ASPPA

Associate - Compensation Consulting
Verisight, Inc.
in IL, WI

Pension Consultant In-Training/Marketing Support
Associated Pension Consultants
in CA

Benefit Associate
Taft Hartley Benefit Fund
in NY

DB Pension Analyst
Milliman
in OR

Employee Benefits Associate/Relationship Manager
First American Bank
in IL

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How to Develop Your HIPAA-HITECH Policies and Procedures
November 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

HIPAA HITECH 101
November 25, 2014 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

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[Guidance Overview]

PBGC Issues Guidance on the Effect of HATFA on Underfunded Plan Reporting (PDF)
"Because of the retroactive application of HATFA rates, it is possible that a 4010 filing that has already been submitted is no longer required.... If a filer stated in the 4010 filing that an actuarial report would be submitted by the alternative due date, but the report is no longer required, the filer need not submit the report. In addition, if a 4010 filing is not required for the next information year, the filer need not report to the PBGC the reason why the filing is not necessary. However, PBGC may contact the filer asking why the report or filing was not submitted. Filers wishing to avoid such correspondence may send an email to the PBGC explaining the situation to ERISA.4010@pbgc.gov" (Prudential)  

[Advert.]

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ftwProposal Pro helps illustrate the best plan options from data that is entered or populated from the plan document or administration software. Contact us about the auto-solve tool, customized reports, how to maximize benefits and more!

The IRS 2014-2015 Priority Guidance Plan: Still a Long List for Employee Benefits (PDF)
"The 2014-2015 Plan contains 65 projects in the context of 'Employee Benefits' with 42 projects specifically focused on 'Retirement Benefits.' As in prior years, many of the projects listed are carryover projects from the 2013-2014 priority guidance plan that are still in the middle of the regulatory process.... [This article reviews] a number of significant Retirement Benefits items from the 2014-2015 Plan ... [The authors] review the key areas and give a preview of where these pieces of guidance may be heading." (Groom Law Group, via TAXES The Tax Magazine)  

2014 End of Year Plan Sponsor 'To Do' List: Qualified Retirement Plans
Includes detailed checklists for [1] All Qualified Plans; [2] Section 401(k) Plans; [3] Defined Contribution Plans (Other Than Section 401(k) Plans); [4] Defined Benefit Plans; and [5] Section 403(b) Plans. (Snell & Wilmer)  

ERISA Plan Investment Committee Governance: Avoiding Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims (PDF)
47 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] Best Practices and Hot Button Issues (regulatory process; committee selection issues -- qualification considerations, certifications; investment committee documents -- charter and investment policy statement; vendors); [2] ERISA Fiduciary Insurance (coverage, defense provision, indemnification); and [3] ERISA Litigation (investment committee liability and defense tactics). (Strafford)  

What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Want Instead of a Fiduciary
"[Don Trone, founder of 3ethos and the principal founder of fi360, says] 'Great fiduciaries, leaders, and stewards must be able to demonstrate and communicate the details of their decision-making process.... [A] fiduciary standard is the floor to a professional standard of care -- leadership and stewardship form the ceiling. A regulatory fiduciary standard only defines the minimum requirements (floor) that must be met in order for an advisor to be compliant.... Trust has the greatest impact on participant outcomes -- if a participant does not trust the company they work for (and 66% of workers are not emotionally engaged in the work they are doing, or inspired by the company they work for), then they're not going to trust the company's 401k plan. Trust is inextricably linked to leadership and stewardship.' " (Fiduciary News)  

[Advert.]

Ready for 2014 year-end retirement plan amendment deadlines?

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.

