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University of California Office of the President
in CA

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The Online 401(k)
in CA

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ASPire Financial Services LLC
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Tracking Full-Time Employees for Employer Play or Pay: Look-Back Measurement Under Final IRS Regulations
March 6, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Roadmap to Compliance with the Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions under the Affordable Care Act
March 25, 2014 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

Roth Contributions: New Opportunities and Pitfalls
March 27, 2014 WEBCAST
(American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA))

Claims Under the Affordable Care Act: Understanding Liability in a Whole New World
March 27, 2014 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

30th International Congress of Actuaries
March 30, 2014 in DC
(International Actuarial Association)

Top Ten Most Common Section 409A Pitfalls
April 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(King & Spalding LLP)

HIPAA Compliance: Are You Ready if a Breach Occurs? Privacy, Security, HITECH, Record Retention and Preparedness for a Compliance Audit
April 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Final Regs on Premium Rates; Payment of Premiums; Reducing Regulatory Burden
"Based on its regulatory review ... PBGC proposed to simplify due dates, coordinate the due date for terminating plans with the termination process, make conforming and clarifying changes to the variable-rate premium rules, give small plans more time to value benefits, provide for relief from penalties, and make other changes. PBGC recently finalized the part of the proposal that eliminated the early payment requirement for large plans' flat-rate premiums. This action finalizes the rest of the proposal." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

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Judge Finds No 'Vested Right' to Spiked California Pensions
"A [California] superior court judge ... said he plans to uphold a key part of a new state law that curbs 'spiking' in county retirement systems, notorious for giving retirees pensions that are much higher than the salaries they earned on the job.... Current workers cannot have a 'vested right' to pension increases that violate the 1937 act covering the 20 independent county retirement systems. If the ruling is upheld on appeal, labor attorneys said they will seek a refund of employee contributions and employer contributions, negotiated in lieu of pay, that actuaries imposed to cover pensions boosted by cashing out leave time." (Calpensions)  

Amicus Briefs Supporting Fifth Third Bank in Stock Drop Case Focus on the Government's Brief
"The brief from the Chamber of Commerce (along with other groups like the ERISA Industry Committee) focuses on how 'ordinary measures of prudence' do not apply to employer stock funds because they are, by definition and as recognized in ERISA, undiversified.... The most notable amicus brief, however, may have been the brief from Delta Air Lines, which focused upon a concession from the Solicitor's brief -- that a plaintiff 'cannot state a claim merely because the company or industry was suffering financial difficulties.' Delta asserts that this concession paints the government into a corner -- in light of that concession, it's unclear 'how fiduciaries and companies will be protected against such litigation going forward' unless the presumption applies." (James E. Arnold & Associates, LPA)  

Conducting an Effective Advisor RFP Process (PDF)
"[T]he advisor RFP appears to be on a fast track to become the preferred method for conducting an advisor search or documenting that an existing advisor is qualified to meet an individual plan's specific needs.... [The authors] see four primary plan sponsor motivations for engaging in an advisor RFP process: [1] Plan changes over time.... [2] Increased fiduciary burden.... [3] Market intelligence.... [4] Formality of process." (CAPTRUST Financial Advisors)  

Most Households Favor Retaining Tax Incentives for DC Plans
"About nine out of 10 households with DC accounts agreed that these plans helped them think about the long term and made it easier to save. More than four in 10 DC-owning households indicated they probably would not be saving for retirement if not for their DC plans. In addition, saving paycheck-by-paycheck made 68% of DC-owning households surveyed less worried about the stock market." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

Obama Budget Includes MyRAs, Auto IRAs; Would Limit Retirement Savings Tax Breaks
"The tax provisions ... would cap how much Americans could accumulate in tax-preferred retirement savings, putting a ceiling of about $200,000 on the annual retirement income that could be generated by such savings.... The budget also addressed Social Security, urging the House to pass an immigration overhaul that budget documents said would reduce the program's shortfall ... by adding younger workers to the workforce." (Bloomberg BNA)  

The IRA Type That No One Really Needs
"[T]he nondeductible Traditional IRA has never been a particularly useful vehicle, even for high-income savers. Instead, its main utility is as a conduit, for those who can't make a direct Roth contribution and intend to convert their Traditional IRAs to Roth. If such a conversion doesn't make sense, investors are almost always better off skipping the IRA wrapper altogether and investing in a taxable account instead." (Morningstar)  

How 'WEP' Could Upset Your Retirement Plans
"When you have contributed to both Social Security at one job and a pension plan at any job where you didn't pay Social Security taxes, the monthly Social Security benefit you receive will fall short of what your annual statements project -- and you're unlikely to know it until you file for Social Security benefits. This applies mostly to workers who began federal, state and local government jobs before 1984 or have worked abroad. It also affects public-service workers in more than a dozen states who still pay into a pension fund rather than Social Security, as it does some people working for nonprofit agencies that don't contribute to Social Security." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

