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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
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[Official Guidance]
Text of Social Security Announcement of COLA and Taxable Wage Base Amounts for 2015
"The 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 58 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2015.... [T]he maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $118,500 from $117,000. Of the estimated 168 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2015, about 10 million will pay higher taxes because of the increase in the taxable maximum."
(U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Issues Favorable Guidance on After-Tax Rollovers
"Starting in 2015, participants can avoid current taxes on retirement plan distributions that include after-tax amounts. The rules apply to defined benefit, defined contribution, 403(b) and governmental 457(b) plans. Until now, participants had to allocate pro rata portions of pre-tax and after-tax contributions to each direct rollover."
(Towers Watson)
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To Have an Expert or Not: The Fiduciary's Quandary
"[A] fiduciary is not required to substitute their own knowledge for that of another if the fiduciary has a certain skill.... [T]he process of selecting and relying on an expert requires a fiduciary to go deeper than simply selecting someone who claims to know more than the fiduciary.... The due diligence of investigating and selecting someone who does in fact have an expertise defines whether a fiduciary can rely on the advice. Simply put, you can't rely on an expert if you have not first determined them to be an expert and that is only done through investigating their qualifications."
(Fox Rothschild LLP)
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Venue Selection Clause in Retirement Plan is Enforceable in the Sixth Circuit
"Although a majority of the courts that have considered the issue have found venue selection clauses in an ERISA-governed plan to be enforceable, the Sixth Circuit is the first circuit court to consider the issue. Plan administrators should keep this in mind as they consider whether to add a venue selection clause to a plan. A venue selection clause may enable the plan to have a single body of law applied to the plan, creating legal consistency and administrative ease for the plan administrator." [Smith v. Aegon Companies Pension Plan, No. 13-5492 (6th Cir. Oct. 14, 2014)]
(Practical Law Company)
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PBGC Topics for Single-Employer Pension Plans (PDF)
39 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] PBGC and legislative initiatives regarding 4062(e) and plant shutdown liability; [2] PBGC's early warning program and involvement in corporate transactions, including financings and capital restructurings; and [3] Plan termination issues in voluntary bankruptcies.
(Morgan Lewis)
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Mortality Assumptions in Benefit Obligations: Effects of Anticipated New Mortality Tables (PDF)
"For companies with significant defined benefit pension and OPEB obligations, longer life expectancies could significantly increase the reported value of those obligations. And, for companies that immediately recognize the impact of changes in actuarial assumptions at the measurement date, that improved mortality experience could have a significant impact on fourth quarter results of operations."
(PricewaterhouseCoopers)
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Frequently Asked Questions About the 401(k) Plan System
"How large are 401(k)s? ... How many Americans have 401(k)s? ... How did 401(k) participants fare through the financial crisis and economic recession? ... What role do mutual funds play in 401(k) plan investing? ... What role do retirement account investments play in the mutual fund industry? ... What is the average 401(k) plan account balance? ... How have 401(k) participants allocated their investments? ... Does age affect a 401(k) participant's asset allocation? ... How many participants borrow against their 401(k)s? ... What is the average outstanding loan balance through 401(k) plans?"
(Investment Company Institute [ICI])
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Ten Mistakes That May Trigger a 401(k) Plan Audit
"[1] Missteps with the plan's eligibility requirements.... [2] Misinterpretation of the vesting period.... [3] Violation of break-in-service rules.... [4] Errors in calculating employee contributions.... [5] Miscalculations for profit-sharing contributions.... [6] Mismanagement of employee requests.... [7] Late or inconsistent payment of employee deferrals.... [8] Increasing forfeiture accounts.... [9] Improper tax withholdings when employees take distributions.... [10] Confusion over service provider contracts."
(Employee Benefit News)
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Are Out-of-Plan Annuitization Options Overlooked?
"Offering an annuity in-plan sounds like such an elegant idea because it would be an easy way for DC participants to transition almost seamlessly into a predictable lifetime income stream. In reality, however, there are several obstacles to providing in-plan annuity options that make plan sponsors hesitant to include them, such as fiduciary oversight, the long-term nature of guarantees, and low participant usage."
(Vanguard)
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Five Things to Tell 401(k) Participants About Volatile Markets
"Plan Sponsors and their investment advisors should help participants remain calm during these periods of intense market fluctuations by sharing the following: Don't stop contributing.... Don't make significant changes in your account.... There is always help.... Stick with your plan.... Volatile markets do not last forever."
(Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)
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An Actuarial Perspective on the 2014 Social Security Trustees Report (PDF)
"The total change in the projected tenth-year trust fund ratio was a decline of 18 percentage points. The majority of the expected decline is caused by moving the Short-Range Estimate period one year forward. Changes to the OASI trust fund ratios ... : [1] Moving the Short-Range Estimate period forward one year (reduced ratio by 15 percentage points); [2] Changes in economic data and assumptions (reduced ratio by 2 percentage points); and [3] Methodology changes (reduced ratio by 1 percentage point)."
(American Academy of Actuaries)
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Saving for Retirement Is Not Happening for a Third of Middle Class
"While a majority of middle-class Americans say that they are not sacrificing a lot to save for retirement, 72% of all middle-class Americans say they should have started saving earlier for retirement, up from 65% in 2013.... 56% say they would give up treating themselves to indulgences like spa treatments, jewelry, or impulse purchases; 55% say they'd cut eating out at restaurants 'as often'; and 51% say they would give up a major purchase like a car, a computer or a home renovation. Notably, fewer people (38%) report that they would forgo a vacation to save for retirement."
(Wells Fargo)
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[Opinion]
Financial Independence in Lieu of Retirement, and Other Phrases That Should Be Banished from Retirement Planning
"[T]he focus of generating retirement spending from retirement 'income' creates ... unnatural distortions, as retirees potentially stretch for income (especially in low-yield environments!), introducing new risks, and possibly confusing appealing-sounding retirement 'income' products that are actually just returning principal ... If we talk about retirement 'cash flows' instead, and move away from an income-centric conversation, it opens the door to looking more holistically at the retirement portfolio and how it can support retirement spending. But perhaps the most crucial change in our language of retirement planning is simply to rename 'retirement' itself."
(Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)
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[Opinion]
The Misleading Arguments of Those Who Fight Against Public Sector Pension Reform
"Those who fight against pension reform ... continue to claim public sector pension benefits average only around $25,000 per year, ignoring the fact that pension benefits for people who spent 30 years or more earning a pension ... average well over $60,000 per year. Public safety unions still spread the falsehood that their retirees die prematurely, when, for example, CalPERS own actuarial data proves that even firefighters retire today with a life-expectancy virtually identical to the general population. Propagandists who oppose urgently needed reform should recognize that pension reform is bipartisan, it is a financial imperative, and it is a moral imperative."
(UnionWatch)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Press Releases
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