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Retirement Plan Services Consultant or Plan Manager
AUL / OneAmerica Financial
in IN

NF Tech Operations Manager
Nationwide
in OH

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in IN

Regional Manager - Retirement Education & Planning Services
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in NC

Regional Sales Manager
Pension Consultants, Inc.
in MO

Sr Retirement Document Compliance Consultant
TIAA CREF
in ANY STATE

Retirement Plans Administration Specialist
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp.
in OH

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HRAs: The Middle Child of Healthcare Benefit Accounts
July 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(Alegeus Technologies, LLC)

Hot Topics for Advisors and Plan Sponsors
July 23, 2014 WEBCAST
(Wagner Law Group P.C.)

Top 3 To-Dos Before Open Enrollment
July 24, 2014 WEBCAST
(Health Partners America)

Legal Risks of Telecommuting
July 28, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

Future of Wellness Programs
July 31, 2014 WEBCAST
(Bass, Berry & Sims)

Does Your Employee Handbook Violate the Law?
August 6, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

Classifying Employees as Exempt Under Wage and Hour Laws
August 12, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

IRA Contributions
August 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

2014 Ethics Case Studies Two
September 23, 2014 WEBCAST
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Executive Compensation National Institute
November 13, 2014 in IL
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

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[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Moratorium Announcement: Hope But Not Relief
"When the [PBGC] announced a moratorium from July 8-December 31, 2014 on its enforcement of ERISA Section 4062(e), it raised hopes that the PBGC might refocus its efforts on truly at-risk defined benefit pension plans. But, the PBGC announcement did not provide relief. Employers must still report Section 4062(e) transactions and the PBGC reserve the right to enforce events which occur during the moratorium." (Nelson Mullins)  

[Advert.]

ASPPA Annual Conference on October 26-29 in Washington DC

We don't just set the bar, we're constantly raising the bar for America's Retirement. And we unleash that tenacity at every ASPPA Annual Conference.

Revenue Sharing Is on the Decline in 401(k) Plans
"Reports indicate revenue sharing has been declining over the last few years -- both in terms of the percentage of plans including it and as a portion of the expense ratio. Fee disclosure requirements have likely played at least some small part in this trend.... [M]arket forces have been more influential in reducing the incidence of revenue sharing.... Here are the market forces driving plans away from revenue sharing: Revenue sharing is no longer 'invisible.' ... Revenue sharing is not equitable.... Revenue sharing is not efficient." (Employee Fiduciary)  

Fifth Circuit Revives Stock-Drop Suit Against BP Retirement Plan, Filed After BP Oil Spill
"The [Fifth Circuit] said that a ruling last month from the U.S. Supreme Court upended the reasoning applied by a lower court that had dismissed the class action suit two years ago.... The participants alleged that BP misled them, as investors, and as early as 2007 overstated the safety controls the company had in place. They also alleged that fiduciaries who were charged with managing the retirement savings plans breached their duties by failing to sell off BP stock and take other actions to protect investors. [The lower court had] dismissed the lawsuit in March 2012, finding that plan fiduciaries enjoyed a legal presumption that they acted prudently." [Whitley et al. v. BP, No. 12-20670 (5th Cir. July 15, 2014)] (Reuters)  

Text of Sixth Circuit Opinion: Participants Entitled to Enhanced 'Change of Control' Retirement Benefit Even Though Employment Continued with Successor Employer (PDF)
"[W]hen each of the terms in [Plan] Section 19.11(f) is given its ordinary meaning, the phrase 'whose employment with the Controlled Group is involuntarily terminated' is unambiguous and has only one plausible interpretation. It requires only that the individual's employment with the Controlled Group be involuntarily terminated, not that the individual experience a job loss or some otherwise undefined period of unemployment.... The plan administrator's decision to the contrary was therefore arbitrary and capricious." [Adams v. Anheuser Busch, No. 13-3149 (6th Cir. July 11, 2014)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)  

Target-Benefit Plans: How They Work and Why They're Worth Expanding (PDF)
24 pages; focuses on Canadian law but includes analysis pertinent to the DB-vs.DC debate for U.S. public sector plans. Excerpt: "In most Canadian jurisdictions, pension laws do not currently accommodate single-employer [target benefit plans (TBPs)] ... Existing legislation generally prohibits reduction of accrued benefits outside of the multi-employer unionized environment, and a key element of TBPs is their ability to let benefits vary as a function of the funding status of the plan.... A target-benefit plan is a pension plan with the following key characteristics: [1] The contribution amounts are fixed (or variable only within a narrow, predefined range) and are generally not subject to traditional DB going concern or solvency funding standards. [2] Plan members receive a targeted defined-benefit-type pension at retirement. [and] [3] Benefits may be adjusted (both up and down) to balance the plan's funding." (C.D. Howe Institute)  

More than Half of Retirement Plan Participants in Favor of Automatic Annual Increase
"Fifty-five percent of retirement plan participants who took a recent survey ... said they would favor automatic annual increases to their contributions.... Survey respondents ranked several financial priorities that compete with their retirement account contributions including: paying off debt (29 percent), day-to-day expenses (23 percent), taking care of family (11 percent) and saving for college (4 percent) among others." [Survey results also presented in an infographic.] (OneAmerica)  

