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Selection of Asset Managers: Required Due Diligence for Plan Sponsors
July 31, 2014 WEBCAST
(Momentum Events Group)

Prototype Plan Seminar
July 31, 2014 in NV
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Retirement Plan Insights Seminar
August 5, 2014 in MA
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

COBRA: A Practical and Regulatory Update
August 12, 2014 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Partial Withdrawal of Proposed Regs which Had Allowed More Than One IRA Rollover Per Year
"As of [July 11, 2014], the proposed amendment to Section 1.408-4(b)(4)(ii), published Tuesday, July 14, 1981 (46 FR 36198), is withdrawn ... The IRS intends to follow the [Tax Court] opinion in Bobrow and, accordingly, is withdrawing paragraph (b)(4)(ii) of Section 1.408-4 of the proposed regulations and will revise Publication 590. This interpretation of the rollover rules under section 408(d)(1)(B) does not affect the ability of an IRA owner to transfer funds from one IRA trustee or custodian directly to another, because such a transfer is not a rollover and, therefore, is not subject to the one-rollover-per-year limitation of section 408(d)(3)(B).... [T]he IRS will not apply the Bobrow interpretation of section 408(d)(3)(B) to any rollover that involves a distribution occurring before January 1, 2015." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

2014 ERISA Outline Book: NEW Website. NEW Experience. NEW EOB.

The 2014 Edition of The ERISA Outline Book is now available. New Online EOB. New Experience. A must have for the serious professional, get the information you need to grow your business with the new online search platform shaped by user feedback.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Employee Plans News 2014-10, July 10, 2014 (PDF)
Topics include: [1] Final rules regarding longevity annuities; [2] 403(b) plans update and latest developments phone forum (July 28 at 2 p.m. EDT); [3] Form 5500-EZ pilot penalty relief program video; [4] Nationwide Tax Forums -- review descriptions of Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations' presentations; and [5] Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities Report -- includes recommendations for EP's pre-approved and determination letter program. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

Upcoming IRS Phone Forum: 403(b) Plans Update, July 28, 2014
Excerpt from an IRS description of the forum: "Please join experienced IRS representatives from Employee Plans Technical and Guidance for an overview of the latest developments in the 403(b) world. The overview will primarily focus on the 403(b) Pre-Approved Plan Program. This will include a discussion of program details as well as some of the issues the IRS is encountering as it begins to implement the program." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

The SSA Has Discontinued Its Letter-Forwarding Service: What's a Plan Sponsor to Do?! (PDF)
"ERISA, IRS, SSA, and DOL regulations have consistently emphasized 'reasonable methods' when attempting to locate participants. The SSA and IRS letter-forwarding services have historically provided fiduciaries great confidence that all appropriate steps had been taken. Free Internet search sites and social media can be unreliable and inaccurate. Are these methods 'reasonable' if they fail to locate a participant?" (Milliman)  

Fiduciary Duties: What's a Plan Sponsor to Do?
"Your company, as a 401(k) sponsor, and company decision makers who direct plan operations (including in-house trustees), are ERISA fiduciaries. Don't quibble about this but take a step back and figure out what to do about it.... You've read about investment advisors who can assist in performing investment duties and fiduciary insurance for claim protection ... Those options may make sense for you, and may not. But, whether or not you use an investment advisor or purchase fiduciary insurance, there are other more basic steps to take." (The Retirement Plan Blog)  

Top Advisors Share Experiences and Insights on the Use of Target Date Funds (PDF)
"What are some of the factors that influence decision makers' choices about target date funds (TDFs)? Is the main focus still on things such as performance and expenses? Or are other critical elements, such as a fund's glide path and asset allocation, now getting the attention they deserve?" (Cammack Retirement Group)  

What a Younger Spouse Should Do When Inheriting an IRA
"A beneficiary does not have to pay the 10% early distribution penalty on amounts withdrawn from the inherited IRA.... A spouse beneficiary does not have required minimum distributions (RMDs) until the deceased account owner would have been 70-1/2 ... Diane should be sure to make the funds her own before the year Richard would have been 70-1/2 [which is 18 years from now]. Here's why." (The Slott Report)  

