Relationship Manager / Retirement Plans Consultant / Financial Advisor
Plexus Financial Services / The Plexus Groupe LLC
in IL

Data Entry/Clerical Assistant
DF Pensions, Inc.
in FL

Internal Wholesaler
Aspire Financial Services LLC
in CO, FL

Pension Administrator
GF Pension Corp.
in PA

Plan Administrator
Professional Capital Services
in PA

401(k) Administrator
Pollard & Associates, Inc.
in MD

Compliance Manager
General Board of Pension and Health Benefits
in IL

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Plan Sponsor Basics: Issues for 401(k) Plan Sponsors with Employer Stock Investment Funds
RECORDED
(Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP)

Dealing with RMDs: How to Make the Most Out of Required Minimum Distributions
November 19, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Global Equity Training Series (GETS) - Globally Mobile Employees
November 19, 2014 in CA
(Baker & McKenzie)

Worksite Wellness: Moving Beyond the Physical Dimension
November 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

IRS Form 8880 for 2014: Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions (PDF)
"Use Form 8880 to figure the amount, if any, of your retirement savings contributions credit (also known as the saver's credit). TIP: This credit can be claimed in addition to any IRA deduction claimed on Form 1040, line 32; Form 1040A, line 17; or Form 1040NR, line 32." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

ASPPA's New Business Executives and Managers Conference -- January 2015

The Business Executives and Managers Conference (BEAM), is a must attend for small business TPA owners, executives, managers, and decision makers. This event offers valuable knowledge and ideas in best practices; register today!

[Guidance Overview]

Recent Guidance on Hybrid Plans Gives Sponsors Interest Rate Options (PDF)
"The final regulations permit the use of a rate of return based on a subset of plan assets subject to certain conditions. The new preamble explains that some plan sponsors may want to credit interest differently for different groups of participants, such using a less-volatile rate for long-service employees.... A plan can change a benefit formula prospectively but is prohibited under federal tax Code Section 411(d)(6) from cutting back on accrued benefits." (ERISAdiagnostics via Thompson Pension Plan Fix-It Handbook)  

DOL Files Suit Against Fiduciaries of Severstal Wheeling Inc. Retirement Plans: Alleged Misconduct Caused More Than $7m in Plan Losses
"The [DOL] has filed a lawsuit to protect participants in the Wheeling Corrugating Company Retirement Security Plan and the Salaried Employees' Pension Plan of Severstal Wheeling Inc.... Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the suit seeks to order the defendants to restore to the plans all losses, including interest or lost opportunity costs ... It also seeks to remove the Retirement Committee as fiduciaries for the plans and appoint an independent fiduciary with authority to manage the plans. The plans previously terminated their relationship with WPN and LaBow." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

Society of Actuaries Pledges Faster Mortality Table Updates
"More than a decade passed between the two most recent mortality table updates from the Society of Actuaries, but retirement plan fiduciaries should expect another update long before 2024.... More frequent updates may mean more frequent mortality-driven increases in pension benefit liabilities ... but presumably the increases would be much smaller and regularly timed, and therefore much more manageable." (PLANSPONSOR)  

Moody's: New Mortality Tables Will Increase Corporate Pension Liabilities by $110 Billion
"Overall longevity among men rose to 86.6 years in 2014 from 84.6 in 2000, and among women it rose to 88.8 years in 2014 from 86.4 in 2000. Moody's uses a 6% increase to estimate the overall projected benefit obligation of U.S. defined benefit plans will rise about $110 billion, which the company says is a credit negative." (Pensions & Investments)  

[Advert.]

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Mercer Select members are! With a user-friendly website and daily emails, Mercer Select members stay informed about retirement and other key benefit, comp and HR issues. Sign up for a free demo or guest membership.

Longevity Annuities in Retirement Planning: A Gamble That Might Pay Off Handsomely
"The ideal purchaser of a QLAC in its purest form, i.e., one that pays only if the annuity starting date is reached, is someone who can afford to lose the annuity purchase price if they die early. Such a person, if they have a surviving spouse, would have enough funds to support the spouse in the event that death occurred before the annuity starting date, or perhaps the spouse would purchase his or her own QLAC. If the annuitant lives significantly longer than his or her actuarial life expectancy, the financial rewards could be significant. More importantly, the extra income could give the non-annuity retirement assets a significant boost which could relieve the economic stress of living longer than expected." (Quarles & Brady LLP)  

Five Low Cost Ways to Improve Your 401(k) Plan
"[1] Cure low participation with auto-enrollment.... [2] Fix failing nondiscrimination tests with auto-escalation.... [3] Get better advice by requiring your investment advisor to be a fiduciary.... [4] Change your employee education program by offering it online, on demand, at your employees home so your employee's spouses can participate as well.... [5] Fix inappropriate investing by offering target date funds and re-enrolling everyone." (Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)  

