ASPPA & Western Benefits Conference

401K Account Executive
Ascensus
in MN

Senior Defined Contribution (DC) Analyst
Retirement Horizons Inc.
in TX

401K Client Service Representative
Ascensus
in PA

Benefit Account Executive - Health and Welfare
Nationally Owned Company in Plymouth, MN
in MN

Client Service Representative - Retirement Department
A Nationally Owned Company in Plymouth, MN
in MN

Director, Health & Welfare Plans
Catholic Health Partners
in OH

Regional Vice President, Sales
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in IN, KY, OH, PA, WV

Retirement Plan Administrator
RPS Benefits
in MO

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Retirement for the AGES: Measuring for Success
April 28, 2014 in DC
(American Academy of Actuaries)

ESOPs: A Briefing for Professional Advisors
May 7, 2014 WEBCAST
(Beyster Institute)

2014 Webinar: Establishing and Amending IRAs
May 8, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

Washington Update
May 13, 2014 in OH
(ASPPA Benefits Council of Cleveland)

ASPPA Restructuring Proposal - What It Means to ASPPA's 'Traditional' Members
May 13, 2014 WEBCAST
(American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA))

PPA Pre-Approved Plans Workshop - Corbel Documents - Boston
May 14, 2014 in MA
(SunGard Relius)

401(k) Plan Workshop 2014 - Boston
May 15, 2014 in MA
(SunGard Relius)

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - Boston
May 16, 2014 in MA
(SunGard Relius)

Consumer Engagement Best Practices: Health Plan Strategies for Improving Outcomes and Generating Savings
June 4, 2014 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

Benefits Conference, Chicago
June 8, 2014 in IL
(University Conference Services)

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Deadlines Coming for Multinationals' Retirement Plans and U.S. Taxpayers with Foreign Financial Interests
"The enforcement mechanism for FATCA is a new 30 percent withholding tax on U.S. source investments of [foreign financial institutions (FFIs)], including investments of foreign retirement plans. The tax applies not just on dividends, but on the gross proceeds of the plan's U.S. investments and not just on the U.S. taxpayer participant's interest in the plan, but rather on the plan's total U.S. source income. Paying agents will start withholding on July 1, 2014, unless given notice that the recipient foreign retirement plan is in compliance with FATCA. Funded foreign retirement plans are considered to be FFIs subject to FATCA, with some important exceptions." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)  

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Sign-up for our 3rd Annual ftwilliam.com Customer Conference, August 3-5 in downtown Chicago! Earn CE credits while learning about the latest industry news and trends, interacting with your peers, and learning more about your ftwilliam.com software tools.

PBGC Secures $208M for Saint-Gobain Retirees
"Under a settlement with the [PBGC], Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc., has made $207.5 million of additional contributions to its pension plan.... The settlement will help preserve the plan and resolves PBGC's concerns about the plan's sponsor being sold to a company with fewer financial resources.... PBGC pressed the parties for better funding because the sale put retirement benefits at risk by moving the plan from a financially strong sponsor to Ardagh [(a Luxembourg-based glass and metal packaging company)], which carries a high level of debt. When the parties [had] declined to provide financial protection for the plan, PBGC took steps to terminate the plan to protect retirement benefits." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

Detroit Makes Deal on Pensions with Retired Police, Firefighters
"The city retreated from an earlier proposed 6 percent cut in pensions and the elimination of the 2.25 percent cost-of-living payment. Leaders of the Retired Detroit Police and Fire Fighters Association, which has more than 6,000 members, endorsed the deal along with creation of a health plan. Bill Nowling, a spokesman for emergency manager Kevyn Orr ... said Detroit believes it can afford the compromise partly because the pension fund's financial performance has improved along with Wall Street markets." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

2014 Survey of DC Plan Consulting Support and Trends (PDF)
"Fastest-growing DC areas reported by consultants include: Total plan cost/fee studies; DC investment design; Investment default asset allocation creation (e.g., target dates, balanced fund); DC recordkeeping searches; [and] Manager selection and monitoring... Consultants believe that the perceived mitigation of fiduciary risk (72%) and the ability to hand over reins on investments (66%) are the leading drivers of growth for outsourced CIO or discretionary oversight of assets.... The majority of consultants (59%) indicate that some or most of their plan sponsor clients prefer to retain retiree assets. Over a fifth (21%) indicate that some or a majority actively seek to retain these assets. Only two firms (4%) reported that the majority of their clients prefer that retirees move out of their plan." (PIMCO)  

Employee Ownership Update for April 15, 2014
Topics include: [1] Supreme Court hears oral arguments on presumption of prudence; [2] Definitive study of ESOP survival published; and [3] New data on employee ownership in Europe. (National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])  

[Advert.]

Learn, Network and Sell at the SPARK National Conference

Join senior executives from leading retirement services firms for unequaled networking, educational and sales opportunities. Gain insights into the latest market trends, business strategies, regulatory and legislative issues, and product developments. June 15-17. Register now.

