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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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Don't File Your W-3s Just Yet: Verify Deferrals First
"In no event should plan sponsors neglect to ensure the completeness and accuracy of their [401(k) or 403(b)] deferral deposits, just because they know that their auditor will do it. Plan sponsors' internal controls must operate independently of the audit process to properly prevent and detect errors in plan operations.... The DOL has stated that timeliness of deposits is a case-by-case determination, and that the 15th business day of the following month was never intended to be a safe harbor. Deferral deposits are no place to lose the race."
(Belfint Lyons & Shuman, CPAs)
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[Advert.]
ASPPA On Tour -- Coming to a City Near You!
ASPPA on Tour is the ultimate conference experience for retirement plan professionals. With the perfect balance of national and regional content, each of our five stops will stimulate, motivate and challenge you. Registration is now open!
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The Impact of Interest Rates on Single-Employer DB Plan Costs (PDF)
"The relief provided by MAP-21 is temporary. Interest rates have been predicted to increase due to the expected change in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy with an improving economy. This, in conjunction with the mechanics of how the MAP-21 interest rates are determined, will result in a diminishing impact of MAP-21 funding relief over the next few years."
(Ekon Benefits)
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[Guidance Overview]
For Some Plans, Sun Is Setting on PPA 2006 Multiemployer Funding Rules
"The sunset contains a continuation clause to keep the expiring provisions in place for plans that are in the yellow or red zone and are operating under an FIP or RP in the 2014 plan year.... If the sunset occurs, the impact on plans that were in the green zone in their 2014 plan year is relatively clear: these plans will continue to operate under the funding rules for financially healthy plans put into place by PPA '06. They will not revert to the pre-PPA '06 funding rules, nor will the PPA '06 single-employer plan rules apply to them.... The impact of the sunset on plans that are subject to the continuation clause is less clear."
(Segal)
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Survey Results: DC Plan Participants' Activities During First Three Quarters of 2013 (PDF)
"Only 1.4 percent of DC plan participants took hardship withdrawals during the first three quarters of 2013, the same share as in the first three quarters of 2012.... Only 2.5 percent of DC plan participants stopped contributing in the first three quarters of 2013, compared with 2.1 percent during the first three quarters of 2012 and 2.2 percent during the first three quarters of 2011.... DC plan participants' loan activity continues to remain elevated compared with five years ago."
(Investment Company Institute [ICI])
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Can We Fix the 'California Rule' for Public Employee Pensions?
"[T]he California rule distorts what the salary/pension mix would otherwise be ... [P]ublic employee compensation may already be too pension-heavy, and the rule makes it more so by freezing pensions in times of retrenchment.... So what fixes are available? A flexible definition of benefits.... Short-term contracts... State constitutional amendment.... Changing state caselaw.... Privatization.... Defined-contribution pensions."
(The Washington Post; subscription may be required)
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The Crisis in Pensions and Retirement Plans
Infographic and text. Topics include: A brief history of retirement in the U.S.... Facts and Stats... State and Local Government Pensions... Social Security... Countries with strongest pension programs (based on 2013 pensions, both public and private)... U.S. is #11.... Can we learn anything from Australia?
(Accounting-degree.org)
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[Opinion]
Ideas to Make Retirement Possible
"If [the] trend continues, the proportion of retirees without pension benefits will grow rapidly in years to come. The phenomenon of people working longer and longer -- assuming they can hold on to jobs -- will most likely accelerate. Even those with substantial retirement assets may worry how they will fare if they live for a long time.... There is nothing wrong with people working as long as they wish. But there is something wrong with people needing to work long after they want to retire."
(Floyd Norris in The New York Times; subscription may be required)
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[Opinion]
Obama's 'MyRA' Plan Is a Start, But It Won't Save Retirement
"I'm concerned that folks may think that saving $5, $10 or even $20 every paycheck will be enough even over 30 years. It won't be. If workers get used to saving small amounts of money, they may not stretch themselves to do more. They may fall victim to the set-it-and-forget-it syndrome. I'm also troubled about the low returns on the Government Securities Investment Fund. Yes, it's safe. But your investment dollars have to at least keep pace with inflation. If you want to earn a higher return, you have to take some risk with your investments."
(Michelle Singletary in The Washington Post; subscription may be required)
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[Opinion]
Hopefully MyRA's Ends Will Justify Its Unprecedented Means
"[It] remains to be seen whether this pilot program really IS different enough -- and sufficiently needed -- to serve a genuine purpose as a missing link in the retirement saving chain.... An executive order ... will be lacking in scrutiny and debate, [have] little opportunity for refinement, and [have] no history to help in its interpretation and execution. The extensive body of U.S. retirement plan law and regulations did not have origins as a state-of-the-union surprise. As imperfect as this body of law might be, it can never be characterized as arbitrary, unilateral, or as legislating by decree."
(Todd Berghuis for Ascensus)
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[Opinion]
Recent Retirement Savings Proposals: Varied Approaches But a Common Goal
"Despite their varied approaches to the common-stated goal of expanding retirement savings, all three [recent proposals] do have one other key commonality: All look to leverage the success of the work place and systematic payroll deductions in fostering retirement savings.... [T]hat's a foundation whose worth ... research has documented: the impact that eligibility for a work place retirement plan can have on retirement readiness, as well as the additional help that automatic-enrollment designs can provide."
(Nevin Adams via EBRI)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Second Circuit Reinforces Broad Scope of ERISA Preemption
"[O]ne of the more significant aspects of the opinion is its focus on the fact that preemption is invoked by any state regulations that dictate plan terms, reporting or benefits in a manner that places the plan at risk of having to comply with multiple conflicting state requirements, as well as ERISA's own requirements. This is a broad holding that reinforces this widely applied, but often contested, rule of ERISA preemption, and extends beyond the narrow, specific confines of the specific state reporting requirements at issue in [this case]." [Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Donegan, No.12-4881-cv (2nd Cir. Feb. 4, 2014)]
(Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)
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ISS Implements New Compensation and Governance Factors in QuickScore 2.0
"ISS will now assess director compensation levels on a relative basis. ISS will measure the average director pay (based on the director compensation table as disclosed in the proxy) as a multiple of the median pay of the ISS-selected peers. ISS did not disclose the level of multiple that will be considered harmful to QuickScore 2.0 ratings.... ISS will now consider whether the company's most recent Say-on-Pay received shareholder support below the index industry level, compared to results of 4-digit GICS groups, and the S&P 500, S&P 400, S&P 600, Russell 3000 -- excluding S&P 1500 indices."
(Steven Hall & Partners)
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Share Utilization at Fortune 500 Companies: Full-Value Awards on the Rise
"While overhang levels continued to fall in the most recent period studied, both run rate and the fair value of long-term incentive (LTI) awards remained exactly the same as the previous year. Meanwhile, the ongoing shift in the equity mix from appreciation awards (e.g., stock options) to full-value awards (e.g., restricted shares/units and performance-based shares) makes it clear that companies favor full-value awards more than ever."
(Towers Watson)
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Press Releases
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