New Research Shows Wide Disparities in 401(k) Participation Across States
"Delaware had the highest participation rate, 85.8%. Nevada had the lowest participation rate, 53.0%. Nationwide, 71.5% of eligible participants had balances in their 401(k) plans at the end of the most recently available plan year. If the District of Columbia had been included, it would have ranked #5 with 78.6% of participants actually participating in their plans." (Judy Diamond Associates)  

Milliman 2014 Public Pension Funding Study
"The larger plans in the study tend to be better funded than the smaller plans in the study. The best funded plans, those in the top quartile of plans as measured by the sponsor-reported funded ratio, account for 34% of the aggregate sponsor-reported accrued liabilities, whereas the worst funded plans, those in the bottom quartile, account for only 18% of the aggregate sponsor-reported accrued liabilities. This year's study found that the gap between the recalibrated accrued liability and the sponsor-reported accrued liability widened, from 2.6% in the Milliman 2013 Public Pension Funding Study to 3.8% in 2014." (Milliman)  

Pension Trends Confirmed by $20 Billion Club Third Quarter Earnings Calls
"The October round of earnings calls (Q3 for most U.S.-listed corporations) provide a handy guide to the state of corporate pension plans in advance of the full 10-K reports that mostly come out in February. This year, there has been no single theme that dominated the pension-related comments of the sponsors of large DB plans.... Two years ago, there were many questions on risk transfer and the effect of MAP-21. Last year, it was the earnings calculation that received most attention. This year, it's been a wider range of topics[.]" (Russell Investments)  

Funded Status of U.S. Corporate Pensions Falls to 89.5 Percent
"For the typical corporate plan in October, assets increased 1.5 percent, trailing the 1.9 percent increase in liabilities ... This funded status is now down 5.7 percent from the December 2013 high of 95.2 percent ... The higher liabilities for corporate plans in October resulted from the Aa corporate discount rate falling 11 basis points to 4.20 percent over the month." (BNY Mellon)  

Bankrupt San Bernardino Repaying Millions in Arrears to CalPERS
"Bankrupt San Bernardino has begun repaying millions in arrears to [Calpers] in a deal that has ended an acrimonious relationship between the California city and its biggest creditor. San Bernardino has set aside $10.6 million in its current budget, which has yet to be published, to pay an unnamed creditor. A senior city source, speaking on the condition of anonymity because details of the Calpers deal are subject to a judicial gag order, confirmed that creditor is Calpers." (Reuters)  

Phoenix Voters Reject Pension Overhaul Backed by Billionaire
"The measure proposed to end the city's traditional defined-benefit pension plan for new workers, shifting them to a plan dominant in the private sector, with employees [paying] a far greater share of the cost. Existing workers could have kept their current pensions. The initiative was one of this year's biggest test cases pushed by pension-reform advocates, including Texas billionaire and former Enron executive John Arnold, who have argued that traditional pension plans are an increasingly unaffordable burden for cash-strapped state and local governments." (Reuters)  

Can Government Pension Plans Be Fixed? (PDF)
"Reading [recent] headlines, one can rightfully conclude that government pension plans are not sustainable. The reality, however, is that while there are some systems that have severe problems, many other systems are in good shape or have a plan in place to improve their financial condition. So perhaps the better question is, why have some governmental pension plans become financially distressed, while other plans have remained strong?" (Bryan, Pendleton, Swats & McAllister, LLC)  

Might Shareholders Demand Broader Clawbacks Than Those Mandated by Dodd-Frank?
"Recently, some commentators have suggested that, because Dodd-Frank would require a clawback upon a material financial restatement, the only compensation that would be clawed back would be that tied to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial metrics.... Inversely, a performance metric tied to something not GAAP-related -- for example, one based on nonfinancial performance or even one that might feed into a GAAP metric -- would be exempt from the clawback. This possible interpretation raises obvious questions about whether companies might adopt plan metrics that would not subject incentives to a Dodd-Frank clawback. It also raises the question of whether certain incentive plan designs that are currently in vogue -- specifically, relative total shareholder return (TSR) plans -- would be subject to Dodd-Frank clawbacks." (Towers Watson)  

Transamerica Offers Employers New Option to Enroll Employees in Voluntary Benefits with Benefitfocus Marketplace
Transamerica

Pension Consultants Expands Out of Midwest
Pension Consultants, Inc.

Securian’s Geurkink Receives Retirement Industry Leadership Award
Securian Financial Group

Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company Expands Health & Welfare Practice
Gabriel, Roeder Smith & Company

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