McKay Hochman

Actuarial Specialist
CBIZ Benefits and Insurance Services, Inc.
in AZ

Executive Compensation Attorney
Harter Secrest & Emery LLP
in NY

Benefits Plan Analyst
Ballard Spahr LLP
in PA

Manager, Quality Assurance
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
in PA

Project Manager
The Newport Group
in FL, NC

Senior Account Executive Retirement Services
The Principal Financial Group
in NJ

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Wellness Programs; Understanding the Why, Knowing How and Making it Work
April 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(MentorHealth)

HITECH Compliance in a Mobile World
April 9, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - Appleton
April 30, 2014 in WI
(SunGard Relius)

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - Detroit
April 30, 2014 in MI
(SunGard Relius)

Washington Legislative Update
May 5, 2014 in DC
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Health Benefits Laws Compliance Assistance Seminar
May 13, 2014 in IA
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

Spring 2014 Policy Forum
May 15, 2014 in DC
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
May 21, 2014 in PA
(PEBA (Penjerdel Employee Benefits and Compensation Association))

Health Benefits Laws Compliance Assistance Seminar
July 8, 2014 in KY
(Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor)

2014 Advisor Conference
October 15, 2014 in TX
(Center for Due Diligence)

2014 Fall Forum
November 17, 2014 in AZ
(Ascensus)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Proposes Lifetime Benefit Rollover Option for DC Participant Account Balances
"Under the new proposal, benefits earned from a rollover generally would not be affected by PBGC's maximum guarantee limits. Currently the agency's maximum guaranteed benefit for a 65-year-old retiree is almost $59,320 a year.... The PBGC and other advocates hope that their proposed standards for lifetime income accounts can produce the benefits of a lifetime income with little risk to the recipients." (Solutions Law Press)  

[Advert.]

Happy National Employee Benefits Day!

Motivate your employees to make retirement planning a priority! The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans has helpful resources, interactive worksheets and useful tools to get your employees thinking about their future. Learn More.

Pending Supreme Court Case Could Make Company Stock Investments Toxic
"If the Supreme Court upholds the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in the case of Fifth Third Bancorp et al. vs. Dudenhoeffer, it also could discourage defined contribution plans from adding company stock to -- or keeping company stock in - their investment menus. However, if the high court reverses the appeals court, that would reinforce the barrier - already endorsed by several other appellate courts -- that participants face in proving a sponsor's fiduciary failure when the price of company stock in the plan falls." (Pensions & Investments)  

Fifth Third Bank's Reply Brief Frames the Issues Before the Supreme Court
"The core of the Reply ... is a return to the argument that the duty of prudence should be situational; that it depends on facts and circumstances that apply in the context of the plan at issue and the aims of that plan. Because an ESOP is, by definition, undiversified and primarily concerned with employee ownership, Fifth Third argues that the focus should be upon those unique characteristics, and not a duty of prudence that is inflexible." (James E. Arnold & Associates, LPA)  

Hope Floats: Eighth Circuit Reverses First Verdict Against Service Provider Based on Handling of Float Income
"The Eighth Circuit held that the terms of the plans broadly granted discretionary authority to ABB and that, therefore, ABB's decisions could not be disturbed so long as they were reasonable. However, the District Court had been largely silent as to the standard of review and its analysis gave little, if any, deference to ABB.... [The] Eighth Circuit held that failure was harmless with respect to the ruling against ABB regarding the amount of fees paid by the plans. The Eighth Circuit held that there was adequate evidence to support that decision, even allowing deference to ABB, including that ABB's own consultant warned ABB that the plans were overpaying Fidelity and that those payments might be subsidizing ABB's corporate expenses paid to Fidelity." (Alston & Bird, LLP)  

Eighth Circuit Affirms Judgment Against 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries for Excessive Recordkeeping Fees
"Certain aspects of the Appeals Court's holding are generally favorable to plan sponsors (for example, the court's discussion of 'improper hindsight bias' and its holding regarding the appropriate standard of review). Nevertheless, the ABB case illustrates the importance of having the plan sponsor's board of directors (or appropriate plan committee) meet regularly to ensure procedural due diligence, including with respect to the selection of investment options and the monitoring of recordkeeping fees." [Tussey v. ABB, Inc., No. 12-2056 (8th Cir. Mar. 19, 2014)] (McCarter & English)  

