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Cammack Retirement Group
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Best Practices for 3(16), 3(21) and 3(38) Fiduciaries
March 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Transamerica Retirement Services)

Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities -- Day 1: Basic Fiduciary Responsibilities
March 19, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

The Facts to Combat the Fiction When Assessing Fiduciary Risk
March 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(Multnomah Group)

Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities -- Day 2: ERISA Reporting and Disclosure Provisions and Voluntary Correction Programs
March 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities -- Day 3: Basic Fiduciary Responsibilities
March 26, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

Oncology Management: The Aetna Experience in Personalized, Value-Based Care
April 9, 2014 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of DOL Supporting Statement for Information Collection via Focus Groups to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements (MS Word Doc)
"As part of this ICR, EBSA and CEO intend to conduct approximately eight to 10 focus group sessions with approximately 70 to 100 RPFs to small pension plans (those with less than 100 participants).... EBSA intends to use information collected from the focus groups to: (1) assess responsible plan fiduciaries' experience in receiving the 408(b)(2) regulation's required disclosures; (2) assess the effectiveness of these disclosures in helping plan fiduciaries make decisions; (3) determine how well plan fiduciaries understood the disclosures, especially in the small plan marketplace (100 participants or less); and (4) evaluate whether, and how, a guide, summary, or similar tool would help fiduciaries understand the disclosures. The focus group results will be used to inform and support the Department's notice of final rulemaking for the guide requirement." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor)  

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[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Finalizes Remaining New Premium Rules for 2014 (PDF)
"There is no stated limitations period for unpaid premiums based on the expiration of time from the premium due date. Rather, the PBGC generally has three years from the date on which it acquired or should have acquired actual knowledge of a cause of action to assert a claim." (Buck Consultants)  

Text of DOL's Draft Focus Group Script to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements (PDF)
"Issue Area #1: About your role... Issue Area #2: Your experience with receiving 408... Issue Area #3: Your understanding of the disclosures... Issue Area #4: Decision-making based on disclosures... Issue Area #5: Usefulness of disclosures." (U.S. Department of Labor, via The SPARK Institute)  

Fiduciary Process in Evaluating In-Plan Lifetime Income Guarantees
"In this paper, [the authors] discuss the steps for a prudent process for selecting a guaranteed lifetime income solution under [ERISA] and similar state laws applicable to government plans, and offer a proposed fiduciary checklist to assist in that process." (Drinker Biddle)  

Plan Overpayment = Disaster!
"A plan overpayment followed by a repayment also raises many tax questions. The answer to each question is, 'you lose!' ... The Code section that decrees taxability of retirement plan distributions has no exception for mistaken payments.... To be an eligible rollover distribution, the distribution must comprise benefits the individual is entitled to under the plan. Any other plan distribution is not eligible for rollover.... Unlike with the penalty for failure to take a minimum distribution, there is no procedure for IRS waiver of the excess IRA contribution penalty." (Natalie Choate in Morningstar Advisor)  

A Rule in Search of a Problem: Advisors Already Work in Clients' Best Interest
"As with the making of any rule, a thorough cost-benefit analysis should be a critical part of the process. In terms of cost, it is clear that the original [DOL fiduciary] proposal would have denied millions of Americans access to affordable retirement advice and services. By contrast, the intended benefit of the proposal remains tenuous at best. The DOL has characterized the proposal as a 'conflict of interest' rule to protect retirement plan participants and IRA owners from unscrupulous advisors who act in their own self-interest. However, recent research by IRI revealed that conflicts of interest are not a significant concern for American investors and that an overwhelming majority of people are highly satisfied with their relationship with their advisor." (Insured Retirement Institute [IRI])  

What Is Your Funded Status Goal? (PDF)
"[H]aving a clearly justified and documented funded status goal will make other plan-management decisions much easier. These include plan sponsor decisions about funding policy and investment committee decisions about to how to manage plan assets -- both while pursuing the goal, and after the goal has been reached. This paper helps make the case for including a funded status goal alongside the plan's benefit, contribution and investment policies. It also discusses a few examples of economic rationales for choosing one funded status goal over another, and why the goal may be very different for different types of plans." (Russell Investments)  

Accounting Implications of Offering a Lump-Sum Window to 'De-Risk' a Pension Plan
"Before pursuing [a lump sum window] 'de-risking' strategy, plan sponsors should examine the accounting implications, which include the duration of the plan's liabilities; the effect of asset liquidation on both asset duration (and the coordination with liability duration) and asset allocation; and amortization of gains and losses. This [article] discusses those accounting implications. It also covers an option for mitigating the negative accounting consequences of lump-sum windows: offering the window to only a portion of the terminated vested population." (Sibson Consulting)  

SEC Takes Action in Alleged Variable Annuities Scheme
"The SEC has accused Los Angeles-based broker Michael A. Horowitz and Brooklyn-based broker Moshe Marc Cohen of developing a strategy to exploit common features in variable annuities. Specifically, the agency said, the strategy focused on the so-called death benefit that is paid to the annuity's beneficiary if the annuitant dies and a bonus credit that the annuity issuer adds to the contract value based on a specified percentage of payments." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, March 13, 2014
Article titles include: Retirement security in an aging society; "WEP" could make you weep; Union updates lists of managers opposing defined benefit plans; and Potential problems for private equity funds. (Cypen & Cypen)  

[Opinion]

DOL Proposes Amendment as Response to Pro Forma and Unintelligible Service Provider Disclosures
"There can be no doubt the proposed amendment was influenced by the 100+ disclosures that the [DOL] has read ... since the original rule became effective.... Why bother with a guide? Why not a rule requiring service providers to describe their services, fees, status and relationships on no more than a few sheets of paper? Surely the service provider wordsmiths writing the current disclosures will have no problem doing this and imagine the sunshine that will flow into plan sponsor decision-making." (Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)  

Would an IRA Withdrawal Count as Income for Exchange Subsidies?
"Withdrawals from traditional or rollover IRAs would be considered income for the purposes of calculating modified adjusted gross income, the figure on which eligibility for premium tax credits on the exchanges is based ... A withdrawal from a Roth IRA, however, would not count as income in this case because the individual would already have paid taxes on that income when he made the retirement contribution.... [W]ithdrawing enough money from a taxable IRA to bring [an individual] up to the poverty level could enable him to qualify for premium tax credits." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)