ASPPA

Retirement Plan Administrator
Actuarial Consultants, Inc.
in CA

Client Service Manager, Defined Benefit
The Newport Group
in WI

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Washington and DOMA Update
RECORDED
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Extra! Extra! Hear the Latest Retirement News and Hot Topics - Recorded
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Choosing the Right Retirement Plan - Recorded
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Public Pensions in Flux? A Review of State Retirement Systems and Alternatives to Traditional Defined Benefit Plans
RECORDED
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Governmental Pension Reporting — The New Standards
November 25, 2014 WEBCAST
(Accounting Continuing Professional Education Network [ACPEN])

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Monthly Interest Rate Update for November 2014
"This final rule amends the [PBGC] regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the regulation for valuation dates in November 2014. The interest assumptions are used for paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans[.] ... The November 2014 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.25 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for October 2014, these interest assumptions represent an increase of 0.25 percent in the immediate annuity rate and are otherwise unchanged." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

[Advert.]

Retirement Education, Plan Documents, and more.

McKay Hochman Consulting provides comprehensive retirement plan resources including continuing education, plan documents, compliance support, and more. Enroll now for our next upcoming live seminar – Retirement Plan Insights. Visit www.mhco.com.

Automatic Enrollment: Can It Be Done in Non-ERISA Plans?
"As of June 2013, there were only seven states where there apparently is no state statute prohibiting the taking money from an employee's paycheck without that employee's express authorization.... In some states, written authorization would be required before every payroll in which contributions would be taken.... Because 403(b) accounts are most often individual accounts (annuity contracts and/or custodial accounts) the individual employee must establish the account in which to receive the automatic contributions. Failure to establish the account would leave the employer with nowhere to send the contributions." (National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA])  

Public Comments Sought by November 3 on Connecticut's Proposed Public Retirement Plan
"Created earlier this year by the General Assembly, the new Connecticut Retirement Security Board is required to conduct a market feasibility study for the new retirement plan. The group must report its findings by Jan. 1, 2016 and then develop a proposal for implementing a retirement plan by April 1, 2016." (Associated Press, via Daily Reporter)  

Passive Investing May Not Optimize Participant Outcomes
"Does choosing only low-cost, passive investments for retirement plan fund menus optimize the outcomes for participants? -- Not according to recently released research from American Funds.... In a comprehensive study, American Funds sought to identify active manager traits associated with a track record of outpacing indexes over long periods. It studied 20 years of active large-cap equity fund returns over various rolling periods." (planadviser)  

Actuarial Funding Policies and Practices for Public Pension Plans (PDF)
"This White Paper ... develops a principles-based, empirically grounded Level Cost Allocation Model (LCAM) for use as a basis for funding policies for public pension plans throughout the US. In particular, [the authors] believe that the funding policies developed herein could serve as a rigorously defensible basis for an 'actuarially determined contribution' under [GASB] Statements 67 and 68[.]" (Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Public Plans Community)  

[Advert.]

5th Annual Financial Advisor Retirement Symposium

The editors of Financial Advisor and Private Wealth magazines bring together industry experts to share their insights and strategies on retirement at a conference that promises to make advisors feel energized with new ideas to build their practices.

Do Public Pensions Help Recruit and Retain High-Quality Workers?
"One indicator of quality is the wage that a worker can earn in the private sector. Using this measure, states and localities consistently have a 'quality gap' -- the workers they lose have a higher private sector wage than those they gain. The analysis shows that jurisdictions with relatively generous pensions have smaller quality gaps, meaning they can better maintain a high-quality workforce. The bottom line is that states and localities should be cautious about scaling pensions back too far." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Explaining 401(k) Investing Basics Through the Lens of History
"While this value vs. growth debate continued unabated, a new theory blossomed from the notes on one of Harry Markowitz's napkins. Ultimately labeled 'Modern Portfolio Theory' (or 'MPT'), it would challenge the very assumption of security analysis, regardless which flavor -- growth or value -- you preferred. The ascendency of MPT led to a more portfolio-centric, rather than an individual stock-centric, emphasis." (Fiduciary News)  

World's Retirement Systems Face Common Challenges
"Although each country's social, political, historical, and economic contexts are different, many similar policy reforms can help improve benefits and enhance system sustainability: [1] Raising the state pension or retirement age. [2] Allowing and encouraging people to work past traditional retirement age ... [3] Encouraging or requiring higher levels of private saving ... [4] Reducing 'leakage' from pension plans ... Given the combination of needs that individuals will have throughout their retirement years ... a single retirement product is unlikely to be appropriate." (Mercer)  

List of Plan Sponsors That Have Transferred Pension Liabilities to Insurance Companies
"[This article provides] a list of employers that have transferred their pension obligations for certain retirees and former employees to insurance companies by purchasing annuities. (Note: this is not a comprehensive list.... ) This practice differs from a standard termination of a pension plan, because it is done only for a portion of the participants in the plan, not all of them. Like offering lump-sum payouts, annuity transfers are a form of risk-dumping -- a practice that the Pension Rights Center has criticized." (Pension Rights Center)  

Have We Finally Achieved Actuarial Fairness of Social Security Retirement Benefits, and Will It Last?
"[T]he current schedule deviates from its fair form by less than 1% for average-mortality beneficiaries, compared to 5.1% and 4.0% for male and female beneficiaries in 1980, respectively. The improvement is largely due to the increases in the Delayed Retirement Credit.... [The authors] predict that the designated increase in the [full retirement age] to age 67 will have little effect on the actuarial fit. [They] investigate schedules reflecting (further) increases in the retirement ages ... and propose alternatives." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)  

An Empirical Analysis of People's Willingness to Delay Claiming Social Security Benefits for a Lump Sum
"This paper investigates whether exchanging the Social Security delayed retirement credit, currently paid as an increase in lifetime annuity benefits, for a lump sum would induce later claiming and additional work. We show that people would voluntarily claim about half a year later if the lump sum were paid for claiming any time after the Early Retirement Age, and about two-thirds of a year later if the lump sum were paid only for those claiming after their Full Retirement Age." (Pension Research Council, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; free registration required)  

Pentegra Retirement Services Launches New Website
Pentegra Retirement Services

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