DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

Senior Client Relationship Manager
Professional Capital Services
in PA

Associate Vice President and Actuary
USI Consulting Group
in CT, NY

Data Control Specialist
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

Lead Manager, Retirement Plan Service (RPS) Institutional
T. Rowe Price
in MD

Account Manager, Defined Contribution Consulting
USI Consulting Group
in CA, CO, DC, NY, OH, TX

Investment Consultant
USI Consulting Group
in CT, TX

Retirement Plan Administrator
Retirement Plan Solutions, Inc.
in NC

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Fiduciary Developments, Plan Fees and Vendor Searches
May 21, 2014 in GA
(Mazursky Constantine LLC)

Related Employers Phone Forum
May 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Back by Popular Demand: Special Enrollment Periods and Exemptions -- Recorded
May 23, 2014 WEBCAST
(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

2014 Webinar: Advanced HSAs
June 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

Trends in Defined Contribution Plans
June 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(Institutional Investor)

2014 IRA Institute
June 9, 2014 in MN
(Ascensus)

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - Irvine
June 10, 2014 in CA
(SunGard Relius)

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - San Francisco
June 13, 2014 in CA
(SunGard Relius)

Tax Forms Workshop: 5500 and More - Denver
June 13, 2014 in VA
(SunGard Relius)

The ERISA Assembly
September 23, 2014 in DC
(Momentum Events Group)

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[Guidance Overview]

Just Because Your Plan Does Not Say DOMA May Not Mean No Amendment Should Be Made
"[Plans that do not] include a definition of a spouse ... still may need to be amended if they include ... a governing law provision drafted in a manner that would require use of the state law to define who is a spouse for determining rights under the plan and the state law used does not recognize spouses regardless of their gender.... Whether your plan may require an amendment depends on the exact language of your plan and ... both what it says and what it does not say and how it defines how it should be construed." (Winstead PC)  

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District Court Rejects ERISA Challenge of Annuitizing $7.4 Billion of Pension Liabilities, Supporting 'De-Risking' Strategy
"At the heart of Lee III is the plaintiffs' failure to distinguish between business decisions that are settlor functions and those that are fiduciary functions/duties. The court emphasizes that ERISA permits an employer to make business decisions, in its 'settlor capacity.' Hence, the decision to pursue a particular de-risking settlement strategy, including the right to transfer assets and liabilities to an insurance company, is one that ERISA empowers a plan sponsor to make." [Lee v. Verizon Communications, Inc., No. 3:12-CV-4834-D (N.D. Tex. Apr. 11, 2014)] (McGuire Woods LLP)  

De-Risking Considerations for Pension Plans (PDF)
"Despite the roller coaster ride plan sponsors have experienced over the past 12 years ... plan sponsors continue to execute portfolios that more closely resemble asset-optimized strategies rather than liability driven investing (LDI) ones. Why are pension committees not reallocating their asset portfolios to better hedge their liabilities? Are pension committees positioning themselves for another 2013, or for another 2008? What are the concerns or considerations that might lead a plan sponsor to delay a more aggressive LDI implementation? [Here] are some potential reasons -- and why they should be reconsidered." (SEI)  

Court's Dismissal of Church Plan Case Draws Mixed Reviews
"Last week's ruling upholding a Catholic health organization's reliance on [ERISA's] church plan exemption constituted a departure from relevant case law or a faithful application of existing precedent ... [The ruling by Judge Avern Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan] disagreed with two recent district court decisions, both of which held that the challenged plans failed to qualify as church plans, because they weren't established by churches.... Cohn's ruling marks the first victory for the defendant plan sponsors in these cases." [Overall v. Ascension et al., No. 13-11396 (E.D. Mich. May 9, 2014)] (Bloomberg BNA)  

COLA Cuts in State/Local Pensions
"Since the financial crisis, 17 states have reduced, suspended, or eliminated cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for public employee pensions. This response was surprising as current employees and retirees tend to be legally shielded from benefit cuts. But the COLA cuts have largely been upheld in the courts under the rationale that -- unlike core benefits -- they are not part of a contractual right. In short, defined benefit promises in the public sector are not as secure as many thought." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

[Advert.]

