Account Manager
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

Compliance Analyst
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in NC

ESOP Administrator
Blue Ridge ESOP Associates
in ANY STATE

Vested Interest Senior Relationship Manager
PNC
in OH, PA

Compliance Analyst
Ubiquity Retirement + Savings [formerly The Online 401[k]]
in ANY STATE, CA

Pension Administrator
Cornerstone Retirement Plan Administrators, LLC.
in ANY STATE

Reviewing Actuary
Kravitz, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

Update for Employers on the New ACA Section 6055 and 6056 Reporting Requirements
RECORDED
(Miller Johnson)

Just Say No: Why Directors Should Avoid Duties That Will Subject Them to ERISA
May 5, 2015 WEBCAST
(Bloomberg BNA)

HIPAA Compliance and Information Risk Management BootCamp
May 7, 2015 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

Risk Response – So You Know Your Risks, Now What?
May 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

Form 5500 Update
May 26, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

Fundamental Series 14: Fiduciary requirements [2015]
June 1, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions National Institute
June 22, 2015 in IL
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Newly Proposed DOL Fiduciary Rule: Moving to a Universal Fiduciary Standard
33-slide Powerpoint presentation. Topics include: [1] Background on existing rule; [2] Proposed fiduciary definition; [3] Carve-outs from definition; [4] Proposed best interest contract exemption; [5] Other proposed exemptive relief; and [6] Timeline for rulemaking. (The Wagner Law Group)  

[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.

Text of ERISA Advisory Council Issue Statement: Model Notices and Plan Sponsor Education on Lifetime Plan Participation (PDF)
"The Council would like to hear recommendations related to the drafting of model notices concerning lifetime participation in ERISA plans. The Council would welcome witnesses and others to submit examples of model notices or other communications, including documents that are currently being delivered to participants.... The Council would like to hear recommendations related to outreach materials the Department can provide to plan sponsors on the topic of innovative plan features that may encourage lifetime participation.... The Council requests testimony as it relates to data security issues." (Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, via the Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

Text of ERISA Advisory Council Issue Statement: Model Notices and Disclosures for Pension Risk Transfers (PDF)
"The 2015 Council will supplement the work of the 2013 Council by focusing specifically on the information that participants need to make informed decisions when faced with lump sum risk transfers and insurance annuity risk transfers, and best practices for plan sponsors in communicating that information. The goal of the 2015 Council is to offer the Department of Labor draft model notices and disclosures that can be used by plan sponsors, participants, and the public." (Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, via the Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

Seven Critical Tips for Employers to Minimize ERISA Fiduciary Risk
"[1] Separate the employer functions from the fiduciary functions.... [2] Properly organize your plan's fiduciary functions.... [3] Demonstrate fulfillment of fiduciary duties... [4] Create a charter for the benefits committee.... [5] Properly manage your TPA and other vendor contracts.... [6] Follow the plan's claims and claims review procedures.... [7] Periodically read your plan and SPD." (Jackson Lewis P.C.)  

Corporate Pension Funds Pile Into Bonds
"For the first time in more than a decade, large pension funds hold more bonds than stocks. Their increased appetite is fueling demand for highly rated debt issues, pushing up prices and driving down yields. That, in turn, could make it cheaper for companies to borrow money for years to come. The trend is being driven by finance executives who have grown increasingly conscious of the risk underfunded pension plans pose to earnings." (The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)  

[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.

Roth: Breaking Down the Buzzword in Defined Contribution Plans (PDF)
5 pages. "Many participants (and even plan sponsors) are also not aware of some of the unique similarities and differences between Roth when offered in a Defined Contribution Plan versus an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Our objective is to provide a general overview of Roth, its role and appeal within Defined Contribution Plans, and finally, key considerations for plan sponsors in evaluating this feature in an educated and informed manner." (Portfolio Evaluations, Inc.)  

Four Steps to Taking a Roth Conversion After Age 70-1/2
"It is crucial that you take the RMD before doing the Roth conversion. Missing that step means that you end up with an excess contribution, in the amount of the RMD, rolled over to the Roth IRA. The excess contribution is subject to a penalty of 6% per year for every year that it remains in the Roth IRA." (Slott Report)  

A Job Hunter's Guide to Getting the Best Retirement Plan
"To get the answers you need to make an informed decision, here are four questions that financial advisers suggest you ask about a company's retirement program, ranked in order of importance. Is there a retirement plan at all? ... How much does the company kick in? ... How long do I need to wait? ... What are the fees like?" (Bloomberg)  

Defined Contribution Plan Participant's Activities, 2014 (PDF)
12 pages. "In 2014, 3.6 percent of DC plan participants took withdrawals, compared with 3.5 percent in 2013.... Only 1.7 percent of DC plan participants took hardship withdrawals during 2014, the same share as in 2013.... In 2014, 2.9 percent of DC plan participants stopped contributing, compared with 2.7 percent during 2013.... At the end of December 2014, 17.9 percent of DC plan participants had loans outstanding, compared with 18.2 percent at year-end 2013 and 15.3 percent at year-end 2008." (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

