DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

ESOP and 401(k) Administrator
Primark Benefits
in CA

Compliance Consultant (Health Plans)
The Segal Group
in NY

Benefits Analyst (Health)
The Segal Group
in NY

Pension Administrator
Primark Benefits
in CA

Specialist Bundled Client Services
Nationwide
in OH

Retirement Plan Consultant
TWG Benefits, Inc.
in FL, IL, OH

Junior Actuaries
Ascensus
in FL

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[Guidance Overview]

DOL Reproposes Expanded ERISA Fiduciary Definition and Revised Complex of Exemptions
"DOL made a legitimate effort, from its frame of reference, to address a number of criticisms of the earlier proposal made formally during the 2010-2011 rulemaking process and informally during the intervening years.... On balance, however, there is substantial reason to question both the justification for and the execution of the reproposal. At bottom, the reproposal does not target 'bad actors' for reform. Instead, it would materially modify otherwise permissible practices in the affected industries and impose substantial compliance costs, uncertainties and exposure on 'good actors.' Consequently, important interests of plan sponsors, participants, IRA owners, financial services providers and the retirement system as a whole are in play." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)  

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[Guidance Overview]

DOL Proposes New Rules Defining Fiduciary Investment Advice
"The 'best interest' standard of the exemption is particularly important for IRA owners. Fiduciaries to ERISA-covered plans are already subject to duties of prudence and loyalty, but IRA fiduciaries are not subject to similar standards under the Code. By requiring the 'best interest' standard to be included within the investment advice contract as an exemption condition, the exemption would provide IRA owners a private right of action for the adviser's failure to comply with such standard, which would not otherwise be available." (Proskauer Rose LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Changes Rules for Correcting Common 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Errors
"The IRS greatly reduced the filing fees for loans in violation of Internal Revenue Code Section 72(p) and for late minimum required distributions ... [and] added a correction method for elective deferral failures in plans with automatic contribution arrangements ... For failures to implement deferral elections discovered within three months, no corrective contribution is required if the deferrals are restarted by the first payroll period after the three-month anniversary of the failure.... The IRS created a new safe harbor for failures to implement deferral elections when the error is found after three months." (Thompson Hine)  

EBRI 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey: Having a Retirement Savings Plan Is a Key Factor in Americans' Retirement Confidence
"The percentage of workers confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement, at record lows between 2009 and 2013, increased in 2014 and again in 2015.... The increased confidence since 2013 is strongly related to retirement plan participation.... Cost of living and day-to-day expenses head the list of reasons why workers do not save (or save more) for retirement, with 50 percent of workers citing these factors.... Seven in 10 (69 percent) state they could save $25 a week more than they are currently saving for retirement." (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])  

Custom Target Date Options: A Higher Hurdle (PDF)
"[O]nly in the most unique circumstances would demographics alone warrant a custom glidepath, and there is a sufficient array of commercially available glidepaths to fit the demographic needs of most plan populations. However, there may be broader applicability for the use of custom target date options for plan sponsors that wish to utilize their own core investment lineup, that have a specific view on active management, or that value a larger allocation to non-traditional asset classes." (Rocaton Investment Advisors, LLC)  

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A Push to Normalize Environmental, Social or Governance Investing Decisions in Retirement Plans
"Regardless of who holds final discretion over where participant dollars are directed, plans are faced with very little flexibility in this area ... and must subvert [environmental, social or governance (ESG)] factors to economic factors. Such a rigid outlook is causing some to ask whether the DOL should take action to allow more ESG-type thinking in the qualified plan context -- especially as niche investment managers emerge with claims that all investors can benefit economically from using more ESG thinking." (PLANSPONSOR)  

How the PBGC Enabled the American/US Airways Merger
"American filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011. 'On the day that American filed, they announced "we cannot afford our pension plan and we will have to terminate it the way the other airlines did," ' [former PBGC Director Josh Gotbaum] recalled.... The agency began talks with the carrier and its unions about how to preserve the plan by making changes elsewhere in the labor contracts. 'PBGC showed the various unions that there were ways to keep their pensions,' Gotbaum said." (TheStreet.com)  