PBI receives SSA DMF certification from NTIS for uninterrupted access

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The Three Most Common 'Over'-Reach Mistakes Plan Sponsors Have a Fiduciary Duty to Help Retirement Investors Avoid
"There are three common mistakes that can be classified as an 'over'-reaching mistake. They occur when retirement investors are 'over'-cautious, when they 'over'-diversify and when they're 'over'-confident.... When designing plan menus, a good fiduciary will be careful to create them in such a way as to mute the alluring music of these common mistakes." (Fiduciary News)  

Common Fiduciary Considerations Related to Target Date Options
"[T]here is much more to target date options than a rating score or a performance track record over a single time period or environment. [This article] is meant to address: ... how to monitor target date options and perform ongoing due diligence; the questions that should be asked of target date managers when deciding which target date family is right for a particular plan; and what to incorporate into an Investment Policy Statement (IPS)." (Manning & Napier)  

Participants Sabotaging Help TDFs Give Them
"[O]nly 37.8% of participants invested in TDFs are using them as a 'one-stop' investment.... Median annual returns for 2010 to 2012 were 2.44% (244 basis points) lower for partial TDF participants than for participants receiving all three types of help studied (TDFs, managed accounts and advice) in the same time period, net of fees. Partial TDF participants tended to misallocate the remainder of their portfolios. As a result, more than six in 10 (61.8%) had inappropriate risk levels for their overall portfolios." (PLANSPONSOR)  

Ibbotson Target Risk Report, First Quarter of 2014(PDF) (PDF)
"Target risk funds gained 1.4% on average for the first quarter and 10.9% over the past 12 months. For the first time since Q4 2012, target risk funds saw outflows. $1.5 billion in assets departed the category during the quarter, mainly from conservative-oriented funds. Target risk funds continue to see total assets climb to all-time highs. As of the end of Q1, total assets in target risk funds were over $722 billion, a 12% increase from a year ago." (Ibbotson)  

Checklist for TDFs: Due Diligence by Plan Sponsors Is More Than 'Set and Forget' (PDF)
"[A] DOL fact sheet on Target Date Funds ... helps plan fiduciaries to select and monitor TDFs and other investment options ... [but] it doesn't necessarily provide plan sponsors with a set of criteria to consider in assessing their TDFs. You can use [this] checklist to create a prudent process for selecting and reviewing TDFs. The sections are aligned with the DOL fact sheet, but provide more detail on how you can select and monitor your TDFs." (Buck Consultants)  

'Help' in Defined Contribution Plans: 2006 through 2012 (PDF)
"This report ... looks at the impact of target-date funds, managed accounts, and online advice -- collectively referred to as 'Help throughout this report -- in employer-sponsored defined contribution plans.... [P]articipants using Help continue to earn considerably higher returns than those not using Help and more participants than ever are using Help.... [R]etention by type of Help differs greatly, and, despite a high default rate for new employees, many participants are not using certain Help vehicles as intended." (Financial Engines and Aon Hewitt)  

Illinois Unions Ask Judge to Delay Pension Reform Law
"The pension law ... sets a goal of wiping out the state's $100 billion retirement debt within 30 years by reducing automatic cost-of-living increases for existing and future retirees while requiring workers to work longer before retiring. 'The pension theft bill must not be implemented before the courts have ruled,' Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan said ... The coalition [of unions] includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Service Employees International Union, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Illinois Education Association and other public worker unions." (Chicago Tribune; subscription may be required)  

SEC Commissioner Gallagher: Fiduciary Debate Biased Against Brokers
"The current debate over whether the [SEC] should write a rule to put brokers under a fiduciary mandate is 'not fair right now' because of a mismatch in exam data between brokers and advisors, SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher [said] ... 'An astounding 20% of the 600,000-plus actively licensed registered representatives have between one and five disclosures for items such as customer complaints, regulatory violations, terminations, bankruptcy, judgments and liens,' Gallagher noted.... 'At the firm level, 17% of broker-dealers had more than six total disclosures, and 5% had more than 20 disclosures.'" (ThinkAdvisor)  

New York State Pension Ends Fiscal Year with Record Assets
"New York state's pension fund reached its highest value on record of $176.2 billion at the end of its fiscal year in March as the rate of return on its investments jumped to 13.02 percent ... The public pension fund, the third largest in the country, ended the previous fiscal year with $160.4 billion in assets after its investments returned 10.4 percent." (Reuters)  

[Opinion]