The IRA Investor Profile: Traditional IRA Investors' Activity, 2007-2012 (PDF)
76 pages. Excerpt: "Although account balances fell considerably following the stock market decline in 2008, the average traditional IRA balance for traditional IRA investors aged 25 to 69 with account balances in all years between 2007 and 2012 was higher at year-end 2012 than at year-end 2007. The change in traditional IRA balances reflects contributions, rollovers, withdrawals, and investment returns." (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, March 6, 2014
Articles include: [1] Cost-of-Living Adjustments; [2] Supplemental Retirement Plans Offered by City and County Governments; [3]  Munnell Says All Is Not Fine with Pension Coverage; [4]  Recent Pension Reform Efforts in Four States with Diverse Political Climates; and [5] Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 Does Not Preclude Plaintiffs' State Law Class Actions. (Cypen & Cypen)  

Time to Consider a Collective Trust?
"CITs are investment vehicles in which assets from multiple plans can be commingled into one trust.... [T]hey're only available as an investment option within employer-sponsored plans that have negotiated an agreement with the CIT provider.... [T]he appeal of CITs for plan sponsors and fiduciaries is generally a lower expense profile and an improved ability, especially for larger plans, to create unique investment funds that address the needs of real plan participants in a more refined way then retail target-date funds." (PLANADVISER.com)  

Public Pension Red Alert
"Public pension funds have posted double-digit gains four of the last five years, and asset levels have never been higher. Yet government pension costs are soaring as the bills that politicians postponed during the hard economic times come due." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

Philadelphia Archdiocese Freezes Teachers' Pension Plan
"The Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese has frozen a defined-benefit pension plan for its 8,500 parochial school teachers and support staff. The move comes as the archdiocese wrestles with a $150 million pension deficit.... Without the weight of those accruing benefits, the archdiocese hopes to close the deficit over time by continuing to contribute 4.5% of each employee's paycheck." (Business Management Daily; free registration required)  

How to Make $1 Million Last Through Retirement
"[E]ven if you have $1 million or more set aside for retirement, figuring out how much to withdraw each year is a challenge.... Should I follow the 4% rule? ... Are there better alternatives to the 4% rule? ... What's a good investment mix?" (Fidelity)  

[Opinion]

Washington: Put Your (Retirement) Money Where Your Mouth Is
"The Administration's 'myRA' looks to provide a new option for Americans who want to put money aside for retirement, but who might not have access to a retirement plan through their workplace.... But creating new opportunities will do little good if Washington limits the very incentives that have created the vibrant retirement savings system we have today.... President Obama again is proposing to cap the incentives for retirement savings that have been central to the success of employer-provided retirement plans." (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

IRS Finalizes Section 83 Regs for Compensation, FICA, and Pension Funding Rules (PDF)
"The definition of 'substantial risk of forfeiture' for purposes of the deferred compensation rules in Code section 409A ... also provides, in part, that compensation is subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture if the right to the deferred amount is conditioned on either the performance (but not the refraining from performance) of substantial future services (i.e., a length-of-service requirement) or the occurrence of a condition related to the purpose of the compensation (e.g., a performance requirement) and the possibility of forfeiture is substantial.... Although its position is unknown at this point, the IRS ultimately may expand the regulations for sections 409A and 457(f) to mirror the positions in the final section 83 regulation." (Buck Consultants)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by ABA Business Law Section to SEC on Proposed Pay Ratio Rules (PDF)
55 pages. Excerpt: "We believe that the Commission has appropriately proposed -- and ultimately should adopt -- rules that afford registrants reasonable flexibility in preparing and presenting the mandated pay ratio disclosure. More specifically, given the difficulties likely to be encountered by many registrants in collecting the data necessary to prepare the required disclosure, as well as the reality that the compliance alternatives contemplated by the proposals minimize meaningful comparability across registrants, many of our comments and recommendations are based on our view that uniformity of the pay ratio disclosures among registrants should not be the paramount goal of the final rules." (Business Law Section, American Bar Association)  

[Opinion]

What Looks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck
"All too often the defense of executive pay is presented as a series of formulaic methodologies to be utilized by corporate leadership (with the support of consultant intervention) to refute their critics. However, even as these diverse calculations try to make their point the wider audience remains confused, skeptical and unconvinced, so how has the argument been advanced? The executive reward process will still look bad." (Compensation Cafe)  

NBCH Names Health Care Analyst and Commentator Brian Klepper New CEO
National Business Coalition on Health

CEFEX and fi360 Provide Details of Certification Program to SEC Office for Compliance Inspections And Examinations
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

October Three Joins Abelica Global as U.S. Member Firm
October Three, LLC

LOMA Secure Retirement Institute Introduces Latest Retirement Course
LOMA

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