Program Audio and Presentations from 2014 ICI Retirement Summit: 'A Close Look at Retirement Preparedness in America'
Includes links to audio recordings (mp3) and PDF of presentations titled: [1] Americans' Retirement Resources; [2] Consumption During Retirement; [3] Social Security Financial Status: Benefit Options; [4] Medical Spending in Later Life; [5] A New World of Retirement Risks; [6] Raising Retirement Security in a Heterogeneous Population; [7] Are Retirees Falling Short? Reconciling the Conflicting Evidence; [8] A Close Look at Retirement Preparedness in America; [9] Measuring Optimal Savings Using a Life-Cycle Model of Consumption; [10] Economic Preparation for Retirement; and [11] Four Views of Retirement Preparation. (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

BrightScope Goes on Hiring Spree to Capture Revenues from Hot New Market
"[T]he ultimate proof that BrightScope may finally have gotten on track to a bright future as a data company are late developments about who is seeking the better data that it sells -- the 401(k) providers and recordkeepers themselves. The firm has 25 enterprise clients described as recordkeepers and asset managers who want BrightScope, Inc. to clean up their fragmented data making it cleaner and easier to read. They also want BrightScope to help them use the data to increase sales. By the end of the year, BrightScope hopes to have 40 of these big clients[.]" (RIABiz)  

S&P 500 Company Pension Plans' Funding Ratio Jumps to Nearly 90% in 2013
"Using 10-K filings by companies in the S&P 500 index that have defined benefit pension plans, the latest study reveals the aggregate funding ratio of those plans jumped to 89.8% at the end of 2013. It is a dramatic 12.2 percentage point increase from the 77.6% aggregate funding ratio reported as of Dec. 31, 2012." (Pensions & Investments)  

Pension Funded Status Drops by $5 Billion in March
"The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans dropped by $5 billion during March ... The deficit increased to $266 billion from $261 billion at the end of February, due to both a drop in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value pension liabilities and flat asset returns during March. As of March 31, the funded ratio fell to 84.0%, down from 84.3% at the end of February." (Milliman)  

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BenefitsLink app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch now available!

Stay up-to-date while you're on the go with the BenefitsLink App -- now available for iPad, iPhone 5, and iPod touch.

Marching to Retirement Without a Plan
"The [National Compensation Survey (NCS)] shows that 78 percent of full-time workers, ages 25 through 64, have some type of defined benefit or defined contribution plan available to them at work. But that's the rosiest way to slice the data. The share of employees who are covered slides to 48 percent when public-sector, often unionized, workers are stripped out of the NCS; when part-time, private-sector workers are added in; and when one counts only the share who actually participate in an employer plan when it's offered to them." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by American Benefits Council to Treasury Department on Proposed Liquidity Shortfall/Funding Regs (PDF)
"[T]he proposed regulation, Section 1.430(j)-1(f), Example 11, Paragraph (iii), states that ... the contribution continues to be required even though the shortfall no longer exists, contrary to the applicable statutory language ... Application of such a rule would lead to plan sponsors having to make disproportionate contributions, in many cases contributing for the exact same shortfall multiple times. This is not consistent with the statute, prior interpretations of the same language, or sound administration of the law." (American Benefits Council)  

[Opinion]

Wall Street Journal is Wrong About Public Pensions
"[CalPERS] relied on IMPLAN, the most widely employed and accepted regional economic analysis software for predicting economic impacts.... [They input] total benefits paid in California (more than $12.7 billion) into IMPLAN to arrive at a 2.39 economic multiplier and the 113,664 jobs created.... CalPERS benefits (retirees spending their pensions) returned $10.85 in economic activity to California for each taxpayer dollar (public funds) contributed to the system. The total economic revenue generated by CalPERS benefits was more than $30.4 billion." (CalPERS)  

Substantial Risk of Forfeiture Guidance Clarifies When Section 16 Short Swing Profit Liability Can Defer Taxation of Equity Compensation Awards
"One question from the prior regulations was whether a subsequent non-exempt purchase could further extend this substantial risk of forfeiture. A new example in the final regulations explains that the IRS and Treasury do not respect this strategy. The example states that any options granted in a non-exempt manner will be considered subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture only for the first six months after the date of grant.... What this clarification really means is that the risk of disgorging any profits under Section 16(b) generally will not have any impact on the substantial risk of forfeiture analysis." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

[Opinion]

Jobs, Income Inequality and Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans (PDF)
"Necessary policy and regulatory changes include permitting the plans to participate directly in the health-care exchanges, allowing low-wage plan participants access to ACA subsidies and giving the retirement plans greater flexibility to adjust benefits and contribution rates.... Federal policy is chiefly focused on compliance issues for the plans, with little effort to encourage their growth in spite of their proven ability to train and maintain workforces. A better approach would be for the federal government to provide the financial resources necessary to address the plans' challenges, both through tax benefits to health-care plans and regulatory relief to pension plans." (Kraw Law Group, via Bloomberg Pension & Benefits Daily)  

SageView Welcomes San Francisco-Based Advisory Team
SageView Advisory Group

Arnerich Massena Introduces Blueprints Fiduciary Education Program
Arnerich Massena

ESOP Association Announces 2014 Silver ESOP Award Recipients
ESOP Association

MassMutual Retirement Services Introduces New Senior Management
MassMutual Retirement Services

New Multiple Employer 401(k) Plan Available to Credit Unions
CUNA Mutual Group

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