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Ethical Issues in the Executive Compensation Area – Including the Independent Counsel Provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act
June 25, 2014 in IL
(National Association Of Stock Plan Professionals [NASPP] - Chicago Chapter)

Best Practices, Challenges, and Solutions for Auto Features in Public Sector Retirement Savings Plans -- Recorded
July 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(ICMA-RC)

Retirement Plans After Windsor
July 8, 2014 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

A Practical Guide to Employee Benefit Plan Reporting and Disclosure Requirements under the ACA, HIPAA, ERISA and the Code
July 10, 2014 in CA
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

Executive Compensation Basics: Anatomies of Severance and Release Agreements
July 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP)

ASPPA Governance Reorganization
July 22, 2014 in MN
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Greater Twin Cities)

IRA Basics
July 22, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

IRA Required Minimum Distributions
July 29, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

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[Guidance Overview]

Handout for IRS Phone Forum: Retirement Plans After Windsor, June 26, 2014 (PDF)
25 presentation slides. Topics include effects of the Supreme Court's decision in United States vs. Windsor, Rev. Rul. 2013-17 and Notice 2014-19 on qualified retirement plans; also includes coverage of the IRS Frequently Asked Questions that relate to the Windsor decision and qualified retirement plans. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

NIPA Members Grow Their Revenue More And Faster Than Non-Members

At NIPA, we focus like a laser on identifying and applying learning and behaviors which grow TPA businesses. If you're looking for tools, tips, techniques, experiences or approaches to revenue growth, there's no better place for you to be than NIPA.

Text of Amicus Brief by Employer Associations Supporting Deference to Plan Administrator When Correcting Prior Mistaken Interpretation of Plan Provisions (PDF)
"The district court rejected the current interpretation of the plan administrator without any finding that such interpretation was arbitrary and capricious, or otherwise not entitled to deference. Instead, the district court substituted an interpretation urged by the plaintiffs and derived from the plan administrator's previous mistaken operation of the plan. This approach gives dispositive weight to a plan administrator's prior mistakes in plan operation, rather than the administrator's current reasonable interpretation of the plan, and cannot be reconciled with the Supreme Court's decision in Conkright v. Frommert. Second, the district court compounded its error by finding that an administrator's reinterpretation of a plan to correct operational error constitutes an amendment for purposes of ERISA 204(g) (the anti-cutback provision). Thus, a plan administrator who operates the plan under a mistaken interpretation will be locked in to that interpretation forever." [Cotillion v. United Refining Company, Nos. 13-4633 & 13-4743 (on appeal to 3d Cir. from W.D. Penn.)] (The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC], American Benefits Council and U.S. Chamber of Commerce)  

Text of Seventh Circuit Opinion: ERISA Anti-Alienation Provision Does Not Protect Benefits Once Paid (PDF)
"Five courts of appeals have agreed with the Tenth Circuit that Section 206(d)(1) does not prevent the attachment or garnishment of funds after a pension plan has paid them to retirees.... One has held that Section 206(d)(1) shields pensions from creditors even after distribution. United States v. Smith, 47 F.3d 681 (4th Cir. 1995). We agree with the majority -- and because we are the seventh court of appeals to reach this conclusion we can be brief." [NLRB v. HH3 Trucking Inc., Nos. 05-1362, 05-4075 (7th Cir. June 13, 2014)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit)  

Preparing for a DOL Audit
"[In] addition to all plan documents, you will likely be asked for all payroll records, enrollment forms, participant disclosures, and participant statements. For a large plan, the amount of information requested can be substantial.... On the day of the interview, it is important that you have everyone in the room who is involved with the plan -- the payroll person, the person who remits the contributions to the plan, the person who prepares the plan document, the person listed as the trustee who is ultimately responsible for the operation of the plan, the one person who has oversight of the trustee (generally a CFO)." (Bronfman E.L. Rothschild)  

A Checklist of Questions Plan Sponsors Should Ask About Their Retirement Plans, Part 2
"Are you prepared to monitor your plan's service providers? ... Have you identified parties-in-interest to the plan and taken steps to monitor transactions with them? ... Are you aware of the major exemptions under ERISA that permit transactions with parties-in-interest, especially those key for plan operations (such as hiring service providers and making plan loans to participants)? ... Have you reviewed your plan document in light of current plan operations and made necessary updates? After amending the plan, have you provided participants with an updated SPD or SMM? ... Do those individuals handling plan funds or other plan property have a fidelity bond?" (Strategic Benefit Services)  

[Advert.]

IRS Phone Forum, June 26, 2014: Retirement Plans After Windsor

This program will discuss the qualified plan impact of the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. Windsor, Rev. Rul. 2013-17, Notice 2014-19 and the relevant IRS FAQs. Rebroadcast July 8. Openings still available for both dates!

