Retirement Education Specialist
The Newport Group
in NC

Bi-lingual Retirement Education Specialist
The Newport Group
in NC

Retirement Educator 2
Wells Fargo
in MN

Defined Contribution Department Manager
Keating & Associates, Inc.
in KS

Retirement Plan Administrator
Lone Star 401[k] Consultants
in TX

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Lessons Learned from ACA Early Implementation: Exchanges, Medicaid Expansion and System Transformation -- Recorded
May 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Health Management Associates)

Experience Synergies360
May 14, 2014 in NY
(Corporate Synergies)

Building Employee Engagement Through Internal Communications
May 15, 2014 in GA
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Atlanta Chapter)

Changing Roles for Fulfilling Fiduciary Responsibilities
May 15, 2014 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Council - Orange County Chapter)

Breaking News: Retirement Plan Fees – Update and Current, Critical Issues
May 22, 2014 in IL
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Chicago West Chapter)

Post-DOMA Issues for Health and Welfare Plans: Rules for Same-Sex Spouses and Domestic Partners (Session I)
May 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Form 5500 for Welfare Plans 2014
June 2, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Summer All day Seminar
June 3, 2014 in MN
(ASPPA ABC Greater Twin Cities)

One-Day Healthcare Reform Training & Certification Event
June 3, 2014 in DC
(Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP)

Post-DOMA Issues for Retirement Plans & Fringe Benefits: Rules for Same-Sex Spouses & Domestic Partners (Session II)
June 5, 2014 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

How to Use a Private Exchange to Drive Your Human Capital Strategy – Is a Private Exchange the Right Approach for Your Organization?
June 5, 2014 in MD
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Baltimore Chapter)

Forms 5500 and 8955-SSA for 403(b) Plans 2014
June 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Final Regs on PPA '06 Changes: Limitations on Guaranteed Benefits; Shutdown and Similar Benefit
"This final regulation codifies the Pension Protection Act of 2006 provision that the phase-in period for the guarantee of benefits that are contingent upon the occurrence of an 'unpredictable contingent event,' such as a plant shutdown, starts no earlier than the date of the shutdown or other unpredictable contingent event. The regulation incorporates the definition of an unpredictable contingent event benefit under Title II of ERISA and Treasury regulations; provides that the guarantee of an unpredictable contingent event benefit is phased in from the latest of the date the benefit provision is adopted, the date the benefit is effective, or the date the event that makes the benefit payable occurs; and includes eight examples that show how the phase-in rules apply in various situations. PBGC received one public comment on its 2011 proposed regulation. PBGC has made a change to the final regulation in response to the comment." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Notice 2014-33: Further Guidance on the Implementation of FATCA and Related Withholding Provisions (PDF)
"This notice announces that calendar years 2014 and 2015 will be regarded as a transition period for purposes of [IRS] enforcement and administration with respect to the implementation of FATCA by withholding agents, foreign financial institutions (FFIs), and other entities ... This notice also announces the intention of the Department of the Treasury and the IRS to further amend the regulations under sections 1441, 1442, 1471, and 1472 ... Prior to the issuance of these amendments, taxpayers may rely on the provisions of this notice regarding these proposed amendments to the regulations." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

Text of GFOA Best Practice: Reviewing, Understanding and Using the Actuarial Valuation Report and Its Role in Plan Funding (PDF)
"In most governments, the finance officer is in the best position to communicate the contents of the actuarial report ... [T]he first step toward using an actuarial report to make appropriate decisions is for the finance officer to communicate the information the report contains to decision makers and the general public in a clear and understandable manner. Effective communication is especially important when changes to benefits are being considered." (Government Finance Officers Association)  

Thirty Years of Church Plan Rulings Challenged
"[R]eligious employers with common bonds could seek to restructure their plans and attempt to have them 'established' by a common church. This approach, while extremely challenging for larger organizations, could result in having a giant retirement plan or health plan established and maintained by a Catholic archdiocese/diocese, which would cover all of the church affiliated hospitals in the archdiocese/diocese (perhaps with a separate church established plan for church affiliated schools, and so on)." [Kaplan v. Saint Peter's Healthcare System, No. 13-2941 (D.N.J. Mar. 31, 2014)] (Verrill Dana LLP)  

It's Time to Restate Your Preapproved DC Plan -- Again
"Using prototype or volume submitter plan documents can greatly simplify the documentation requirements for qualified retirement plans and significantly reduce your costs, but there can be traps for the unwary. [This article describes] some of the most common mistakes ... Wrong Plan Provisions... Not Following Plan Procedures for Restatements... Distribution of Incorrect Summary Plan Descriptions.... Accidentally Covering Related Company Employees." (McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP)  

[Advert.]

Don't Let Your Benefits Plans Get Derailed!

CHICAGO, June 8-11. 45+ expert-led sessions on best employee engagement practices to improve financial and physical health, target date fund selection, private health insurance exchanges, justifying wellness expenses and more. Register by May 16; save $100.

