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1199SEIU Family of Funds
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Swerdlin & Company
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The Standard
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The Standard
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Navigating the "Bermuda Triangle" of FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Compensation
August 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

How Value-based Insurance Design Breaks Down Barriers to Care
August 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(Association of Health Care Journalists [AHCJ])

What the New Healthcare Law Means for Your Small Business
August 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(Small Business Majority)

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[Guidance Overview]

Unforeseeable Emergency Distributions from 457(b) Plans
"Unlike hardship distributions from 401(k) and 403(b) plans, hardship distributions from 457(b) plans may not be made for the acquisition of a principal residence or for the payment of tuition and related educational fees.... Operational errors in this area are common, and usually the result of plan sponsor's ignorance of the rules regarding what constitutes a hardship, or an incorrect assumption that the third party administrator will collect the necessary backup." (Belfint Lyons & Shuman, CPAs)  

[Advert.]

Download your free report: ACA Shared Responsibility Reporting

Download Bloomberg BNA's "ACA Shared Responsibility Reporting" so you can understand how the IRS plans to enforce employer reporting requirements, which will be compared with tax returns, ultimately resulting in IRS assessments.

[Guidance Overview]

QLACs Provide New 401(k) Plan Annuity Option
"Offering plan participants the opportunity to purchase a [Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLAC)] inside the plan, provides another tool to help participants achieve a steady income at retirement that can complement Social Security payments. QLACs should have the added advantage of being less expensive than annuities available in the individual market because retirement plans should be able to qualify for institutional level pricing. However, QLACs also open up a new fiduciary hurdle that must be managed." (Ascende)  

Upcoming IRS Phone Forum on DB Plan Terminations Is August 14
A discussion of issues related to terminating a defined benefit retirement plan, including: how the IRS defines the date of termination, final funding requirements, PBGC issues, reversions, and what is needed in a notice of intent to terminate the plan. Questions can be emailed to the IRS before August 8. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

Checklists for Investment Policy Statements
"Get started on your IPS by gathering all of your plan documents (trust documents, summary plan descriptions, written minutes, current vendor service agreements, investment performance reports, enrollment reports, participant educational material, procedural manuals and Form 5500) ... After you have reviewed your plan documents, you are ready to write your IPS.... It is not enough for you to simply write an IPS. You must also follow it, communicate it and review it. An ignored IPS is evidence that you are not managing or using the plan the way it was intended." (Strategic Benefit Services)  

Does Every Employee Want to Be an Owner?
"[T]he theory behind ESOPs makes one assumption that is often overlooked ... [which] is that, given the opportunity, all employees would like to be (part) owners of the firm they work for.... Why might a person not want to be an owner? Perhaps the most obvious reason is that ownership comes with responsibilities as well as rights.... Another reason is that an employee ... might feel that he or she lacks the training, experience, or expertise necessary to be an effective owner ... Finally, group ownership may not seem like 'real' ownership, since it generally doesn't include individual control over decision-making." (The Retirement Plan Blog)  

The Importance of Stock Plans to Employees, and Insights Into Their Use of Proceeds
"[M]any employees don't just value stock plans highly but now expect them as an employment benefit, especially when considering a new job.... [A]mong the surveyed employees in 2014, ... 40% stated outright that they would not consider a new job opportunity unless the company offered a stock plan -- a view held by a whopping 86% of the survey respondents under the age of 40.... Saving for retirement is the overwhelming top use of stock plan assets[.]" (myStockOptions.com)  

What Does Consistent Participation in 401(k) Plans Generate? Changes in 401(k) Account Balances, 2007-2012 (PDF)
"Overall, the average account balance of consistent 401(k) participants increased at a compound annual average growth rate of 6.8 percent from 2007 to 2012, to $107,053 at year-end 2012. The median 401(k) account balance increased at a compound annual average growth rate of 11.9 percent over the period, to $49,814 at year-end 2012.... At year-end 2012, the average account balance among consistent participants was 67 percent higher than the average account balance among all participants in the EBRI/ICI 401(k) database. The consistent group's median balance was almost three times the median balance across all participants at year-end 2012." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

What's the Role of Bonds in Retirement Portfolios?
"[B]ear markets and bonds, we could lose a couple of percent a year. Bear markets and stocks, you could lose like 45%. Running from something that can lose 3% into something that can lose 45% is not a good risk-management strategy. It's not a good return strategy. It's not a good anything strategy." (Morningstar)  

Evaluating Retirement Income Security for Illinois Public School Teachers
"Long-serving teachers receive generous pensions, but only 18 percent of teachers remain employed for at least 25 years. Only 24 percent of those who complete at least five years of service receive pensions worth more than the value of their required plan contributions. Alternative plan designs, such as cash balance plans, could distribute benefits more equitably and put more teachers on a path to a financially secure retirement." (Urban Institute)  

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by Pension Rights Center to PBGC on Termination of Single-Employer Plans, Missing Participants (PDF)
"[We] urge the PBGC to require that plan administrators of single-employer plans undergoing standard terminations provide to the PBGC an accurate list of annuity providers and a list of participants entitled to an annuity from each annuity provider. Additionally, plan administrators should provide to the PBGC a list of all other plans that have been merged into the terminating plan along with plan documents, including summary plan descriptions, from those plans." (Pension Rights Center)  

[Opinion]

Why Congress Needs to Reform Multiemployer Pension Plans Now
"Policymakers, legislators, business and labor groups have debated the issue for two years. Now we're at a key turning point, argues Josh Gotbaum, the PBGC's director. 'If Congress doesn't act this year, it is very likely that major plans will fail and the multi-employer system will collapse,' he [said] ... It's not that plans will run out of money this year or next, Gotbaum says. Instead, he says employers could start scrambling off a sinking ship, accelerating pressures on the system." (Mark Miller, via Reuters)  

How Executive Compensation Plans Relate to Shareholder Value
"At the outperforming companies: Stock options play a prominent role in long-term incentive (LTI) programs.... Target compensation is at the market median, but actual pay is consistently above the median.... Compensation designs evolve as companies grow and mature.... CEOs are a relative bargain." (CFO)  

BLS Employment Cost Index, June 2014 (PDF)
"Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending June 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported ... Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.6 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 1.0 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

Institutional Retirement Income Council Believes Fiduciary Concerns over Lifetime Income Solutions for Retirement Plans May Be Overstated
Institutional Retirement Income Council

Penbridge Advisors to Introduce U.S. Pension Industry’s First Defined Benefit Expense Benchmarks Report
Penbridge Advisors

Health and Human Services Awards $54.6 Million in Affordable Care Act Mental Health Services Funding
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

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