Benefits Implementation Coordinator
USI Consulting Group
in CT

Vice President of Retirement Planning Services
USI Consulting Group
in TN

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in WI

Sr Benefits Analyst
Battelle Memorial Institute
in OH

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in MI

Retirement Plan Administrator
USI Consulting Group
in VA

Account Manager
Lincoln Financial Group
in ANY STATE

Relationship Manager
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in CA, MA

Defined Contribution Implementation - Project Manager
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

The Republican Midterm Victory and the Potential Impact on Healthcare Reform
RECORDED
(Health Management Associates)

7 Trends that Will Impact Wellness in 2015
December 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employee Benefit News)

Dealing with Employee Abuse of ADA and FMLA
January 6, 2015 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

Anthem’s Cancer Care Quality Program: A Blueprint to Improve Care and Reduce Costs
January 13, 2015 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Official Guidance]

Text of Treasury Department Submission to OMB and Comment Request on New Information Collection: Retirement Savings Module of the Household Financial Survey
"The Treasury Department is seeking OMB approval for an information collection to inform its administration of a new federal program being launched this year that aims to enable more low- and moderate-income individuals to save for retirement. As part of its work to launch the program, Treasury is exploring several approaches for enabling eligible individuals to open and put savings into the retirement accounts, including the option of encouraging individuals to open and fund the accounts when they file their federal tax forms." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

Fast, Integrated, Affordable Form 1099 Software.

Wolters Kluwer – ftwilliam.com offers web-based 1099 Software that will help simplify the 1099 preparation and filing process. Need help with all that printing, mailing and e-filing? Ask about our Service Bureau. We'll take care of that for you.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Amends Safe Harbor Rollover Notices
"The amendments to the safe harbor notices reflect the IRS's revised position regarding the allocation of after-tax amounts where a distribution is to be distributed to more than one destination and consists of both pre-tax and after-tax amounts and the allocation of earnings with respect to distributions from a designated Roth account." (Herrick, Feinstein LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Final and Proposed Regulations Address Cash Balance Plans
"The final regulations make some changes to the 2010 proposal and clarify some issues. The newly proposed rules set out transition guidance for sponsors who need to change their current market rate of return to comply with the final rules. The guidance offers hybrid plans (especially cash balance plans) a more stable future as well as new opportunities for plan sponsors." (Towers Watson)  

[Guidance Overview]

Lifetime Annuity Income Provided Through Target Date Funds
"[T]he DOL indicated that the series of TDFs with deferred annuities can serve as a qualified default investment option (QDIA). The information letter contemplates that the TDF investment manager would have the fiduciary duty to prudently select the annuity provider and indicates that the DOL safe harbor for selecting annuity providers and contracts is available. The plan sponsor's only obligation would be to prudently select and monitor the investment manager. The notice appears to be effective immediately and may be relied on for any plan year." (Towers Watson)  

Fact Sheet: Bipartisan Multiemployer Pension Reform Agreement (PDF)
"The proposed reform was initially developed by the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans [NCCMP].... The bipartisan agreement would provide the critical flexibility necessary to keep pension plans from going under and causing workers to lose everything. The proposal includes reforms to protect taxpayers and provide trustees with new tools to save troubled plans. It also includes important consumer safeguards to give participants in these plans a voice and to protect the most vulnerable retirees." (U.S. House of Representatives)  

[Advert.]

Join a free web briefing on December 11

With daily emails, a user-friendly website, and web briefings, Mercer Select members stay informed about key benefit, comp and HR issues. Sign up for a free web briefing on Dec. 11 at 1 pm ET, or for a free demo or guest membership.