Additional Pension Funding Relief on the Horizon?
"The House bill would extend the relief provided by MAP-21 by extending the 90%-110% level of the stabilization for each of the years 2012 through 2017. The Senate bill would extend the 90%-110% level of the stabilization only for the years 2012 through 2015.... Potentially the savings for the 2013 plan year could range from 10%-30%. The reduction of the minimum required contribution for the 2014 plan year would be even greater." (Findley Davies)  

NCEO Employee Ownership Update for July 15, 2014
Article titles include: [1] Supreme Court Vacates Three Circuit Court Decisions, Showing Double-Edged Sword of Fifth Third Decision; [2] Survey Says 20% of Sampled Companies Grant Equity Awards to Nonmanagement Employees; [3] New York City Allocates $1.2 Million to Develop Worker Cooperatives; [4] Research Finds Employees Value Company Stock Plans; and [5] Employee Ownership in Italy. (National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])  

How the 'Annuities Should Never Go in an IRA' Rule Has Become a Myth
"While in some limited cases, deferred variable annuities actually are making a resurgence for pure tax deferral purposes -- in which case, there's once again little reason to purchase them with retirement assets -- most annuities continue to be purchased for their guarantees and investment characteristics, not their tax preferences. Given these changes, it is perhaps time to abolish the 'annuities should never go into an IRA' rule and recognize that it has become more a myth and remnant of old than proper advice in today's environment." (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

DB Pensions for Public Employees Weather the Cost-Cutting Storm
"Retirement payouts for 19.3 million U.S. state and local government workers in coming years are not likely to look much different from the iron-clad pensions that former teachers and police now get. Even as lawmakers raise retirement ages and trim cost-of-living increases, few are eyeing anything that would result in the kind of massive migration to 401(k)-style direct-contribution retirement plans that happened in the U.S. private sector." (Reuters)  

'Of Sheep and Goats': Piercing the Supreme Court's Recent Stock Drop Decision
"Unlike some commentators, [the authors] believe a strict standard of review may effectively result in a balancing in favor of ESOP sponsors and fiduciaries and other ERISA sponsors and fiduciaries who invest plan assets in employer stock. It is possible, however, that more cases will survive a motion to dismiss, but only if they make specific and plausible allegations as required by the Supreme Court's Dudenhoeffer decision." (Kelly, Hannaford & Battles P.A.)  

Diversity and Defined Contribution Plans: Differences in 401(k) Retirement Wealth
"More than half of the racial and ethnic differences in wealth accumulated in defined contribution retirement plans can be attributed to compensation and job tenure. Plan design and participant behavior play a smaller, but still important role. Wealth differences by racial and ethnic group are largest among voluntarily enrolled participants. Automatic enrollment can help narrow wealth gaps." (Vanguard)  

[Opinion]

What's Next for Defined Contribution Plans? (PDF)
"Looking several years down the line, the biggest change will be that these plans will become more individualized, participant by participant. In most cases, every employee now receives the same information at enrollment; everyone gets the same communications materials about the investments; everyone gets the same asset allocation in his 'portfolio investments.... [N]ow that [DC plans] are ubiquitous, generic services and investments seem like yesterday's news.'" (Fred Reish via PLANSPONSOR)  

[Opinion]

Real, Reasonable Pension Reform: 401(k)-Style Plans for New Illinois State Employees
"The creation of 401(k)-style plans for new workers won't solve Illinois' current financial problems, but it will stop the bleeding and avoid conflict with the Illinois Constitution. It will also create retirement security for new state workers -- they'll own and control their own retirement accounts and won't have to pay into into a system that may collapse and leave them with no money when they retire." (Illinois Policy Institute)  

[Opinion]

The Critique of 401(k) Plans by Professors Ayres and Curtis: An Analysis
"Ayres and Curtis's distinction between the current law's focus on process and their proposed focus on substance may be more semantic than real.... One obvious problem, however, with their 'no prudent person could reasonably believe that the fund in question ought to be held by investors' standard: as some courts have pointed out, investors do in fact buy these funds -- someone is investing in them. Are all those investors unreasonable or do they just have a different view of how the market works? Can their proposed standard be administered? That is, will courts, and sponsor-fiduciaries, be able to consistently identify which are the 'bad' funds?" (October Three Consulting)  

Most Small Business Employees Dissatisfied with Benefits
"Only 12% of small business employees say they are extremely satisfied with their benefits and only 14% say their benefits package meets their current family needs extremely well ... What's more, nearly six in 10 (57%) small-business workers said they're likely to accept jobs with slightly lower compensation but better benefits." (Employee Benefit News)  

Enduring High-Performing Companies Take the Road Less Traveled in Executive Compensation Design
"Enduring high-performing companies often take the road less traveled, designing their executive compensation programs in ways that vary from market norms. Their compensation designs are tailored based on their size and unique business needs, and are longer-term and more return-focused. While generally targeting the market median, these companies reward high performance through more leveraged incentive plan designs, including options, which actually translate to a high return on investment for shareholders." (Towers Watson)  

ERISA Pros Recruits Lindsay Hudgins, J.D. and Lindsay Mahoney, J.D. to its Professional Staff
ERISA Pros

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