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Team Manager - DC Compliance
Charles Schwab
in OH, TX

Conversion Specialist I
Verisight, Inc.
in CA

Senior Investment Analyst (Trades)
The Newport Group
in FL

401K Client Service Representative
Ascensus
in PA

401K Account Manager
Ascensus
in PA

401K Account Executive
Ascensus
in MN

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Overview of the 2013 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Phone Forum
March 13, 2014 WEBCAST
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

HSAs, HRAs, and Consumer-Driven Health Care
April 23, 2014 in CA
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Health Care Reform
April 24, 2014 in CA
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Basics of Qualified Retirement Plans
April 24, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

Plan Loans and In-Service Distributions
May 15, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

New Pension Statements from GASB (PDF)
"GASB's intent in publishing [Statement No. 67, effective for financial statement periods beginning after June 15, 2013, and Statement No. 68, effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2014,] was to improve the transparency and consistency of pension information reported by state and local governments and pension plans. The Statements apply to both defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans that are administered through trusts meeting all of the following criteria: Employer contributions are irrevocable; Trust assets are dedicated to providing pension benefits to plan participants; and Trust assets are protected from creditors of the employers, plan administrator and plan participants." (Prudential)  

[Advert.]

P&I's East Coast DC Conference – Mar 2-4 Miami

Get ahead in your efforts to provide an adequate retirement income for your plan participants. Hear from experts on the most pressing investment, legislative, plan design and communication issues. Register today at www.pionline.com/DCE2014.

The 'Fiduciary' Fad: Can Anyone Be a Fiduciary?
"The movement toward outsourcing fiduciary responsibility is not the problem. ERISA actually intended for plan sponsors to lean on vendors who are experts in their respective fields, to 'designate other persons to carry out fiduciary responsibilities...under the plan' [ERISA Section 405(c)(1)]. The issue is that the market of qualified outsourced fiduciary providers is becoming increasingly murky." (Roland|Criss)  

Increased Fair Value Disclosure for Certain Employee Benefit Plan Assets
"Recent revisions to accounting standards on fair value require increased disclosure requirements for Level 3 Plan assets. Level 3 Plan assets are defined as assets that have unobservable inputs and therefore do not have a readily determinable fair value (for example, real estate holdings, private equity funds or certain guaranteed investment contracts). The new disclosures expand upon the reconciliation of beginning to ending balances of Level 3 assets to gross up and report separately [certain items]." (WithumSmith+Brown, PC)  

Boomerang Employees: Rehires and Retirement Plan Administration (PDF)
"The first step in this analysis is to determine whether the worker is truly a rehire. You may be thinking that it is pretty obvious, but there can be some ambiguity about whether there was a termination in the first place. If there wasn't, there can be no rehire. Let's consider several scenarios. [1] Leave of Absence ... [2] Inconsistent work schedule ... [3] Transfers." (AKT Retirement Plan Services)  

Cashing Out Can Derail Retirement: Employees in Transition Need Help (PDF)
"[O]ne out of three job changers cashed out some or all of their workplace savings potentially causing a long-term impact to their retirement security.... [Y]ounger, lower compensated, lower balance participants are cashing out at the highest rates, a trend that has remained consistent over the last 5 years.... [T]he percentage of participants between the ages of 20 and 29 who cashed out some or all of their plan assets is 44%. Cash-out rates for those in their thirties and forties are at 38% and 33%, respectively." (Fidelity Investments)  

The 401(k) Cash-Out: A Brewing Retirement Savings Crisis?
"[Recent data from] Fidelity Investments shows that 35 percent of all participants in plans it administers cashed out their 401(k) balances when leaving their jobs last year, and the trend was even worse for young and lower-income workers. Four out of 10 workers (41 percent) age 20 to 39 cashed out, and 51 percent of workers who left jobs grossing under $30,000 cashed out.... HelloWallet ... analyzed Federal Reserve data and found that $60 billion was cashed out from workplace plans in 2010, up from $36 billion in 2004." (Reuters)  

Borrowing from the Future: 401(k) Plan Loans and Loan Defaults
"Most active 401(k) plan participants have the option of borrowing from their retirement accounts, and nearly 40 percent do so over a five-year period.... [E]mployers' loan rules have a strong endorsement effect on borrowing patterns; that is, in plans allowing multiple loans, participants are more likely to borrow and take out larger loans. While the liquidity-constrained are most likely to borrow, better-off employees take out larger loans when they do borrow. [The authors] also provide a new estimate of loan default 'leakage' at $6 billion annually." (Pension Research Council, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; free registration required)  

Goodyear Freezes U.S. Hourly Pension Plans, Vulcanizes DB Plans with $1.15 Billion
"Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. [of] Akron, Ohio, ... has contributed $1.15 billion to its U.S. defined benefit pension plans since the beginning of 2014 ... The contribution, which fully funds the company's U.S. hourly pension plans ... allows the company to freeze that plan to future benefit accruals effective April 30.... Now that the U.S. pension plans are frozen and fully funded, spokesman Keith Price said the company is considering making a lump-sum offer to vested participants who have yet to retire. He added Goodyear is not considering a bulk annuity purchase similar to the high-profile buyouts by General Motors and Verizon." (Pensions & Investments)  

Alaska Airlines Freezes DB Plan for Non-Union Salaried Employees
"Alaska Airlines does not plan on making any contributions in 2014 to its four pension funds, which have a combined $1.8 billion in assets. The plans were 104% funded at the end of 2013, up from 82% a year earlier. The airline contributed $620 million over the past five years, including $83 million last year. All four plans are closed." (Pensions & Investments)  

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, February 13, 2014
Articles include: [1] Towers Watson global pension assets study; [2] A brief history of retirement in the U.S.; [3] How do subjective longevity expectations influence retirement plans? and [4] Taxation of Social Security benefits. (Cypen & Cypen)  

MLB Owners Voted to Allow Teams to Cut Pensions of Non-Players
"Major League Baseball owners, despite earning more than $8 billion in revenue in 2013, voted in January to allow individual teams to slash or eliminate pension-plan offerings to their non-uniformed personnel. The vote, tabled a year earlier when the intention became public, quietly took place Jan. 16 ... The retirement plans of any baseball employee not wearing a big league uniform may be affected by the decision, including secretaries, scouts, front-office executives, and minor league staff." (ESPN)  

For State-Funded Service Providers, New York's Limitations on Executive Compensation and Administrative Expenses Are Now in Effect (PDF)
"Since only covered providers are subject to the new limits and filing requirements, the agencies recommend -- but do not require -- using their Covered Provider Determination Worksheet to determine whether an individual/entity qualifies as a covered provider.... An individual/entity does not become a covered provider simply because it is in the same corporate family (including parent and subsidiary corporations) as a covered provider. Such an individual/entity may, however, be a covered provider if it receives a sufficient level of state funding or payments from a covered provider rather than directly from a state agency." (Buck Consultants)  

Ensuring Best Practices for Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans
"Plan sponsors may want to examine employer contributions and whether participants need to be kept on a strict schedule, with penalties imposed for voluntary terminations (i.e., the participant decides to leave the company). In addition, plan sponsors may want to consider whether the offering of signing bonuses or other types of compensation is the right move for them.... [It] is also important to consider what types of investments are being offered to participants." (PLANSPONSOR.com)  

High-Profile State Exchanges Considered Poor Performers in Updated State Healthcare Exchange “Report Card”
Decision Resources Group

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Receives Top Marks from Advisors, Plan Sponsors and Industry Associations
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services

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