Pension Plans with Highest Equity Exposure Were Biggest Winners in 2013
"A 7.5% decrease in plan liabilities from higher discount rates and a 9.9% average return on plan assets combined to produce a historic $198.3 billion improvement in the funded status deficit from year-end [2012] In this unprecedented 'win-win' year, the plans with the highest allocations to equity investments performed the best. Although cash contributions in 2013 were $30 billion less than expected, the overall funded ratio still soared to 87.9% (92.3% for plans with calendar-year fiscal years)." (Milliman)  

Funded Status of Corporate Pensions Falls to 92.1 Percent
"The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan declined 0.5 percentage points in March 2014 to 92.1 percent as liabilities increased faster than assets ... [L]iabilities rose 0.7 percent, outpacing the 0.3 percent increase in assets during the month. Year to date, the funded status of corporate plans is down 3.1 percentage points[.]" (BNY Mellon)  

Pension Finance Update, as of March 31, 2014 (PDF)
"Pension finances deteriorated slightly in March, and both 'model' plans ... ended the first quarter of 2014 in modestly negative territory. Traditional 'Plan A' lost about 1% last month and is now down almost 4% for the year, and 'Plan B' slid less than 1% during March, ending the quarter almost 2% in the red.... (Plan A is a traditional plan (duration 12 at 5.5%) with a 60/40 asset allocation, while Plan B is a cash balance plan (duration 9 at 5.5%) with a 20/80 allocation with a greater emphasis on corporate and long-duration bonds.)" (October Three Consulting)  

Managing Risk and Opportunity: Trends and Challenges in Defined Benefit Plans (PDF)
"Mindset of DB plan management is shifting from a total return approach to the practice of managing assets and liabilities. Plan sponsors have begun to assess the value and risks of the pension obligations within the context of their core business. Risk management strategies appear to encompass three distinct categories: plan design, fund and investment, and settlement activities. Strategies employed will vary in structure and execution but may include: Liability Driven Investment (LDI) Strategies; Lump Sum Distributions; Annuities: Buy-ins and Buy-outs." (Millennium Trust Co.)  

DOL, Your Silence on DB Statements Is Deafening (PDF)
"Defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors are required to provide benefit statements at least every three years, but the DOL has not published the guidance it promised in August 2007.... As it stands today, there's no evidence that a single keystroke has been made to start the ball rolling. This delay has left plan sponsors adrift in what they hope is a safe harbor. However, in the absence of guidance, plan sponsors are going through the motions year after year, but are likely spending more time and money producing DB statements in order to play it safe." (Milliman)  

How Delaying Social Security Can Be the Best Long Term Investment or Annuity Money Can Buy
"The decision to delay Social Security isn't just about the value of delaying, but also about the money that must be spent from the portfolio to sustain spending in the meantime, and/or the decision to allocate money towards delaying Social Security and not towards other fixed income investments or a commercially available lifetime immediate annuity. Yet a deeper look reveals that when viewed from an investment perspective, the decision to delay Social Security actually represents an astonishingly valuable 'investment' return[.]" (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

Employee Ownership Update for April 1, 2014
Articles include: [1] Connecticut state Senate introduces bill to promote employee ownership; [2] Regulations on financing of buyouts to have "no exceptions"; and [3] ESOP-owned Full Sail Brewing named Craft Brewer of the Year. (National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])  

Your Retirement Planning Checklist
"Many who are planning their retirement need someplace to start -- a list to begin their thinking. The information in this article is just such a list and includes links to relevant content to help in this planning." (MarketWatch)  