ERISA Plan Investment Committee Structure May Create Employment-Related Conflict of Interest
"[E]ach fiduciary is equal at the investment committee 'table' but otherwise [is] unequal. This can present a big problem if any or all of the investment committee members disagree with the Chief Financial Officer. Worse yet, a subordinate (in corporate organization terms) may be reluctant to whistle blow about an imprudent decision made by the CFO while wearing her hat as ERISA fiduciary." (Pension Risk Matters)  

Features Plan Sponsors Should Consider When Restating Their Retirement Plans
"Consider adding automatic enrollment, automatic deferral increase and defaulting participants into a qualified default investment vehicle (QDIA) like a target date fund.... There is very little, if any cost, to adding the Roth feature for a plan sponsor.... Should your plan become a safe harbor plan? ... Terminated employees with balances in the plan count as participants and could trigger the administrative burden and expense of an audit.... [R]eview your discretionary profit sharing allocation method to make sure it is in keeping with how you wish to reward individuals at your firm." (Bronfman E.L. Rothschild)  

Is Your Business a Magnet? Retirement Plans Attract Employees
"Overall, 79 percent of companies offer 401(k)s or similar plans, up from 72 percent in 2007 -- before the recession. Even among small companies with 10 to 99 employees, nearly three-fourths (73 percent) offer a retirement plan. Of those companies with plans, 77 percent offer an employer match." (Small Business Trends)  

Weighing the Pension Investment Implications of Mortality Assumption Changes
"The new mortality assumptions reflect improved longevity and will therefore result in increases to both pension liabilities and plan durations. Lower plan funded statuses (due to pension liability increases) theoretically provide incentive to re-risk asset allocations, while longer plan durations suggest de-risking is more appropriate. Sponsors may prefer to re-risk with respect to equity exposure while de-risking with respect to duration mismatch ... The investment decision requires a fundamental choice on whether to accept, intensify, mitigate or shift the incremental funded status volatility associated with lengthened liability duration[.]" (Standish)  

Text of SSA Actuarial Note 2014.4: Illustrative Benefits for Retired Workers, Disabled Workers, and Survivors Scheduled Under Current Law (PDF)
"For a group of example workers with a range of full-lifetime average earnings levels at various ages in 2014, this note displays their current earnings in 2013, their full-lifetime average earnings, and the amounts they would expect to receive at benefit entitlement. The assumptions underlying the attached tables are similar to those used in the annual Social Security Statement available online to workers and former workers aged 18 and older. The benefit amounts are those specified in current law. The amounts reflect no increase in the cost of living or in the average wage level after 2013." (Office of the Chief Actuary, U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])  

The Gap Between Expected and Actual Retirement: Evidence From Longitudinal Data
"Pre-September 2008, before the investment markets crashed, 83.9 percent of workers retired either earlier or no later than three years after their expected retirement -- compared with only 59.3 percent who did so post- September 2008. Longitudinal findings (comparing same cohort at different points in time) show that more people (35.9 percent) actually retired after 65 than expected (18.9 percent), and among those who expected to retire after 65, more than half (56.6 percent) did so. It also shows that 38.0 percent retired before they planned, 48.0 percent retired after they planned, and 14.0 percent retired the year they planned." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Lifetime Job Demands, Work Capacity at Older Ages, and Social Security Benefit Claiming Decisions
"[The authors] consistently found that both non-routine cognitive analytic and non-routine physical demands were associated with worse health, earlier labor force exit, and increased use of Social Security Disability Insurance. The growing share of workers in jobs with high levels of cognitive demand may contribute to growth in DI use." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Multiemployer Plans Show Resiliency
"The median investment return for multiemployer DB plans for calendar year 2008 was -23.5%, due to the market collapse. The median annualized return over the ten-year period from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2012 was 5.9%. At the end of 2012, the median DB funded percentage was 77.8% on a market value of assets basis. This is a significant improvement over the median funded percentage at the end of 2008, which was 67.4%, but still short of the 88.6% median funded percentage at the beginning of 2008." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])  

Pension Pain: TVA Retirement Plan $4.8 Billion Underfunded
"TVA boosted its net income and employee pay while paying down its debt in fiscal 2014. But for all its financial success, the federal utility failed to close a $4.8 billion shortfall in the pension program for nearly 36,000 current and retired TVA employees and their families. In fact, under an updated calculation made in 2014 to reflect the lower interest rate environment, TVA's underfunded pension plan appears to have gotten even worse in the past year." (Chattanooga Times Free Press)  