Summary of the Pension Cutback Provisions in the Kline-Miller Amendment
"In some cases, the cuts could exceed 60% of a participant's benefits.... The cuts are made by plan trustees, who are typically more aligned with active workers and contributing employers, than with retirees.... Even if all participants vote against cuts, the Treasury Department can override the vote and uphold the trustees' decision to make cuts, if it concludes that a plan poses a 'systemic' risk to the [PBGC].... The insurance premiums that multiemployer plans pay to the PBGC are increased from $13 to $26 per participant per year." (Pension Rights Center)  

Comprehensive Multiemployer Pension Reform Now in Play
"Much of the draft legislation is based on recommendations previously issued by the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans [NCCMP]. The bill is designed to make it easier for multiemployer pension plans to take steps to improve their health without necessarily placing significant additional financial burdens on participating employers or taxpayers.... [Key] highlights of interest for employers: [1] Ability of deeply troubled plans to reduce benefits before insolvency.... [2] Changes to mergers and partitions.... [3] Employer relief on withdrawal liability payments." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)  

Is Congress About to Cut Your Pension?
"The 31 million people in so-called single employer plans wouldn't be affected by the bill. The bigger fear is about the 10 million workers and retirees in pooled plans.Ten to 15 percent of those workers are in plans that may need to make cuts.... A retiree with a pension of $24,000 per year and 25 years of service could see his or her annual benefit cut in half, according to the Pension Rights Center." (Bloomberg)  

2015 Preview: Trends, Legislation, Regs and Litigation Will Continue to Affect the Retirement Plan Industry
"[R]etirement plan sponsors [will] continue to focus on spending on their retirement programs, shifting from a shorter-term reactionary point of view to a more strategic perspective. They will look at how their plans fit with the goals of the company and try to restore confidence and a sense of financial well-being for their employees." (planadviser)  

401(k) Plan Costs Decline as Indexing Becomes More Popular
"Average asset-weighted total plan costs for 401(k) plans dropped to 39 basis points in 2012 vs. 49 basis points in 2009 ... For plans with more than $1 billion in assets, the average cost dropped to 28 basis points from 32 basis points during the period, a decline of 12.5%. For plans with less than $1 million in assets, the average cost fell to 164 basis points from 204 basis points, a drop of 19.6%." (InvestmentNews)  

Society of Actuaries Publishes Final Reports on Updated Mortality Tables
"To allow for additional flexibility, the [Society of Actuaries] will make tools available to [1] support the development of a one-dimensional projection scale that would approximate results from a two-dimensional model, and [2] produce alternative mortality projection scales based on actuarial modifications to certain parameters.... According to the final report, it is not necessarily inconsistent to adopt different mortality tables for measuring pension and postretirement medical obligations, and the reports provide some guidance on doing so." (Towers Watson)  

Pension Buyout Reality Check
"Recent annuity purchases highlight the need to examine what drives their pricing. Plan sponsor announcements that allude to 'par' settlements relative to accounting values warrant a closer look at the plan's actuarial assumptions before reaching any conclusions about the attractiveness of a buyout's economics." (NISA Investment Advisors; free registration required)  

GAO Report on Federal Retirement Processing: Applying Information Technology Acquisition Best Practices Could Help OPM Overcome a Long History of Unsuccessful Modernization Efforts
"In a series of reviews, GAO found that [OPM's] efforts over two decades to modernize its processing of federal employee retirement applications were fraught with information technology (IT) management weaknesses.... GAO has previously made numerous recommendations to address IT management challenges that OPM has faced in carrying out its retirement modernization efforts. Fully addressing these challenges remains key to the success of OPM's efforts." (U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO])  

U.K. Insurance Overhaul Doesn't Make for a Happy Retirement
"The U.K. government this year scrapped the compulsory purchase of an annuity at retirement after several years of low interest rates had turned an unpopular product into a downright unattractive one. Pity those who had bought an annuity shortly ahead of that decision in March. But now, the consumer financial watchdog has given them scope to get out of those deals, or eke a bit more from their provider. A review of selling practices in the past five years has found that insurers didn't do enough to help customers exploit what little choice they had in buying an annuity." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