A Magic Eight Ball, Ouija Board, and Economic Forecast Walk Into a Bar
"If you've been waiting for rates to rise and improve your funded status, it may be time to stop waiting and start planning another strategy to increase funding. Also, if you're using shorter-term fixed income, you may be exposed to more of the potential rate rise while simultaneously missing the long bond yield needed to keep pace with your liability's ability to earn a long-bond rate.... [If] you're measuring your liability with AA bonds (as you must do to determine your liability for accounting purposes), then your pension liability will behave most like the universe of AA corporate bonds that has the same duration as your liability. This means if you're investing in a lot of BBB bonds as part of your liability driven investing (LDI) strategy, there's a disconnect between your assets and liability." (Vanguard)  

[Opinion]

Why Exactly DOL's Latest Action Is So Shocking to So Many Brokers
"[M]illions of investors, holding a combined $7 trillion of individual retirement account assets, will be empowered for the first time to file class actions against advisors and their broker-dealers whom they believe have failed to put their interests first.... The financial services industry has been anticipating stiff 401(k) rules for years. Even so, the 120-page proposed rule was a shocker, carrying an IRA bombshell and a brand new 'best interest standard' for brokers.... For an industry accustomed to muddy rules and a focus on funneling the fury of ERISA toward 401(k) plans, not IRAs, the long-awaited proposal seems harsh, unforgiving and out of left field, according to broker-dealers and advocacy groups." (RIABiz)  

[Opinion]

Is Wall Street Robbing New York's Pension Funds?
"New York City's fund managers outperformed their benchmarks by $2.063 billion across the ten-year period under review, and charged $2.023 billion in management fees. Compared with the average public pension fund's experience on Wall Street, this is actually, frighteningly, pretty decent.... [If] the city's pension pool were a sovereign wealth fund, its current value -- a hundred and sixty billion dollars -- would make it the twelfth biggest in the world, ... When you're that big, it's fair to ask why you're paying external managers at all." (The New Yorker)  

[Opinion]

Is Wall Street Robbing Pensions Blind?
"[Dan Davies, a senior research adviser at Frontline Analysts,] states the expenses at Ontario Teachers were twice as much as the average of the New York funds over the last ten years, but he fails to understand the different composition of the asset mix. Ontario Teachers and other large Canadian funds moved into private markets and hedge funds way before these New York City pensions even contemplated doing so." (Pension Pulse)  

[Opinion]

Yes, Millennials, Please Invest in Your 401(k)
"James Altucher, in a short video on Business Insider, is telling young people not to invest in a 401(k). This is terrible counsel on many levels. The disappearance of pensions and underfunding of Social Security have made the 401(k) our de-facto national savings plan. Altucher's recklessness is exacerbated by an implication that 401(k) accounts are some sort of black box -- 'you have no idea what's happening to that money,' he says darkly. His timing couldn't be worse, as new graduates who soon land in the workforce will pay dearly if they do as he says." (Barrons)  

[Guidance Overview]

2014 Q&As: SEC Meeting with ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (PDF)
11 pages, dated April 15, 2015. Topics include: [1] Reporting of equity awards for retirement-eligible executive officers; [2] Compensation Committee report -- naming former Committee member; [3] Reporting of Health Savings Account contributions; [4] Reporting of compensation for service as Director; [5] Reporting of stock awards with bifurcated vesting and settlement date; [6] Reporting of vested stock award subject to deferral; [7] Director compensation table -- reporting of Director fees paid in stock at the election of the Board of Directors; [8] Disclosure of results of most recent shareholder advisory vote on executive compensation; [9] Reporting of equity awards in grants of plan-based awards table; [10] Availability of Form S-8. (Joint Committee on Employee Benefits [JCEB], American Bar Association)  

An Effective Approach to Global HR and Benefit Plan Governance (PDF)
"As businesses continue to expand their global reach, leaders need to be thinking about how they will be able to stem risk consistently in the many markets in which they operate -- amid numerous quirks and considerations relating to culture, language, and regional considerations, both internal and external to the entity.... [This article provides] some insight into how best to proceed with global HR and benefit plan governance, regardless of your organization's headquarters location, structure, or maturity[.]" (PricewaterhouseCoopers)