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New ACA Recordkeeping Requirements Including 1094-C and 1095-C Forms
February 10, 2015 WEBCAST
(Triton Benefits)

401(k) Advisor Symposium in Scottsdale, AZ on February 12th
February 12, 2015 in AZ
(401k Rekon)

The Intelligent Fiduciary: Common Problems You Can Avoid
February 19, 2015 in NY
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - New York Chapter)

Employer Mandate: Covering the Right Employees
February 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(Hill, Chesson & Woody)

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[Guidance Overview]

Pension Plan Sponsors Must Justify the Reasonableness of Normal Retirement Ages Under Age 62 (PDF)
"Plan sponsors that have submitted determination letter requests using the most recent version of Form 5300 ... may have noticed a new line item 5 ... If the plan is [1] Any type of defined benefit plan, including a cash balance or pension equity plan (PEP); or [2] A defined contribution money purchase plan or target benefit plan, it must indicate if the plan's NRA has been below age 62 at any time after May 22, 2007. If the answer is 'yes', the next question is whether the employer ... has made a good faith determination that this NRA reasonably represents the typical retirement age for the industry in which the covered workforce is employed. If such a determination has been made, a special statement must be attached to the Form 5300 submission." (Prudential)  

[Advert.]

Plan Advisors Can't Miss the NAPA 401(k) Summit -- San Diego, March 2015

Learn from the best and add to your professional skill set by earning ASPPA and CFP CE's, networking with other exclusive financial advisors and TPAs, hearing from leading speakers on topics that matter to you most. The NAPA 401(k) Summit supports your needs!

[Guidance Overview]

Advance Copies of 2014 Form 5500 Include Various Changes (PDF)
"The following changes apply to both the Form 5500 and Form 5500: [1] Signature and date ... [2] Active participant information ... [3] Multiple employer plan information ... The following changes apply only to Form 5500: [1] Schedule H -- Financial Information ... [2] Schedule MB -- Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan and Certain Money Purchase Plan Actuarial Information ... [3] Schedule SB -- Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information." (Prudential)  

[Guidance Overview]

Congress Cuts Liability for Substantial Cessation of Operations
"The new definitions of operations cessations and their effect on an employer's work force took effect Dec. 16, 2014.... All employees of a plan sponsor who are eligible to participate in any ERISA-covered defined contribution or DB plan at the company are considered eligible under the new guidelines, so the pool of affected employees grows, but several new limitations for eligibility are set." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

2015 Retirement Policy Outlook
Topics include: [1] Legislation -- changes in Congress; [2] Tax reform; [3] PBGC premiums; [4] The 'closed group'/frozen DB plan issue; [5] Revenue raisers; [6] In the agencies -- DOL 'Conflict of Interest Rule-Investment Advice' regulation; [7] Other DOL initiatives; and [8] IRS initiatives. (October Three Consulting)  

The President's Budget and the ACA-ization of Retirement Plans
"While many of [the President's budget proposals] are unlikely to see the legislative light of day in a Republican-controlled Congress, it is interesting to note the parallels in some of these proposals to the Affordable Care Act and their perhaps unintended effects. [This article provides] a chart that lists a few of the items from the budget, compares them to similar provisions in the ACA, and gives a brief note on the likely effects." (Benefits Bryan Cave)  

[Advert.]

Top 5 Employee Benefit Trends for 2015 -- February 12 webinar

This live webinar will discuss top employee benefit trends for 2015. including defined contribution and flexible benefit plans; single-carrier and multi-carrier exchanges; consumer-driven health plans; and voluntary benefits. BenefitsLink discount.

Text of Bankruptcy Court Opinion Confirming Stockton Bankruptcy Plan and Determining Status of CalPERS (PDF)
54 pages. "[CalPERS] says that California law insulates its contract from rejection and that the pensions themselves may not be adjusted. Although ... it is doubtful that CalPERS even has standing to defend the City pensions from modification, CalPERS has bullied its way about in this case with an iron fist insisting that it and the municipal pensions it services are inviolable. The bully may have an iron fist, but it also turns out to have a glass jaw.... [The] California statute forbidding rejection of a contract with CalPERS in a chapter 9 case is constitutionally infirm in the face of the exclusive power of Congress to enact uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy ... Viewing compensation as a whole package, and comparing those net reductions with the net reductions for capital markets creditors, the plan is, in law and fact, appropriate to confirm." [In re Stockton, No. 12-32118-C-9 (Bankr. E.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2015)] (U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California)  

Retirement Plans Tap Multiple Managers After PIMCO Drama
"More than 27,000 of the largest corporate 401(k) plans in the country had over $80 billion in the [PIMCO] Total Return Fund at the end of 2013 ... The roster included Wal-Mart's $20.6 billion plan, the largest in the country by participants, as well as Raytheon's and Verizon's.... There is no data on how many plans have replaced PIMCO Total Return for multiple managers or team managed funds, but advisers who consult retirement plans with tens of billions of dollars in assets told Reuters they are doing so." (Reuters)  

