ASPPA

Participant Services Representative
Benefit Consultants Group
in NJ

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
Pension Benefit Consultants, Inc.
in CT

Editorial Manager
DST Systems
in NY

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Mid-Year Election Changes: Cafeteria Plan Tips & Traps
May 13, 2015 in NC
(Hill, Chesson & Woody)

Capital Forum on Pensions 2015
May 20, 2015 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Sacramento Chapter)

Bona Fide HIPAA Security Risk Analysis and Risk Management
May 22, 2015 WEBCAST
(Clearwater Compliance)

Completing the Risk Corridors Plan-Level Data Form 2014
June 1, 2015 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS])

Completing the Risk Corridors Plan-Level Data Form 2014
June 3, 2015 WEBCAST
(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS])

Form 5500 Workshop 2015 - Knoxville
June 17, 2015 in TN
(SunGard Relius)

401(k) Plan Workshop 2015 - Knoxville
June 19, 2015 in TN
(SunGard Relius)

Governance and Fiduciary Duty – What Retirement Consulting Actuaries Need to Know Audio/Webcast
July 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(Conference of Consulting Actuaries)

28th Annual Administrators' Symposium: Achieve Excellence
August 5, 2015 in TX
(ECFC [Employers Council on Flexible Compensation])

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Employee Plans News 2015-5, May 6, 2015 (PDF)
Topics include: [1] Changes to EP determination letter application processing -- effective date depends on whether sponsor files Form 5300, 5307 or 5310; [2] New revenue procedures update the Correction Program; [3] Form 5500-EZ late filer penalty relief -- file by June 2; [4] Sponsoring a 403(b) plan -- employers should be sure sure they have 501(c)(3) status or meet another eligibility requirement; [5] Updated FAQs: Multiple Employer Plans; and [6] Notice 2015-7 -- the IRS anticipates issuing proposed regulations under section 414(d) to define the term 'governmental plan' and reminds parties to submit comments by May 11. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

403(b) Plans: The Rules You Need to Know!

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[Guidance Overview]

Impact of Updated Fiduciary Investment Advice Definition on Large Plans
"The most fundamental effects of the Proposed Regulations will be on small plans (i.e., fewer than 100 participants) and IRAs, as well as their investment advisers, consultants or other service providers. However, the Proposed Regulations will also impact the landscape for large retirement plans in various ways, including: [1] Valuation of hard-to-value assets ... [2] Investment education.... [3] Distributions and rollovers.... [4] Representations required for adverse party and swap transactions.... [5] Pension closeouts/annuitizations." (Kilpatrick Townsend)  

Multiple Employer Plans: Expanding Retirement Savings Opportunities (PDF)
16 pages. "The retirement coverage gap can and should be narrowed. While a variety of solutions are possible, there is a growing consensus in Washington that one of the broadest and most expedient ways would be to expand access to multiple employer plans, or MEPs, for small employers and their employees.... This paper outlines the legislative and regulatory actions that would be needed to broaden access to MEPs for small employers. It also describes the features that a model MEP might incorporate[.]" (Prudential)  

A Brief History of 401(k) Plans: The Evolution of an Accident
"401(k) plans were invented to fill a niche. They rapidly became a mainstream pillar. As a pillar, they needed to change their ways. The marketplace, assisted by the academic community, found several solutions. Lawmakers, via the Pension Protection Act of 2006, provided valuable assistance.... [T]he process is not yet complete. Large companies are well on their way, as their formula of low-cost funds, automatic enrollment, auto-increase programs, and (often) employer matches will put most of their workers in good stead ... Small companies remain a concern. Many either do not offer a plan at all or offer one that is outdated, with high-cost funds." (John Rekenthaler, via Morningstar)  

401(k) Plan Loan Policy Shapes Borrowing
"Ninety percent of active contributors to 401(k) plans in the United States have access to plan loans ... Of that group, about one-fifth had a loan at any given time.... [T]he probability of plan borrowing nearly doubles when plans permit multiple loans.... 86 percent of participants with an outstanding loan balance when they terminate employment don't repay it." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)  

[Advert.]

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Is Allowing After-Tax Contributions in Your 401(k) Plan a Good Idea?
"[A] participant could potentially deposit substantial after-tax contributions above the individual deferral limit of $18,000 (for 2015) ... limited only by the Section 415 annual addition limit ... [T]he largest missing component in this discussion is the nondiscrimination testing.... It won't benefit the HCE to contribute these after-tax funds if they can't be retained due to testing failures.... Even with large plans with many HCEs, a few large rates can drastically change the HCE ACP rate." (Milliman Retirement Town Hall)  

Striking Correlation Between Negative Pension Changes and Income Inequality
"Data at the national level showed that a trend of converting DB plans into defined contribution (DC) plans exacerbated income inequality in the U.S. At the state level, there is a positive relationship between the number of negative pension changes, such as reductions in benefits, and income inequality. This suggests that as a state makes more negative changes, its rate of income inequality increases and that, in turn, hurts the economy." (PLANSPONSOR)  

