American Academy of Actuaries)  

Trends in Realized/Realizable Pay Disclosure by the Top 250 Public Companies (PDF)
"The number of companies providing supplemental realized/realizable compensation tables or charts in their proxy statements more than doubled from 15 of the Top 250 (6%) in 2012 to 37 (15%) in 2013, indicating that disclosure of realized/realizable pay for companies' CEO s and other NEOs is a growing trend." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)  

Marsh & McLennan Agency Acquires Great Lakes Employee Benefit Services - Acquisition Expands MMA's Michigan Presence
McGraw Wentworth

Ascensus President and CEO Bob Guillocheau Recognized by Defined Contribution Market
Ascensus

New CMS Initiative To Improve Health Outcomes In Sparsely Populated Areas
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Segal Group Acquires Waters Consulting Group
The Segal Group

Shifting Mindset: Turning Retirement Savings into Retirement Income
Principal Financial Group

Securities and Exchange Commission Publishes Draft Strategic Plan For Public Comment
Securities and Exchange Commission

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