Pension Plan Funded Status Falls Due to Liability Increases in Q1 2015 (PDF)
"During the first quarter of 2015 (Q1 2015), the funded status of the model pension plan ... decreased by 2 percentage points: from 81 percent to 79 percent. This decrease was the result of a 3 percent liability increase and flat investment performance during the quarter.... The Q4 funding ratio in this issue was reset to incorporate the fact that many plan sponsors changed their mortality assumption at year-end to reflect improved longevity." (Sibson Consulting)  

AICPA Developing Auditor, Sponsor Advice Ahead of Critical DOL Study of Audits
"The AICPA is providing recommendations to both auditors and plan sponsors to improve audits ... On the auditor side, the accountants' organization is working on recommendations that will address competence and due care; auditing and quality control standards, guidance, tools, learning and resources; peer review; and ethics. For plan sponsors, the AICPA provides advice on how to hire a quality auditor, an important point because it's a fiduciary function." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Estimating Future Costs at Public Pension Plans: Setting the Discount Rate
"[U]sing an estimated rate of return to discount future pension liabilities is not misleading. This discount rate actually reflects the costs of funding pension benefits far better than using a risk-free or low-risk bond rate of return. If appropriately set, the former will reflect an estimate that is much closer to the actual cost of pension benefits and therefore the liabilities of the system. In contrast, discounting these liabilities using a hypothetical bond rate reflects an estimate of the future value of these benefits to plan members. The latter valuation is important: Employers and taxpayers should know the value of pension benefits received by public employees. But estimating this benefit amount does not reflect the actual costs of funding public pensions." (Peter Mixon, via Pensions & Investments)  

House HELP Subcommittee Hearing: Time to Modernize Multiemployer Pension System
" 'We need new tools in our toolbox to address the challenges which were not contemplated when multiemployer pension rules were initially put in place,' said Andrew Scoggin, Vice President of Albertson's LLC. 'Congress needs to equip employers and employees with the regulatory flexibility necessary to make changes to benefits programs that do not run afoul of beneficiaries, their employers, or the system as a whole.' ... Randy DeFrehn, Executive Director of the [National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans], described the composite plan model as the 'next logical step in the evolution' of multiemployer plans." (Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives)  

[Opinion]

ASPPA Response to IRS Notice 2015-27: Recommendations for 2015-2016 Priority Guidance Plan (PDF)
"ASPPA recommends that the Retirement Benefit items listed [in this letter] be included on the 2015-2016 Guidance Priority Plan, in the [following] order of priority: [1] Determination Letter Program for Individually Designed Plans.... [2] Mid-Year Changes for Safe Harbor Plans ... [3] QNECs and QMACs ... [4] Substantiation of Hardship Distributions ... [5] Governmental Plans ... [6] Interim Amendments ... [7] Update and Expand EPCRS ... [8] Guidance regarding the aggregation rules for affiliated service groups under Section 414(m) ... [9] Lifetime Income Guidance ... [10] Pre-Approved Plans for Cash Balance and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)." [Eight additional items listed.] (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA])  

[Opinion]

Pension Rights Center Statement in Response to House Subcommittee Hearing on Multiemployer Pension Plans
"MPRA's provisions allowing retirees' pension benefits to be cut in order to reduce liabilities under multiemployer plans overturned 40 years of pension law, and undermined a central tenet of ERISA: once retirees earn their basic benefits, they can never be cut back -- unless a plan completely runs out of money. Yet this new law will allow retiree benefit cuts many years before a plan is projected to become insolvent. The new law's impact will be devastating to hundreds of thousands of pensioners who rely on their benefits to pay their daily living and medical expenses." (Pension Rights Center)  

[Opinion]

Five Ways the DOL Could Improve Its Fiduciary Proposal
"[1] Start by clarifying and narrowing the activities which result in fiduciary status.... [2] Provide a clear carve-out for the actuaries, lawyers and accountants who perform typical professional services in connection with investments.... [3] Provide a carve-out for sophisticated IRA investors similar to the carve-out for large plan investors with financial expertise.... [4] Eliminate the 'catch 22' for acknowledging fiduciary status.... [5] Fix the 'Best Interest' exemption." (Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of SEC Proposed Amendment to Item 402 of Regulation S-K: Pay Versus Performance (PDF)
"The proposed amendments would: [1] Require that the executive compensation used in calculating the executive compensation actually paid be total compensation as disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table ... [2] Require registrants to measure financial performance using [total shareholder return (TSR)] ... [3] Require registrants to provide the executive compensation actually paid, total compensation as disclosed in the Summary Compensation Table, TSR, and peer group TSR in a prescribed table ... [4] Require the executive compensation disclosure to be presented separately for the principal executive officer, and as an average for the remaining NEOs identified in the Summary Compensation Table ... [5] Require the disclosure of the relationship between [a] executive compensation actually paid and registrant TSR ... and [b] registrant TSR and peer group TSR, in each case over the registrant's five most recently completed fiscal years ... [6] For smaller reporting companies, require the disclosure of the relationship between executive compensation actually paid and TSR over the registrant's three most recently completed fiscal years ... [7] Require that the disclosure be provided in tagged data format using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL); and [8] Provide a phase-in of the requirement." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC])  