The 'Oracle of Omaha' Warns About Public Pension Underfunding
"Under the Internal Revenue Code, private sector pensions this month must calculate their obligations to pay retirement benefits using interest rates ranging from 1.19% (for pension benefits payable soon) to 6.76% (for pension benefits payable furthest down the road). If Connecticut or any other state with similarly underfunded pensions assumed these more sobering rates of return (as they should), [Warren] Buffett's dire assessment of pension underfunding would be dramatically confirmed." (Prof. Edward Zelinsky, OUPblog)  

Target Date Funds: Same Retirement Year, Very Different Results
"[O]ver the past five years ... the range of returns among funds with the same target year has increased, partly because more funds have come into the market. Some funds are using different investment strategies to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market. Differences in the performance of equity and fixed-income markets have played a big part as well." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

Plan Returns Cool, Yet Deliver Third Positive Quarter in a Row; Small Plans Bested by Large Plans (PDF)
"Contrary to last quarter, small plans underperformed large plans for the first quarter of 2014 which pulled the median return ... to a lackluster 1.66 percent ... Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare Funds was the lowest performing plan type for the third quarter in a row with a median return of 1.26 percent.... Corporate Funds delivered the largest size spread, with median returns for small versus large Corporate Funds of 1.71 and 2.39 percent, respectively[.]" (Wilshire Associates)  

Change in Average 401(k) Account Balances as of March 1, 2014 (PDF)
This report shows change in average account balances grouped by age and tenure, from January 1, 2012 through May 1, 2014, for 'consistent' participants (those who had an account balance as of December 31, 2011). (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, May 1, 2014
Article titles include: State, Local Pension Plans Eclipse $3 trillion Mark; Corporate Pension Funding Status Soars; Effects of Pension Plan Changes on Retirement Security; In Florida, "We Have a Budget Problem, Not a Pension Problem"; Update On DC Plans In The Public Sector; Jersey's Pension Options Are Limited; Detroit Reaches Short-Term Deal with 14 Unions; and, Rollovers Just Got Easier. (Cypen & Cypen)  

U.S. Public Pensions Outperform Other Institution Investment Funds in First Quarter
"U.S. public pension funds returned a median 1.87 percent in the first quarter of 2014, slightly outperforming the 1.66 percent returns for the larger universe of institutional investment plans ... The results this year are far below the first quarter of last year, when public pensions returned a median 5.2 percent. However, the annual median return for public funds remains high, at 12.94 percent, after the first quarter of 2014[.]" (Reuters)  

Retirement Investors Flock Back to Stocks
"Stocks accounted for 67% of employees' new contributions into retirement portfolios in March ... This year, the S&P 500 is 1.9% higher, but it is 0.4% off its record high hit at the beginning of April. By comparison, in the first four months of last year, the S&P 500 was 11% higher. Meanwhile, large investors such as pension funds, banks and insurance companies are showing less appetite for risk." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

CalPERS Report: Pay Hike to Offset Pension Cuts?
"A CalPERS report intended for policymakers, noting that a reform cuts $435 a month from the pensions of many new hires, suggests that a pay raise may be needed to 'compete for quality employees.'" (Calpensions)  

Chicago: A Pension Fund with a City Attached?
"Gov. Pat Quinn has offered up a new way to pay down the pension debt cities and towns across Illinois have accumulated: increase the share of income tax revenue the state doles out to municipalities.... Relief cannot come soon enough for Chicago. Currently the City of Chicago has more than $19 billion in pension debt. That's five times the city's entire 2014 operating budget." (Chicago Sun-Times)  

States Seek a Spot in Private-Employer Retirement Plan Landscape
"The measures vary in their details, but the general aim is to establish a retirement fund in a state agency that would collect employee contributions, invest the money and pay out benefits when employees retire. Financial services businesses are fiercely lobbying to defeat the proposals, calling the proposed state-run enterprises unnecessary and a threat to private business. Opponents already have claimed one victory this year, knocking off a public retirement system proposed in the West Virginia Legislature." (ABC News)  

Quantitative Measures for Evaluating Social Security Reform Proposals (PDF)
"[T]his issue brief ... describes a number of measures that can provide useful quantitative analysis of reform proposals.... The goal of establishing a quantitative framework is to promote consistent analysis of such proposals and to ensure proper comparability of proposals over the broad timeframes and range of provisions covered." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

Participant Document Requests Under ERISA: Sixth Circuit Adopts 'Clear Notice Standard'
"[W]hile courts do not expect plan administrators to rely on crystal balls, plan administrators should use some common sense when responding to participants' document requests. It seems like a no-brainer (at least to this court) that a claimant would want a plan document when that was the basis for the claim denial.... [W]hen in doubt, ask for clarification. Even more compelling than the adoption of the new standard was the Court's logical statement that 'a plan administrator is free to place the burden of clarity squarely on the requester simply by replying to an ambiguous demand for ... documents with the administrator's own request for greater specificity.'" [Cultrona v. Nationwide Life Ins. Co., Nos. 13-3558/3585 (6th Cir. Apr. 9, 2014)] (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)  

Bank Execs Received Modest Pay Increases Last Year as Influence of Bank Regulators Continues on Pay Design
"While stock options remain a significant component of long-term incentives at 53% of banks studied, the value of awards was down 30% from 2012. Values of stock awards that vest based on future performance were up 35%, indicating a preference for performance-based incentives that align executive interests with shareholders. Performance-based equity is the most prevalent stock instrument, used by 67% of the banks, however, most banks grant multiple equity components in their pay program." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

TRI-AD Acquires Scott, Tellier and Co., Inc. & TPGR Daily, LLC.
TRI-AD

DALBAR Releases Report on Explanation of Benefit Statements
Dalbar, Inc.

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