The Rise of Target Date Funds (PDF)
"The simplicity that target date funds bring to the plan participant investment decision-making process stands in sharp contrast to the complicated evaluation that plan fiduciaries must undertake in the selection process. When selecting a target date fund, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' answer for every plan -- but there is likely 'an appropriate fit' for your plan. This paper will explore the issues that plan fiduciaries will need to consider when adding or re-evaluating target date funds for their defined contribution plans." (PNC Retirement Solutions)  

Why Some Retirees Worry About Risk Transfers
"The main worry of the [retirees who have brought a lawsuit against Verizon] is that their billions of dollars in income annuities will be less well-protected than ERISA-covered benefits, for example in the case of a personal bankruptcy or the admittedly unlikely bankruptcy of Prudential. The plaintiffs further claim they received insufficient notice in advance of the transfer of their promised pension benefits from Verizon's to Prudential's balance sheet and that no such right to enact a transfer was established by plan documents." [Lee v. Verizon, No. 14-10553 (5th Cir.; oral arguments heard Feb. 4, 2015)] (planadviser)  

Optimal Pensions in Aging Economies
"[T]he optimal replacement ratio is found to amount to approximately 5% and to be insensitive with regard to the aging of the US population; however, lower productivity growth would result in higher optimal pension payments. In addition, the optimal pension scheme is found to be more progressive than the present US pension system." (Burkhard Heer of the University of Augsburg, via SSRN)  

Pension Finance Watch, January 2015
"A large drop in interest rates dominated January results. Losses on equities also drove portfolio returns slightly into the red. The combined impact was a rather sobering 6.5% hit to the Towers Watson Pension Index, to 67.2 -- its lowest level since April 2013." (Towers Watson)  

Risky Pension-Bond Strategy Considered in Kansas
"Where Kansas sees a market opportunity, some bond investors see a warning. Pension-obligation bonds remain only a sliver of the $3.6 trillion municipal market even as many states wrestle with oversize retirement-system shortfalls. Such debt offerings can be seen as a sign of distress since governments such as California, New Jersey and Illinois are among the largest issuers and hold the lowest credit ratings among states." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

The Fiduciary Definition Debate: Real Reasons to Be Offended
"For at least the last decade, stockbrokers and others have targeted the Golden Goose of IRA assets because they still constitute a larger amount of assets than those in retirement plans.... The suitability standard of the '34 Act, which governs a stockbroker in its non-fiduciary relationship with its clients, fades to black in comparison to the bedrock principle of the fiduciary duties owed by the broker to its broker/dealer. The unavoidable conflict of interest is created when the suitability standard comes up against -- but must yield to -- the bedrock of the fiduciary standard. As the law stands, a broker cannot avoid conflicts with its clients because of the fiduciary duties it owes directly to its broker/dealer." (W. Scott Simon, in Morningstar Advisor)  

[Opinion]

Five Ways to Improve the President's Retirement Initiative
"Obama's proposal is a good start, but with a few tweaks by either the federal government or the states implementing these programs, it could be even better. [1] Auto escalation.... [2] Removal of the income limit on Roth IRA contributions.... [3] Consider mandating auto enrollment in 401(k) plans, with an employee opt-out.... [4] Limiting access to account balances except in emergencies.... [5] Higher IRA contribution limits." (Scott Cooley, in Morningstar)  

[Opinion]

Court's Decision in Tibble Could Turn Over a Lot of Apple Carts
"ERISA is no different than any other area of the law: there has to be a starting point and an ending point for the time period during which conduct can give rise to a suit. The multi-million dollar question posed by Tibble for the numerous plans out there is how do you determine those points in the context of investment decisions made by plans, where those investments may be held for many, many years." (Stephen Rosenberg of The Wagner Law Group)  

[Opinion]

American Academy of Actuaries Comments to IRS on Potential Improvements in Section 436 Benefit Restriction Rules (PDF)
"The Pension Committee is generally supportive of the aims of IRC Section 436. However, it is unnecessarily cumbersome in some respects and could be made easier to administer, easing the burden on plan sponsors, without undermining IRC Section 436's goal of protecting the funded status of pension plans and thereby protecting participant benefits. Our comments fall into the following broad categories: [1] Timing Issues; [2] Avoidance of Restrictions; [3] Application of Restrictions; [4] Conflicts with Collective Bargaining Agreements." (Pension Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

American Academy of Actuaries Comment Letter to IRS on Developing Future Mortality Tables for Sections 430(h)(3) and 417(e) (PDF)
"We believe that pension plans should be using up-to-date mortality assumptions and best practices where possible. However, we believe that any changes to required tables for pension funding requirements should include alternatives for smaller plans ... For valuation purposes, the sophistication of two-dimensional mortality projection scales may not be warranted for many small plans, or for plans that predominantly pay lump sum benefits." (Pension Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries)  

Ogletree Deakins Welcomes Employee Benefits Ace Lorne Dauenhauer in Portland
Ogletree Deakins

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