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Account Manager
Cammack Retirement Group
in NY

Business Analyst - Pension
Towers Watson
in CO, IL, MI, MN, PA

Junior Plan Consultant
The Pension Studio
in ANY STATE

Plan Administrator
United Retirement Plan Consultants
in NJ

Retirement Plan Administrator
Benetrends, Inc.
in PA

Employee Benefits Associate
Drinker Biddle & Reath
in CA, IL

Employee Benefits Associate
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
in IL, NY, PA

Defined Contribution Investment Analyst -- CHICAGO
Pavilion Advisory Group Inc.
in IL

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Understanding the New Investment Advice Rules for IRAs and Qualified Plans
April 23, 2015 WEBCAST
(Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC)

DOL Fiduciary Regulations
April 23, 2015 WEBCAST
(Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC)

457(b) Plans for Tax-Exempt Entities - Learn how these “Top Hat” plans work!
April 23, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

Spring 15 Retirement, Annuity, and Life Insurance Benefit Planning
May 6, 2015 in NY
(New York State Bar Association)

The Five Most Dangerous Trends in Employee Wellness And What You Can Do to Avoid Them
May 13, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thompson Information Services)

EEOC Proposed Wellness Program Regulation
May 13, 2015 WEBCAST
(HR Policy Association)

IRA Institute
May 13, 2015 in AZ
(Retirement Industry Trust Association)

Beyond the Basics of Affiliate Service Groups and Controlled Groups
May 19, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Spring Conference
May 19, 2015 in NC
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Carolinas)

Business Structures and Social Security Claiming
May 20, 2015 in MA
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of New England)

Retirement Plans for Nonprofits: What All Plan Sponsors Need to Know
May 28, 2015 in NY
(Nixon Peabody LLP)

Mid-Sized Retirement & Healthcare Plan Management Conference
June 7, 2015 in IL
(University Conference Services)

2015 Health Meeting
June 15, 2015 in GA
(Society of Actuaries)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Three Key Fiduciary Considerations for Selecting TDFs
"The benefits of target date funds are diversification and risk control, preferably at a reasonable price, so trustees should base their TDF selection on the following: [1] Who has the broadest diversification at the long dates when risk is being taken for younger participants? ... [2] Who defends best at the target date? Who has the least amount of risk? ... [3] Are the fees reasonable, with all-inclusive costs below 50 basis points?" (Paladin Research & Registry)  

[Advert.]

Join the elite group of ERPAs who represent their clients before the IRS.

An Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) has demonstrated competence in qualified retirement plan matters, allowing that individual to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Become an ERPA, increase your employability.

IRS EPCU Project Finds Problems with 401(k) Plan Forms 5500
"The IRS found in its 401(k) Nonqualified Plans Project that plan sponsors sometimes enter information on the form that indicate that their plan is not qualified.... [T]he project showed that sponsors of the sampled 401(k) plans made mistakes when describing their plan characteristics and listed 3C, showing their plan was a 401(k) plan not intended to be qualified under the Internal Revenue Code.... The few plans that correctly indicated they were nonqualified 401(k) plans were those plans only intended to be qualified by the Hacienda, Puerto Rico's tax authority, and not under the Internal Revenue Code." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA])  

IRS Clarification Requested for Hardship Withdrawal Documentation
"The [IRS] recently published a newsletter article indicating that documentation must be received and maintained related to hardship distributions and loans and that electronic self-certification is not sufficient to substantiate a participant's hardship.... This position does not appear to be supported by IRS regulations and is contrary to recent indications from IRS representatives suggesting that such documentation is not required.... We are working with industry and plan sponsor groups to get the IRS to modify or withdraw the article until formal guidance is issued." (Fidelity Investments)  

FASB Simplifies Accounting for Defined Benefit Plans
"The practical expedients will reduce the costs and complexity of measuring the fair value of defined benefit plan assets for entities with fiscal year-ends or significant events that do not fall on a month-end, by allowing those entities to measure the plan assets as of the date that valuation information is often provided by third parties (that is, as of month-end). Therefore, the practical expedients alleviate the potentially difficult task of rolling forward or back the fair values of plan assets and actuarial valuation of liabilities when an entity's fiscal year-end, or the date of a significant event, does not coincide with a month-end." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)  

DOL Fiduciary Proposal Includes Nod to Passive Investing
"Buried in the voluminous, 444-page proposal ... is a caveat that could make it easier for broker-dealers to meet their requirements under the law if they sell low-cost index funds.... The agency offers, as an example of a high-quality investment for long-term investors, a low-cost, index-tracking target-date fund 'consistent with the investor's future risk appetite trajectory.' ... The proposal raised the possibility that standards regulators apply to investment advice could steer investors to a far narrower range of products and providers." (Investment News)  

[Advert.]