Teamsters Rank-and-File Dig In Against Possible Pension Benefit Cuts
"Teamsters retirees from the trucking industry currently enjoy some of the most generous pensions in America -- up to $3,500 a month for 30 years of service from any unionized trucking company that contributed to multiemployer pension plans that once covered the industry like a warm fuzzy financial security blanket. But those pension plans, once thought to be the 'Cadillac' of all retirement plans, are in deep financial trouble.... The issue is acute because the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which prohibits any benefit cuts in troubled pension plans, is due to sunset at the end of this year." (Logistics Management)  

Video Series: DB Investing Essentials
"In about three minutes or less, familiarize yourself with each of the strategies and concepts critical to defined benefit (DB) investing with this series of videos. Because a DB investment strategy can have direct ramifications on your organization's financial statements, plan sponsor decision-makers can benefit from viewing these brief but insightful videos. Vanguard DB experts ... provide context and examples ranging from derisking and immunization to the role of asset classes in these strategies." (Vanguard)  

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

Text of CBO Cost Estimate for HR 5021, Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 (PDF)
"CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5021 would reduce direct spending and increase revenues.... Major provisions of the legislation would ... Allow single-employer defined benefit pension plans to use higher interest rates when calculating their future liabilities for the 2013-2020 plan years. Using higher interest rates would reduce the minimum contributions that employers are required to make to such plans, leading to increases in offsetting receipts, direct spending, and revenues. CBO expects that the bill would increase the amount of underfunding in such plans." (Congressional Budget Office [CBO])  

Most Don't Like the Form 5500 -- Including the GAO
"Mandated by ERISA, the form is filed annually with the DOL. It is a hodge-podge of plan cash flows, investment performance data and fee disclosures. Both the DOL and the IRS use the data gathered to keep tabs on company-sponsored retirement plans, but the information contained in the form is inconsistent from plan-to-plan, unclear, and often focused on irrelevant information." (Employee Fiduciary)  

Breakdown of Small Plan 401(k) Fees
"Here is a great Infographic from the 401k Averages Book offering a breakdown of small 401(k) retirement plan fees. How does your company retirement plan compare?" (401kFeeDisclosure.com)  

How to Build an Effective Pension Board
"Pension board selection usually centers on getting representation across several groups. Even so, boards often fail to include an array of people who could help foster better management.... a pension board is more effective when its personnel has a diversity of opinion, because such a group fosters debate -- and a range of potential asset management strategies." (Institutional Investor)  

[Opinion]

Thoughts on a Nobel Laureate's Proposal to Change How 401(k) Plans Operate
"[M]uch of [Prof. Robert] Merton's proposal can be accomplished without taking the giant step of scrapping existing funds.... There's nothing preventing 401(k) plan providers, with the permission of plan sponsors, from emphasizing income projections in their presentations to 401(k) owners. Yes, changes in asset prices must be published. There's no escaping at least some discussion of wealth. But there is much that can be done to spread the gospel on retirement income." (John Rekenthale, for Morningstar)  

[Opinion]

Different Retirement Income Adequacy Definitions Produce Varying Projection Results
"As a growing number of Americans near, and head into, retirement, policymakers, retirement plan sponsors, and individual workers alike increasingly wonder -- will Americans have enough to live on when they retire? Unfortunately, as a recent EBRI publication explains, the answers provided are as diverse, and sometimes disparate, as the projection models that produce those results." (Nevin Adams, Employee Benefits Research Institute [EBRI])  

[Opinion]

Pension Reform or Not, Fiscal Disaster Looms in the Land of Lincoln
"If anything, the [Illinois Supreme Court's] ruling on retiree health care underscores the argument that Illinois' fiscal crisis is so serious that the state's obligation to pay pension benefits is trumped by its obligation and power to protect the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens ...A recent estimate of Illinois' 'actual accrued liability' for retiree health plans ... puts the state's unfunded liability at $34.5 billion. The Supreme Court's ruling may be read as saying that this $34.5 billion (or whatever the right number is) must now be added to the roughly $100 billion in unfunded pension obligations. It underscores the reality that retiree pensions and benefits represent a clear and present danger to Illinois' future." (Chicago Sun-Times)  

Ferenczy + Paul LLP Announces Changes
Ferenczy + Paul LLP

ERIC Applauds House and Senate Tax-Writing Committees for Not Including PBGC Premium Increase in Highway Bill
ERIC [ERISA Industry Committee]

Great-West Financial Appoints New Chief Financial Officer
Great-West Financial

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