The Retirement Crisis That Isn't?
"New research asks the question.... What does it mean to maintain a similar lifestyle to the working years during retirement? Surely, they argue, this can't be found by simple comparisons of preretirement and in-retirement earnings. If the worker's later-year wages are similar to those of the middle years, then targeting retirement income that matches the conditions of the later years effectively gives that worker a higher retirement lifestyle than he enjoyed on average during the working years -- because, for many years, that level of income was used on costs that no longer exist." (John Rekenthaler for Morningstar)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by Joint Trade Associations to DOL on Proposed 408(b)(2) Focus Groups (PDF)
"We believe this review of the 408(b)(2) regulation is premature and based on unidentified anecdotal evidence of small businesses that is contrary to the actual experience of our members. In particular, it is our view that: [1] It is premature and imprudent to propose to amend the section 408(b)(2) regulation to add more disclosure rules before determining whether any changes are needed (and whether the costs of those changes justify whatever benefits the Department identifies). [2] The proposed focus groups are not properly constructed because [a] they ignore large-plan fiduciaries, and [b] they rely upon recollection of disclosures that plan fiduciaries received almost two years ago. [3] The focus group 'script' contains a number of biases that could prevent the results from being reliable and valid." (The SPARK Institute, American Bankers Association, SIFMA and ACLI)  

[Opinion]

Connecticut Takes a Big Step Towards Retirement Security for Its Residents
"The legislation, which passed on May 7] as part of a larger budget bill, provides $400,000 to start the process of creating a new state-administered retirement savings plan, which would be operated separately from the Connecticut public retirement system. The funding establishes a 14-member Retirement Security Board that is charged with conducting a market feasibility study for a new plan and developing an implementation plan, all to be completed by April 1, 2016." (Pension Rights Center)  

[Opinion]

'Keep It Simple' 403(b) Investing Results in 70 Percent Participation (PDF)
"Approximately 70 percent of the k-12 crowd of the City School District of New York participate [in the 403(b) plan of the Teachers' Retirement System of the City of New York]. This is the highest rate of 403(b) participation of any school district in the nation. The TRS charges $400.00 a year to manage $100,000 of account value. This is de minimis cost.... [W]hy is there such a different 403(b) story in the k-12 districts outside of the City?" (Joel L. Frank via 403bwise)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by U.S. Chamber of Commerce to DOL on Evaluating the Effectiveness of the 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements (PDF)
"While the small plan group is an important element of the affected population, it is not the entirety.... For the results of the information collection to be statistically reliable and useful, the Department should ensure that the focus groups are representative of the underlying population of pension plans and other stakeholders." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by ERIC to DOL on Evaluating the Effectiveness of the 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements (PDF)
"While ERIC supports the efforts of the DOL to analyze the impact of the 408(b)(2) regulations on small and mid-sized plans, we urge the DOL to recognize the differences between small and large plans, and ultimately exclude large plans from any amendment to the 408(b)(2) regulations that would require service providers to distribute a guide, summary or similar tool to fiduciaries." (The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC])  

Sixth Circuit: ERISA Section 510 Requires Employee Action Within Formal Proceeding
"A single unsolicited complaint to an employer about alleged violations of [ERISA] doesn't give rise to retaliation claims under Section 510 after the complainant is terminated from employment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled.... [T]he court addressed arguments by the employee and the Secretary of Labor ... that Section 510 should apply to all complaints regarding violations of the statute. The court found this argument ignored the wording of the provision that required that the employee testify or give information 'in any inquiry or proceeding relating to' ERISA." [Sexton v. Panel Processing, No. 13-1604 (6th Cir. May 9, 2014)] (Bloomberg BNA)  

How Changes in Marital Status Requirements Affect Various Benefit Plans (PDF)
"Now that the dust [from the Supreme Court's Windsor decision] has settled ... this might be a good time to review some of the benefit impacts of the DOMA decision as well as actions that may be necessary for any change in marital status -- marriage, divorce, or death -- regardless of same or opposite sex spouse. [Topics include:] Plan Document -- Spouse Definition ... COBRA Continuation Notices ... Retirement Plans ... Change in Marital Status To-Do's ... Communication with Employees." (Kushner & Company)  

Request for Proposal (RFP) for Independent Audit Services for Miami Beach Employees' Retirement Plan
Miami Beach Employees’ Retirement Plan

American National Bank of Texas Certified To ERISA 3(16) Administrator Role
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

RCH Introduces Internet-Enhanced Search Service
Retirement Clearinghouse

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