[Guidance Overview]

Text of SEC Fact Sheet on Proposed Rules to Require Companies to Disclose the Relationship Between Executive Pay and a Company's Financial Performance
"The Securities and Exchange Commission [on Wednesday, April 29] voted to propose rules to require companies to disclose the relationship between executive compensation and the financial performance of a company. The proposed rules, which would implement a requirement mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, would provide greater transparency and allow shareholders to be better informed when they vote to elect directors and in connection with advisory votes on executive compensation." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC])  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Issues Proposed Rule on Reporting Relationship Between Pay and Performance
"The proposed rule includes a number of surprises. Many commentators thought (and hoped) that the pay and performance disclosure would solely apply to an issuer's CEO rather than all named executive officers as is the case under the proposed rule. In addition, the SEC ... chose to introduce a new definition of compensation that is only partially based on proxy disclosed compensation. This proposed definition of actually paid compensation would require registrants to make additional calculations to determine the value of stock option awards on the date of vesting and the value of annual pension accruals." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC's Proposed Pay-for-Performance Disclosure Rules Will Require Companies to Perform New Pay Calculations
"The proposed regulations will require virtually every company to provide a new pay-for-performance table. Currently, only about a quarter (27%) of Fortune 500 companies include specific pay-for-performance disclosures in their proxies ... Rather than provide companies complete flexibility to choose a disclosure approach, the SEC proposal calls for companies to follow a strict set of rules in crafting the pay-for-performance table." (Towers Watson)  

SEC Proposes Rules for Disclosures Linking Executive Compensation with Performance
" 'The net result of the proposed rule should be enhanced pay versus performance disclosure in the proxy statement,' Commissioner Kara Stein said in her published remarks. 'It should make it easier for shareholders to locate, understand, and analyze executive compensation information before they have to vote.' Commissioner Daniel Gallagher, who dissented, said that although the rulemaking is required by law, the SEC has other, more pressing issues to tackle. He said the disclosures resulting from the proposed rules are too prescriptive and may be misunderstood by retail investors." (Journal of Accountancy)  

Text of Tenth Circuit Opinion Clarifying Statute of Limitations Applicable for Fiduciary Breach Claim Based on Fraud (PDF)
51 pages. "In their rehearing petition, Plaintiffs have clarified their claims and disavowed raising any claim pursuant to ... the ERISA provision governing claims alleging the denial of benefits.... It is for this reason that the original decision must be reassessed. Because it is now clear the Section 1132(a)(3) claims arise solely from an alleged violation of the duties imposed on plan fiduciaries pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Section 1104, the six-year statute of repose set out in 29 U.S.C. Section 1113, rather than a state statute of limitations, is applicable to Plaintiffs' breach of fiduciary duty claims.... Because Plaintiffs have not argued Defendants concealed their alleged breach of fiduciary duty, it is unnecessary to determine the scope of the concealment element of the statute of repose." [Fulghum v. Embarq, No. 13-3230 (10th Cir. Apr. 27, 2015)] (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit)  

First Circuit Reviews Top Hat Plan Benefits Denial for Abuse of Discretion
"On appeal, [the employee] argued that the district court ... should have followed decisions from the Third and Eighth Circuits holding that top hat plans are unilateral contracts subject to ordinary contract principles and that determinations made under such plans should be reviewed de novo. The First Circuit declined to consider whether such a categorical rule for top hat plans should apply. Instead, it ruled that the distinction between top hat and other plans has no meaning where, as here, the plan grants discretion to the plan administrator. According to the Court, the grant of discretion, even under ordinary contract principles, confers a reasonableness standard equivalent to the deferential review standard ordinarily applied under ERISA." [Niebauer v. Crane & Co., No. 14-2059 (1st Cir. Apr. 21, 2015)] (Proskauer's ERISA Practice Center)  

Text of Federal District Court Opinion Denying Summary Judgment on Top Hat Plan Status (PDF)
In a 21-page opinion denying summary judgment to both plaintiffs and defendants, the court provides a detailed examination of the various criteria and tests applicable to finding that a "top hat" plan is exempt from ERISA's notice and funding requirements. "Defendants have raised genuine issues of material fact regarding the top hat exemption, requiring this Court to deny Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. Defendants fail to prove, however, that the WAP is a top hat plan as a matter of law, and the Court must deny their motion for summary judgment. Resolution of the top hat exemption issue must proceed to trial." [Tolbert v. RBC Capital Markets, No. H-11-0107 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 28, 2015)] (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas)  

BLS Report: Employment Cost Index, March 2015 (PDF)
"Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending March 2015 ... Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.7 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.6 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

myStockOptions.com Expands Its Innovative Offerings With Stock Compensation Glossary App For iPhones, iPads, And Droids
myStockOptions.com

Wrap SPDs Now Available in Spanish
HR360, Inc.

Assurant Realigns Strategy to Focus on Housing and Lifestyle Protection Products and Services
Assurant

Greg Kuisel Joins Mercer as Central Market Sales Leader for US Benefits Administration
Mercer

Pro-ESOP Bill, H.R. 2096, Introduced in House
ESOP Association

View All Press Releases