MEP Reform: Is it Necessary? A Rebuke
"[T]he only 'MEP' Reform really needed is a modest change to the Form 5500 rules which would permit employers which aggregate their investments and allocations to also pool their Form 5500s.... Those who are familiar with the small end of the 401(k) market know of the pressure to adopt proprietary funds with the highest expense loads; the limited access to competing fund families; the lack of affordable expertise; and the often-lousy level of services which accompany the lack of scale.... [S]mall employers do need to be able access the buying power which is only available with scale, and it is still far too hard for them to obtain. The question is how it will most effectively be done." (Business of Benefits)  

[Opinion]

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Criticizes House Proposal on Multiemployer Pensions
"[T]he last-minute scheme was rushed through by a few House members in private during the final days of the legislative year without consideration by the Senate Finance Committee and other committees of jurisdiction. That flawed process has produced a lopsided solution leaving existing retirees to shoulder a disproportionate share of sacrifice. It also will result in the rolling back of a major tenet enshrined in pension law -- never take away money a pensioner has already earned." (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance)  

[Opinion]

Statement of Sen. Tom Harkin on Multiemployer Pension Cuts Proposed by the House of Representatives
"Unfortunately, the approach put forth by the House ... is not balanced and fails to fix the multiemployer system. It is focused almost purely on cutting retiree benefits. More than one million people could see their pensions cut. Meanwhile, it leaves PBGC woefully underfunded, pushing out insolvency by just two years. The approach fails to include any of the proposals to allow innovative, hybrid plan designs for the future." (Senator Tom Harkin (IA))  

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Notice 2014-79: Standard Mileage Rates for 2015 (PDF)
"The standard mileage rate for transportation or travel expenses is 57.5 cents per mile for all miles of business use (business standard mileage rate).... 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile in rendering gratuitous services to a charitable organization under Section 170.... [and] 23 cents per mile for use of an automobile [1] for medical care described in Section 213, or [2] as part of a move for which the expenses are deductible under Section 217." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

A Potential Turning of the Tide: Eleventh Circuit Affirms Enforcement of Summary Plan Description Terms
"The court first rejected the argument that a document could not be both a written instrument that set forth the plan's terms ... and a summary plan description ... Although Amara precludes enforcement of SPDs 'where the terms of that summary conflict with the terms specified in other, governing plan documents,' the Eleventh Circuit noted that the Supreme Court only rejected the proposition that SPDs 'necessarily may be enforced ... as the terms of the plan itself.' This 'leaves open the possibility that terms in those summaries may, at times, be enforced, even though they are not always enforceable.' " [Bd. of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan v. Montanile, No. 14-11678 (11th Cir. Nov. 25, 2014)] (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)  

Year-End Employee Benefits and Compensation Planning Ideas (PDF)
5 pages. "December may be the last time to take some actions in order to be effective in 2015, such as nonqualified plan salary deferral elections, while in other cases December provides a new opportunity to ensure arrangements are ready for new rules in 2015, such as the [ACA] employer mandate. [This article provides a] list of key considerations for the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)  

Managing the Impact of Long-Term Care Needs and Expense on Retirement Security
"The collection of papers in this monograph were the result of a call for papers issued by the SOA's Committee on Post Retirement Needs and Risks in partnership with the Long Term Care Section to explore the impact of long-term care needs and expense on retirement security from a variety of aspects." [Page includes links to 12 papers, as well as an Overview Chapter and Collected Abstracts.] (Society of Actuaries)  

Proxy Advisory Firms Release 2015 Policy Updates (PDF)
5 pages. "ISS' most significant policy update pertains to the new equity plan scorecard (EPSC) for evaluating equity plan proposals. The EPSC is a more nuanced multi-factor approach to evaluating equity plan proposals in contrast to the current approach, which consists of a series of stand-alone pass/fail tests (e.g., shareholder value transfer (SVT) plan cost and burn rate) and the presence of certain 'egregious' plan features (e.g., stock option repricing without shareholder approval)." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)  

Rebecca McLaughlan Promoted to Vice President of McGraw Wentworth
McGraw Wentworth

Congress’ Holiday Present to Retirees: Slashing Their Pensions
Pension Rights Center

LIMRA Names New Research Head for LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute
LIMRA

View All Press Releases