Pension De-Risking Glide Paths, Five Years On
"Today many pension plans -- especially frozen plans -- use glide paths to define how their asset allocation should change as their funded status moves over time.... [An] endpoint must be defined, establishing the funded status at which the glide path will stop and what the asset allocation should look like at that time.... Another basic decision in glide path design lies in the question of whether asset allocation shifts are a one-way street.... Glide paths also vary in their complexity." (Treasury & Risk)  

Corporate Pension Funded Status Deficit Increases by $10 Billion in May (PDF)
"The $268 billion deficit at the end of May is primarily due to a drop in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value pension liabilities. Investment gains helped to partially offset the full extent of liability increases in May. As of May 31, the funded ratio fell to 84.3%, down from 84.7% at the end of April" (Milliman)  

Cumulative List of Non-U.S. Pension Funds Exempted by FATCA Intergovernmental Agreements
"The Groom cumulative list of non-US pension funds exempt from FATCA has been recently updated to cover plans in Austria, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, South Africa, and New Zealand." (Groom Law Group)  

What Long-Term Care Costs in Retirement Could Do to Retirement Readiness (PDF)
"[A]ssuming 100 percent of the average expenses ... for components likely to be encountered on a regular basis ... but ignoring the costs of nursing home and home health care expenses -- about 17 percent of those in the second-income quartile would run short of money by the 20th year in retirement, as would 5 percent of those in the third-income quartile and 1 percent of those in the highest-income quartile, assuming a retirement age of 65. However, when also taking into account the costs arising from nursing home and home health-care expenses, the percentage in the second-income quartile now projected to run short more than doubles, to 38 percent, while nearly four times as many (19 percent) of those in the third-income quartile are likely to run short of money in retirement. Eight percent of the highest income quartile would run short by the end of the second decade of retirement[.]" (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

For nearly 20 years, we've helped employers find the best-informed candidates to fill their benefits job openings -- ask us how!

New Jersey's Largest Pension Fund Votes to Sue Gov. Christie Over Budget Plan
"The Public Employees' Retirement System voted 6-0 to hire private attorneys and 'take all necessary and appropriate action to compel the governor' to make $3.8 billion in payments to the strained pension system over two years, instead of the $1.38 billion Christie is proposing amid a budget crisis. With 280,000 active employees and 139,000 retirees as of 2013, PERS is by far the largest pension fund in New Jersey." (NJ.com)  

Detroit Rolls Out New Model: A Hybrid Pension Plan
"By the time the fate of the retirees has been decided, Detroit's workers will already be earning hybrid benefits. To shift the investment risk their way, Detroit has set up a series of eight 'levers' to pull if the plan's investments falter. They include setting up a reserve fund that must be used to cover losses, raising the workers' required contributions, lowering retirees' cost-of-living increases and making workers build up their benefits more slowly. In hard times, plan officials will be required to pull as many levers as it takes to keep the plan on track to be 100 percent funded within five years. Only if all eight levers are pulled and the plan is still not responding can Detroit's taxpayers be called on to rescue it." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

How Do You Solve a Problem Like TDFs?
"In 2006, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act.... Congress, with probably every legitimate financial advisor backing it, wanted to encourage folks investing for their retirement to go into equities for the long-haul. Foolishly, though, they specified certain financial products as 'safe harbor' investments, including the now infamous target date funds." (Chris Carosa, for BenefitsPro)  

[Opinion]

Instead of Saving 10% of Income, Spend (Just) 50% of Every Raise and Systematically Save More
"As a sheer accumulation approach, saving a percentage of your income (or take-home pay) every year is not a bad way to go, and leads to a steadily rising contribution to savings. The problem ... is that it also inherently directs the individual to spend the other 90% of his/her income as well, which increases the standard of living so much that there's little progress ever made towards retirement goals.... By contrast, an alternative approach is to focus more significantly on spending instead, in an effort to control the rising standard of living." (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by Committee of Annuity Insurers to DOL on Proposed Fee Disclosure Guide (PDF)
9 pages. Excerpt: "[We] believe the Guide will be particularly burdensome and costly for covered service providers issuing annuities used in plans.... [T]he burden of the Guide could fall disproportionately on annuity contracts and discourage the offering and use of annuity contracts in retirement plans ... This would be an unfortunate result when plans are increasingly looking to offer lifetime income options ... The Administration and [DOL] officials have repeatedly expressed a desire to remove barriers to the offering of lifetime income, not make it more costly." (Committee of Annuity Insurers)  

[Guidance Overview]

Anatomy of a Deferred Compensation Plan (PDF)
39 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Overview of Section 409A; [2] Structuring deferred compensation to satisfy exclusions from Section 409A; [3] Documentary requirements under Section 409A; [4] Initial deferral election rules under Section 409A; [5] Permitted distribution events under Section 409A; [6] Permitted subsequent deferrals and acceleration of distributions under Section 409A; and [7] Correcting plan errors under Section 409A. (Morgan Lewis)  

[Opinion]

Text of Testimony on Behalf of the American Benefits Council Before the ERISA Advisory Council Hearing on Outsourcing of Employee Benefit Plan Services (PDF)
"I encourage the ERISA Advisory Council, and indeed the Department of Labor and other regulatory bodies who have oversight of employer sponsored employee benefits, to recognize that outsourcing will mean different things to different people and companies and in the context of different benefit plans. For this reason, in particular, flexibility must be a key component of any government or company initiative to shape the selection and monitoring of a supplier to whom a portion of the plan function has been outsourced." (Allison Klausner, for American Benefits Council)  

New Legal Way to Provide Employee Assistance For Individually Owned Premiums
BASE

Securian Financial Group Names New CEO
Securian Financial Group

Actuaries Rise at Securian
Securian Financial Group

CBG Benefits Partners with Maxwell Health to Simplify Employee Benefits Administration and Open Enrollment
CBG Benefits

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