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

Entry to Mid-Level, Retirement Plan Administration & Consulting
Pension and Retirement Plan Company
in CT, NJ, NY

Account Manager
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

Compliance Analyst
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

Enrolled Actuary
ERP Actuaries & Consultants
in NY

Pension Administrator
Plan Administration
in TX

Plan Administrator
Verisight
in IL

Conversion Manager
Verisight
in CA

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Controlled Groups - Understanding the Challenges
January 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

401(k) Plans: Beyond the Basics - Minneapolis
February 10, 2015 in MN
(SunGard Relius)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Rev. Proc. 2015-6: Procedures for Determination Letter Requests; Interested Party Notice and Comment
"This revenue procedure is a general update of Rev. Proc. 2014-6, 2014-1 I.R.B 198, which contains the Service's general procedures for employee plans determination letter requests.... In addition to minor revisions, such as updating references, [changes include]: ... Section 3.02 has been modified to reflect changes related to the transfer of technical work from the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE) to the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities); ... Section 6.04 has been modified by adding a summary of the new procedures for processing incomplete applications; ... Section 6.05 has been modified to reflect new submission requirements; ... Section 6.08 has been modified to clarify the submission requirements for applications involving merged plans; ... Section 6.13 has been modified to reflect the new procedures for processing incomplete applications; ... Section 6.15 has been modified by changing the address for determination letter requests; ... [Various sections] have been modified to update the application procedures for determination letter requests; ... [and more]." (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]

Treasury Softly Launches myRA Program
"While certain employers (reportedly including the U.S. Office of Personnel Management) will formally participate in a pilot initiative, the myRA program apparently is open to any employer that will accommodate payroll direct deposit for employees who open an account. No formal action on the part of the employer appears required, except as necessary for the transmittal of payroll deductions to employees' myRA accounts. Even for employers participating in the pilot initiative, the program appears primarily employee-driven at this time." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)  

The Right Glide Path for Smaller Accounts
"Retirement advisers and plan sponsors who argue for aggressive glide paths should consider participants' need to incur risk versus their ability to withstand potential account losses near or in retirement. It is very difficult to make the case that workers with less savings should be investing more aggressively because they need higher returns. Research shows that the vast majority of participants in defined-contribution plans do not have enough money saved for retirement and cannot absorb major losses near or in retirement without making dramatic changes to their lifestyle." (InvestmentNews)  

Another Court Finds Pension Plan of Church-Affiliated Hospital Is Subject to ERISA
"Ruling in line with the courts in Rollins v. Dignity Health and Kaplan v. Saint Peter's, the court here finds that only a church may establish a church plan. Because Advocate Health acknowledges that it is not a church, it therefore cannot sponsor a plan that falls within the church plan exemption to ERISA." [Stapleton v. Advocate Health, No. 14-C-0187 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 31, 2014)] (The Lowenbaum Partnership and FRA PlanTools)  

Court in Boeing Excessive Fee Case Denies Defendant's Motions for Summary Judgment, Sets Trial Date
"This decision makes two things clear. First, the ERISA plaintiff's bar has refined the claims being brought and/or argued since Hecker and has doubled down on conflicts of interest.... Second, Hecker doesn't have teeth anymore...maybe just baby molars. Possibly it's greatest lasting truth is that service providers such as Fidelity are not fiduciaries when they design a products such as a line up of funds." [Spano v. Boeing, No. 3:06-CV-743-NJR-DGW (S.D. Ill. Dec. 30, 2014)] (The Lowenbaum Partnership and FRA PlanTools)  

Benchmark Your 401(k) Plan: 2015
"Many plan sponsors want to know how their 401k plan stacks up to the typical or average plan.... To help you answer this question, [the author has] identified some of the common performance characteristics and features offered by many 401k plans and compiled the statistics below from a variety of sources that will allow you to benchmark your plan." (401kHelpCenter.com)  

Hamsters, Cyber Security and Retirement Plans
"A critical task for a plan sponsor is to gather sufficient knowledge about how a candidate asset manager or other type of vendor secures its operations from unwanted hackers. Asking questions as part of an RFP makes sense although responses could be too technical ... As a result, a plan sponsor could end up having to hire another vendor -- an organization to make sense of the replies about cyber security from the first vendor." (Pension Risk Matters)  