Funding Ratio Progress Slowed Down for Corporate Pensions During First Quarter of 2014
"[The] U.S. Pension Fund Fitness Tracker saw the funding ratio of the typical corporate U.S. pension plan drop by approximately four percentage points to 91% in the first quarter of 2014.... Investment returns of 2.1% could not offset the 6.1% increase in liability values, causing pension plans to give back some of the gains made in 2013." (UBS AG, via BusinessWire)  

Are Small Businesses Paying Too Much in 401(k) Fees?
"[T]he majority (70%) of small business owners who review their fee disclosures feel prompted to comparison shop, and 29% said they plan to look for a new retirement plan provider.... [S]mall business owners who read their fee disclosure statements still consider 3% (on average) to be a reasonable price to pay.... 35% of small business owners said they negotiated or plan to negotiate better pricing with their current plan provider... 82% of businesses reported that at least some employees took action as a result of their 401(k) fee disclosure notice." (ShareBuilder 401k)  

Corporate Pension Plans Are Healthier, But They're Still Dying
"Although most public-sector workers still have traditional pensions, just 35 percent of Fortune 1000 corporations had active plans in 2011, down from 59 percent in 2011 ... The most worrisome trend is de-risking moves involving retirees, who live on fixed incomes." (Reuters)  

With Target-Date Funds, Is It Tracking Error or Different Expectations?
"When gauging an index fund and how true to the benchmark it performs, institutional investors often check the fund's tracking error, or the difference between the performance of the fund and its index.... With a Target Retirement Fund, it's a little different. Even though it's a fund of index funds, the fundamental objective of each Target Retirement Fund is to manage the allocations of its various index funds according to a set methodology, not to precisely follow a benchmark." (Vanguard)  

Chicago Pension Compromise Would Boost Contributions
"The deal with the unions is intended to improve funding for the municipal plan, which is 38% funded, and the laborers plan, which is 58% funded. Workers participating in the two plans would see their contributions rise 0.5% each of the next five years to 11% of pay from the current 8.5%. The deal also would increase the city's contribution to the two pension funds by a fixed amount each year until 2020, when the city would have to put in the amount required by actuaries to have 90% funding for both plans." (Pensions & Investments)  

DOL Cracks Down on Employer 401(k) Issues
"Although Labor Department officials ... say the majority of cases are errors in reporting and do not result in civil lawsuits, the numbers of benefit plan cases investigated (of all kinds) are still impressive: the DOL closed 3,677 investigations in 2013, with nearly 73 percent of those resulting in monetary fines or other corrective action. Lawsuits were filed in 111 of those cases. The department says it is working to educate employers about how to avoid errors, including conducting seminars and providing information on the DOL website." (Treasury & Risk)  

[Opinion]

Why Even the Supreme Court Can't Fix Your 401(k)
"[E]ven if the Supreme Court [in the upcoming case of Tibble v. Edison International] addresses the broader question of whether choosing higher-fee funds over identical lower-fee alternatives is a breach of the fiduciary duty that plan sponsors have to their participants, it still won't address the key problem with 401(k) plans: that your employer has so much control over the account in the first place.... As policymakers consider reforms to employer-sponsored retirement funds, the real question is whether employers need to be part of the retirement savings process at all." (Motley Fool)  

Morningstar, Inc. Acquires ByAllAccounts, Inc., Provider of Innovative Data Aggregation Technology for Financial Applications
Morningstar, Inc.

Maestro First to Feature New Solution For Employer Sponsored Healthcare Market
Maestro Healthcare Technology

Willis Strengthens Global Human Capital and Benefits Practice with Alan Hewitt Hire
Willis

Bank of America Merrill Lynch 401(k) Scorecard Finds Employees and Employers Taking Action to Improve Financial Wellness
Bank of America

The Segal Group Expands Retiree Health Services
The Segal Group

Financial Education and Retirement Security Top Priorities for Employers in 2014
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Fidelity Breaks Sales Record Of Small- And Mid-Sized Defined Contribution Plans, Ending 2013 With $8.9 Billion in New Assets
Fidelity Investments

Newly Released Pentegra Retirement Services / Harris Poll Survey Results
Pentegra Retirement Services

View All Press Releases