2015 SPARK National Conference -- June 7-9, Washington DC

The retirement services industry's leading event for top marketing, sales, administration and record keeping professionals. Comprehensive agenda is designed to meet the needs of 401(k) Plan Providers, Financial Advisors and Third Party Administrators.

National Senior Investor Initiative: A Coordinated Series of Examinations (PDF)
42 pages. "The combination of high levels of wealth and downward yield pressure on conservative income-producing investments may create an environment conducive to the recommendation of more complex, and possibly unsuitable, securities to senior investors as a means of replacing that income stream. Staff is concerned that, after a lifetime of accumulated savings, senior investors may meet the financial and risk threshold requirements to invest in more complex financial securities and that broker-dealers may be recommending unsuitable transactions to these senior investors or may not be providing proper and understandable disclosures regarding the terms and related risks of those recommended securities, particularly non-traditional investments." (Office of Compliance Inspections, U.S. Securities Exchange Commission [SEC]; and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority [FINRA])  

Pension Enhancements: A Case of Government Code Violations and a Lack of Transparency (PDF)
30 pages. "Unfunded pension liabilities are a concern for county and city governments throughout California.... [T]he Grand Jury examined four public employers that participate in the Marin County Employees' Retirement Association (MCERA): County of Marin, City of San Rafael, Novato Fire Protection District, and the Southern Marin Fire Protection District ... [T]he Grand Jury found that those Employers granted no less than thirty-eight pension enhancements from 2001-2006, each of which appears to have violated disclosure requirements and fiscal responsibility requirements of the California Government Code." (2014/2015 Marin County, California, Civil Grand Jury)  

Excessive Fee Litigation and Public Pension Plans
"[T]his type of dispute between plan participants and sponsors (and their service providers) is likely to show up with increased frequency and extend to other types of employers such as cities and states that provide retirement benefits to their workers. Although municipal plans have not yet squared off in the courtroom against unhappy employees who assert that they are paying too much in fees, recent headlines portend change." (Good Risk Governance Pays)  

[Opinion]

Your Withdrawal Strategy Should be Coordinated with Other Sources of Fixed Retirement Income
"The standard withdrawal strategies like the 4% rule, any safe withdrawal rate rule, the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rule, or any of the variations of these rules, were not designed to coordinate with other fixed dollar sources of income.... Most withdrawal strategies for situations that don't involve fixed sources of retirement income have constant real dollar income throughout retirement as an objective. It doesn't make sense ... to change that objective just because you add fixed dollar retirement income." (Ken Steiner, FSA Retired)  

Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual: An Opportunity to Correct the Problems of ERISA Preemption
"Specifically, the Court should acknowledge the tension between Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. and the Court's subsequent decision in New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co. by reconsidering the statute afresh. As part of such reconsideration, the Court should construe ERISA Section 514(a) as creating a presumption for preemption.... Finally, the Court should jettison the notion that traditional areas of state law as defined by the Court are immune from ERISA's more expansive than usual preemption and should instead acknowledge what the statute says: Per Sections 514(b)(2)(A) and 514(b)(4), the areas immunized from ERISA's more stringent preemption are -- and are only -- state banking, securities, insurance, and criminal laws." [Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., No. 14-181 (2d Cir. Feb. 4, 2014; cert. pet. filed Aug. 13, 2014)] (Prof. Edward A. Zelinsky, via SSRN)  

IRS and Treasury Department Issue Final Regs on Section 162(m)
"A company that is contemplating going public or that is considering granting full-value awards during its transition period should be mindful of the tax implications. In such circumstances, restricted stock may be more appealing than RSUs in order to maximize tax deductibility, particularly if the company expects to grant awards with long vesting schedules or anticipates a short transition period." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

Shareholder Engagement on Executive Compensation: A Primer on the Why, When, Who and How (PDF)
"[P]roxy advisory firms and institutional investors are most receptive to meetings during the proxy off-season ... [In] case of a failed Say-on-Pay vote, either the Chair of the Compensation Committee or non-executive Chairman of the Board would normally lead the shareholder outreach (as management will be viewed as conflicted) ... [R]egular shareholder engagement is typically conducted by members of management ... [W]hile regular outreach can be efficiently done telephonically, recovering from a failed Say-on-Pay vote is better conducted in face-to-face and one-on-one meetings." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)  

Martha King to lead Vanguard's Institutional Investor Group
Vanguard

Sapiens Retirement Services Eligibility System for Defined Contribution Plans Now in Production
Sapiens International Corporation

Charles P. Nelson Joins Voya Financial as CEO of Retirement
Voya Financial

Treasury Department Pension Expert Moves to Buck Consultants as Chief Actuary
Buck Consultants

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