Will Retirement Legislation Get a Restart in 2015?
"While there is discussion of tax reform, there is also fear that Congress will turn a blind eye to the deferral nature of the retirement savings tax incentives, and choose to 'pay for' reform by gutting those incentives. But there is also good reason for optimism in the next Congress, where Sen. [Orrin] Hatch will become Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Hatch's SAFE Retirement Act lays out a strong blueprint for building on the successes of the employer-based retirement system." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA])  

[Opinion]

Stockton Highlights Nationwide Risk of Conflict Between Muni Investors and Public Sector Unions
"While this most recent ruling clearly favored public employees over investors, in an earlier ruling the same judge made history in the Golden State by designating pensions as impairable -- subject to a haircut in the event of bankruptcy. Pensions may still get favorable treatment, but no longer in automatic fashion. Stockton is not alone. A new report from Moody's Investors Service shows just how widespread the risk runs as investors weigh whether to put their trust in municipal officials. The question is whether Stockton could be a wake-up call for city managers and union leaders across the country to tighten their belts and lower the temperature at the negotiating table." (Forbes)  

[Opinion]

PBGC Annual Report Underscores Improving Single-Employer Pension System
"The $8.1 billion decline in the single employer plan deficit from $27.4 billion to $19.3 billion -- a nearly 30 percent decline -- validates our longstanding assertion that the funded status of pensions is highly sensitive to changes in interest rates and the stock market and policy concerning long term obligations like pensions should not be determined based on a snapshot moment. At the same time, multiemployer plans operate in the same interest rate and market conditions. So the fact that the multiemployer program deficit rose more than five-fold in one year -- from $8.3 billion to $42.4 billion -- makes clear that the program has serious challenges[.]" (American Benefits Council)  

[Opinion]

Pension Funds Flock to Riskier Investments?
"Nothing really surprising in these findings except that most pension funds plan to significantly increase (illiquidity) risk at the worst possible time. It's also interesting that private equity is now more popular than real estate and infrastructure, probably because the returns are higher (but so is the risk).... [P]rivate equity is an important asset class from an asset-liability perspective and how the top funds consistently trounce stocks on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis[.]" (Pension Pulse)  

Findings from the 2014 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (PDF)
"Three-quarters of workers state that the benefits package an employer offers prospective workers is extremely (32 percent) or very (44 percent) important in their decision to accept or reject a job. Nevertheless, 34 percent are only somewhat satisfied with the benefits offered by their current employer, and 22 percent are not satisfied. Eighty-six percent of workers report that employment-based health insurance is extremely or very important, far more than for any other work place benefit. Workers identify lower cost (compared with purchasing benefits on their own) and choice as strong advantages of voluntary benefits." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Why Everyone Needs a Benefits Enrollment Buddy
"Even though many employers want to go paperless, it's important to remember that not everyone has Internet access, or if they have access, they might use it only sparingly.... Plus, some employee populations don't have computer access at all, either at work or at home. Employee advocacy allows those who don't have computers to enroll over the phone.... [P]erhaps someone needs assistance navigating the online system. But while they're on the phone with an employee advocacy consultant, they're also getting an explanation of each plan and how to best utilize the benefits they choose." (Corporate Synergies)  

Stock Plan Education Shows Improvement But Can Do Better
"Many participants are adequately familiar with their stock plans' features but are unsure about how and when to take action with their grants. Slightly more than half of the survey respondents say they have a good sense of the relationship between company stock price and the value of equity compensation, and that is good -- but it also implies that nearly half of the respondents do not understand even this basic concept." (myStockOptions.com)  

[Opinion]

In Defense of Executives, Boards and Stock-Based Compensation
"In consecutive months, Harvard Business Review ran major articles suggesting that corporate executives, with complicit directors, focus more on self-enrichment and managing the stock market than creating real value and managing the fundamentals of their companies.... Unfortunately, these articles and perspectives often mix correlation and causation, citing stock-based compensation as the bogeyman for many perceived ills. They also don't give credit to the overwhelming majority of executives and boards that ... focus on building and sustaining companies that create real value for their numerous stakeholders." (Towers Watson)  

Minnesota Insurance Commissioner Recognized for Retirement Planning Outreach Efforts
Insured Retirement Institute [IRI]

Cafaro Greenleaf Adds Boston Office, Retirement Plan Staff
Cafaro Greenleaf

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