Pension Consultants/ Administrators
Leading Northern NJ Actuarial Firm
in NJ

DC Retirement Plan Administrator
Pension Plan Administration, LLC
in AR

Vice President of Retirement Planning Services
USI Consulting Group
in IL

Sales Director
Pension Consultants
in MO

Director, Benefits Policy
The ERISA Industry Committee
in DC

Retirement Plan Administrator
Advanced Pension Designs, LLC
in NJ

Actuarial Specialist
CBIZ
in AZ

Rock Star Health/OPEB Actuary
Van Iwaarden Associates
in MN

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How Will Pension Valuations Be Impacted By the Updated Mortality Table?
RECORDED
(Findley Davies, Inc.)

IRS and DOL Enforcement of Group Health Plan Mandates: Health Care Reform, COBRA, HIPAA & More
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

The ACA and Looking Ahead Beyond 2015
December 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Littler Mendelson)

Bank on It! Evaluating and Implementing Paid Time Off (PTO) Banks
January 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(Clear Law Institute)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Monthly Interest Update for January and First Quarter 2015
"The first quarter 2015 interest assumptions under the allocation regulation will be 2.89 percent for the first 20 years following the valuation date and 3.12 percent thereafter. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for the fourth quarter of 2014, these interest assumptions represent no change in the select period ... a decrease of 0.21 percent in the select rate, and a decrease of 0.17 percent in the ultimate rate.... The January 2015 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.00 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 December 2014, these interest assumptions are unchanged." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

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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]

5500 Reporting Change for Multiple Employer Plans (PDF)
"Beginning with the 2014 plan year MEPs must attach a list of employers participating in the plan including ... a good faith estimate of the percentage of total aggregate employee and employer contributions made by each participating employer during the plan year relative to the total contributions made by all participating employers during the plan year. The employer must be listed even if no contributions were made by participants or the employer during the plan year being reported." (VOYA Financial)  

Text of Second DOL Solicitor General Brief to Supreme Court in Tibble v. Edison (PDF)
"Respondents had an ongoing duty of prudence, which included a duty to revisit the plan investments and remove imprudent ones.... [P]etitioners' claims are based not on the initial decision to offer the higher-cost funds as plan investments, but on the breaches of fiduciary duty committed when the imprudent investments remained in the plan ... Under the law of trusts, a trustee must periodically review trust assets and remove imprudent investments, regardless of whether there has been a significant change in circumstances.... The court of appeals effectively exempted plan fiduciaries from a significant aspect of the trust law duties imposed by ERISA once an investment has been in an ERISA plan for six years." [Tibble v. Edison International, No. 13-550 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2013; cert. pet. granted Oct. 2, 2014)] (Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor)  

Dudenhoeffer and Greatbanc Settlement Provide Useful Guidance for ESOP Fiduciaries
"[T]he Dudenhoeffer decision has spawned a requirement for fiduciaries to use an 'efficient market presumption' when determining the price to buy or sell publicly-traded employer stock with the ESOP.... [T]he DOL has specifically pointed to the GreatBanc settlement as the guidelines that its investigators will use when auditing an ESOP transaction and so fiduciaries would do well to be familiar with it." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Company Stock in Defined Contribution Plans Has Declined Since 2005
8 pages. "Since 2005, the incidence of company stock in defined contribution (DC) plans ... fell from 11% to 8%, a relative decline of 27% ... The fraction of participants offered or investing in company stock declined by even larger amounts. Importantly, the percentage of participants with a concentrated stock position (greater than 20% of their total account balance) dropped by about half ... Between December 2005 and June 2014, about one-third of company stock funds were closed to new money and/or eliminated from the plans[.]" (Vanguard)  

[Advert.]