Corporate Pension Plan Funding Levels Declined in 2014
"The pension funded status of the nation's largest corporate sponsors reversed direction in 2014, dropping nine percentage points as falling interest rates (which increased liabilities) and the impact of new mortality tables were only partially offset by strong returns on pension plan assets ... [A]ggregate pension funded status is estimated to be 80% at the end of 2014, a decline from 89% at the end of 2013.... [T]he pension deficit increased to $343 billion at the end of 2014, more than twice the deficit at the end of 2013, as overall pension plan funding weakened by $181 billion last year." (Towers Watson)  

Build Your Own Pension Plan: An Interactive Pension Model
"Use this tool to design retirement plans for state and local government employees. Experiment with parameters to see the plan cost, benefit distribution and score on Urban's pension report card vary as the rules change." (Urban Institute)  

Will They Take the Money and Work? An Empirical Analysis of People's Willingness to Delay Claiming Social Security Benefits for a Lump Sum
"[The authors] show that people would voluntarily claim about half a year later if the lump sum were paid for claiming any time after the Early Retirement Age, and about two-thirds of a year later if the lump sum were paid only for those claiming after their Full Retirement Age. Overall, people will work one-third to one-half of the additional months, compared to the status quo. Those who would currently claim at the youngest ages are likely to be most responsive to the offer of a lump sum benefit." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)  

Does Retirement Make You Happy? A Simultaneous Equations Approach
"[The authors] find that depressive symptoms are negatively related to retirement while life satisfaction is positively related. Remarkably, income does not seem to have a significant effect on depression or life satisfaction. This is in contrast with the correlations in the raw data that show significant relations between income and depression and life satisfaction." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)  

Target CEO's $47 Million Retirement and the 401(k) Gap
"The gap in the U.S. workplace between the highest and lowest paid has been growing for years. Far less noticed has been the growing gulf in retirement pay. While the very top often continue to receive executive pensions as well as other benefits, most workers are left only with their 401(k) plans.... Some industries illustrate this trend more starkly than others. Big retailing chains, with their armies of lower-paid floor workers and their elite executive ranks, can be especially emblematic of the retirement gap." (Bloomberg)  

U.K. Considers Allowing Retirees to Exchange Monthly Payments for Lump Sum Cash-Out
"Older Britons who currently receive a monthly pension from an annuity may be able to sell their right to a regular income for upfront cash, under proposals being considered by the government. Last year Britain announced plans to ease requirements on new retirees to use any private pension savings to buy an annuity, which offers a guaranteed income for life.... Historically Britain has required people who have taken advantage of generous tax breaks to build up private pension savings to buy an annuity on retirement, so that they do not end up a burden on the state." (Reuters)  

[Opinion]

To Fix a Broken Retirement System, We Must Lose Our Fear That We Cannot Succeed
"Plan sponsors tend to recruit fiduciaries from far up the corporate 'food chain' where the candidates are the most proven, senior and financially literate executives. While this emphasizes competence, it does so at the expense of independence.... The history of 'excessive fee' cases teaches that the iconic notion of inside fiduciaries 'switching hats' as they deftly move back and forth across the fiduciary-settlor interface is an illusion.... The 401(k) industry can take a quantum leap forward by promoting a 'Best Practice' in which a plan's fiduciary committees include at least one outside, professional (unconflicted) fiduciary." (ERISA Fiduciary Administrators LLC)  

Ninth Circuit Reverses Ruling on Participant's Claim for Surcharge
"Plan participants can recover personal, rather than plan, losses under arguments of 'surcharge,' the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled, reversing an earlier opinion, which had been at odds with other federal circuits.... The U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 ruling on equitable remedies in Cigna Corp. v. Amara was not enough to tip the balance in the retiree's favor. In that decision, the justices ruled that equitable surcharge could be an appropriate remedy in some situations." [Gabriel v. Alaska Electrical Pension Fund, No. 12-35458 (9th Cir. Dec. 16, 2014)] (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

New Insurance Coverage Extends Protections to Investigations by DOL, Other Regulators
"Traditionally, fiduciary insurers have recognized a DOL investigation as a covered claim only after the DOL has sent a letter identifying alleged breaches of fiduciary duty at the end of its investigation. Under this structure, there is no coverage for defense costs during the investigation period. Pre-claim investigation coverage changes that. As soon as the first notice of an investigation is received from the DOL, filed with the insurer and accepted as a claim, the insurer is obligated to start paying defense costs." (Segal Consulting)  

TIAA-CREF Announces C. Eugene Steuerle as Samuelson Award Winner
TIAA-CREF

McGraw Wentworth and Cambridge Property & Casualty Combine Under One Brand, Forming Marsh & McLennan Agency Michigan
McGraw Wentworth

HealthPass New York To Offer CareConnect Health Insurance Plans to Small Businesses
HealthPass New York

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