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Summary of Leading Proposals to Expand Retirement Plan Coverage (PDF)
15 pages. For each of 15 proposals under current discussion or consideration, a chart provides the following information: Mandatory or Voluntary; Description; Employers Affected; Contribution Structure; Investment of Contributions; and Tax Treatment. (Davis & Harman, LLP, for American Benefits Council)  

Considerations in Deciding Whether or Not to Terminate a Frozen Pension Plan During 2015
"The recent issuance by the Society of Actuaries of a new mortality table for possible use in valuing pension liabilities has some plan sponsors thinking they should consider terminating their frozen pension plans by the end of 2015.... There are many other considerations beyond the possible timing of the new mortality table ... which are summarized [in this article]." (Milliman Retirement Town Hall)  

Proposed Multiemployer Pension Reform: Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Pass
"[M]ost relevant to employers, the new rules clarify that surcharges imposed pursuant to the Pension Protection Act do not count towards calculation of withdrawal liability payments as the 'highest contribution rate' against which annual payment limits are calculated. This has been arbitrated and litigated for some time and it would serve in many instances to reduce withdrawal liability payments.... [But] laws do not become laws simply because the House passed them. There is has already been heavy anti-reform commentary coming from organized labor and Democrats in the Senate." (Fox Rothschild LLP)  

[Opinion]

Washington's Pension Non-Bailout
"The big reform breakthrough is that pension plans deemed 'critical' or 'declining' ... could petition the Treasury to cut benefits to up to 110% of the PBGC guarantee.... The reform would also make permanent the 2006 Pension Protection Act's rules that allow insolvent plans to reduce 'adjustable' benefits (e.g., early and disability payouts). Insurance premiums would immediately double to $26 per participant, and the PBGC would have to propose a plan for paying benefits through 2035. This may be a bow to the reality that the multi-employer pension model can't be sustained in the long-term and should be phased out. We're told that next year the House Ways and Means Committee will consider how to facilitate the transition to hybrid plans involving 401(k)s." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

Did Congress Just Nuke Pensions?
"[T]here is no question that these multi-employer plans were poorly managed and were in desperate need of reforms. The problem is that instead of implementing more sensible reforms to try to bolster these plans or try saving them -- like maybe have the state public pension funds manage them -- Congress took out the guillotine and chopped them, effectively spreading the message that the pension promise is worthless." (Pension Pulse)  

[Opinion]

Congress' No-Bailout Pension Plan Is No Solution for Retirees
"The $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill moving through Congress this week adopts 'Solutions Not Bailouts,' a plan to shore up struggling multiemployer pension funds -- traditional defined benefit plans jointly funded by groups of employers in industries like construction, trucking, mining and food retailing. A bailout, it is not. The centerpiece is a provision that would open the door to cutting current beneficiaries' benefits, a retirement policy taboo and a potential disaster for retirees on fixed incomes." (Mark Miller, for Reuters)  

[Opinion]

Some Roth Is Good; 'More' May Not Be
"[T]he conversion of pre-tax IRA or employer plan amounts to Roth status actually generates new tax revenue in the year the transaction occurs.... The Roth concept also figures heavily in proposals for future tax reforms.... The upside for taxpayers, and there certainly is one, is potential tax-free earnings in the future ... The downside for the federal budget is a significant reduction in future tax revenues." (Todd Berghuis, for Ascensus)  

2015 Proxies Will Show Spike in Executive Pension Values
"Summary Compensation Table (SCT) disclosures of changes in pension values are set to see the largest increase in recent memory in 2015 proxies, thanks to a confluence of two events that took place in 2014: [1] In October, the Society of Actuaries released updated mortality tables to be applied when retirement plan sponsors estimate the financial obligations associated with their plans.... [2] Interest or discount rates for 2014 decreased markedly from 2013, which means pension liabilities increase because the plan will earn less interest on investments in the future. These changes will directly increase the change in pension value reported in the SCT, even in situations where an executive may have a frozen pension benefit." (Towers Watson)  

ERIC Supports Approval of Legislation Clarifying “Substantial Cessation of Operations” in Relation to PBGC Enforcement Activity
ERIC [ERISA Industry Committee]

Pension Rights Center Statement on House Passage of "Cromnibus"
Pension Rights Center

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