When a Committee of One Runs a 401(k)
"[M]ost new sponsors of small or micro plans are unaware of the critical duties of prudence, loyalty and diversification of investments that a fiduciary to a plan assumes under [ERISA] ... How does an adviser best serve such clients, for whom the retirement plan is just another benefit to offer and not understood as the source of personal liability it potentially could be?" (planadviser)  

S&P 1500 Pension Funded Status Improves by 2% in April
"The estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies improved by 2% to 82% as of April 30th, 2015, due to a slight rise in equity markets and an increase in interest rates used to calculate corporate pension plan liabilities. The estimated aggregate deficit of $424 billion as of April 30th, 2015 improved by $56 billion from the end of March. Funded status is up by $80 billion from the $504 billion deficit measured at the end of 2014[.]" (Mercer)  

[Opinion]

Let the Lobbying Around Fiduciary Continue Just a Little Longer
"For the first time, ordinary people are reading that the brokerage firms and independent broker-dealers are standing four-square in favor of commission sales and strongly against having to serve the best interests of their customers.... The longer this lobbying effort drags out, the more articles we'll see. The more times this story comes up, the more the consumer writers will realize uncomfortable facts about conflicted business models that the members of the brokerage and independent BD community don't want their customers to know." (Bob Veres in Inside Information)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Clarifies 409A Correction for Unvested Amounts
"[Chief Counsel advice memorandum 201518013] clarifies ... that this means of correction is effective only if completed before the taxable year in which the compensation vests, and not merely before the date on which the compensation vests.... The IRS memorandum implicitly recognizes that a 409A violation could be corrected without adverse tax consequences if no portion of the deferred compensation is vested at the end of the year of the correction." (National Law Review)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Proposes Dodd-Frank Pay vs. Performance Disclosure Rules
"[A] principles-based approach that allows companies more flexibility to communicate their pay versus performance story will serve as a superior construct to the prescriptive methodology offered in the Proposed Rule. We strongly believe a holistic approach that takes into account key financial metrics relevant to the company and industry as well as long-term stock price performance is the appropriate way to measure the relationship between pay and performance. By defining performance solely in the form of TSR, we believe that the SEC is highlighting a performance metric for both companies and investors that is limited in scope and may not directly correlate with underlying operating performance." (Steven Hall & Partners)  

SEC Proposes Rules for Disclosure of Hedging Transactions
"If the proposed rules are implemented in their current form, public companies could be forced to choose between [1] disclosing that some forms of hedging are allowed under their hedging policies -- thereby risking adverse voting recommendations from proxy advisory services ... or [2] modifying existing hedging polices to limit investment approaches used to diversify concentrated stock positions, which would complicate compliance oversight of hedging policies and lead to changes by executives in their investment strategies, including potentially more sales of issuer stock under 10b5-1 programs." (McDermott Will & Emery)  

Aligning Executive Pay: Are Activist Investor Proposals the Harbinger of the Next Wave of LTI Design?
"[Several recent] demands for restructuring CEO pay from activist investors that had taken significant stakes in their companies ... included changing equity-based long-term incentives (LTIs) to require measurable and significant shareholder value creation in order for the CEO to receive any LTI payout.... [Is] this a better model? Implicitly, does the current portfolio approach foster complacency? How should the two disparate approaches be rationalized?" (Towers Watson)  

Employees at Very Small Firms Give Poor Ratings to Their Benefits
"Only 25 percent of employees at very small companies who are offered benefits rate their benefits as excellent or very good, compared with 58 percent of employees at large companies.... Less than two-thirds (62 percent) of employees at very small companies who are offered benefits report a good understanding of their benefits, well below the 80 percent reported by workers at large firms.... Just over half (55 percent) of very small business workers who are offered benefits agree they highly value the insurance benefits provided by their employer, compared to 70 percent at large firms." (Colonial Life)  

Small Businesses Score Big on Employee Benefits Satisfaction
"Nine in ten responding small employers provide health care coverage and three in four provide a retirement plan. Yet, compared with larger corporations, not surprisingly, small employers were less likely to offer a wide variety of other benefits ... [The authors] asked employers to subjectively rate their employees' engagement and benefits satisfaction.... [R]atings came back just as high for small employers as they did for their larger peers." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])  

[Opinion]

SEC Wants Link Between Executive Pay and Shareholder Returns
"The new rule will just make it easier for all of your shareholders to know what your more engaged and advanced shareholders already know. Do you pay your executives in a way that aligns with total shareholder return for a three to five year period? It is an important thing to know, but it is not earth shaking new information, or even the most important metric for some companies or their shareholders." (Performensation)  

NTSA Elite Advisor Award Semi-Finalists Named
National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA]

The Standard Names Matthew King Director of TPA Relationships
The Standard

US Labor Department Sues Doylestown, Pennsylvania Staffing Company and its President to Recover Employee Contributions Owed to a 401(k) Plan
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

US Labor Department Sues Defunct Oregon Wood Manufacturing Company and its Owner to Restore Retirement Plan Assets
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Industry Divided on Impact of DOL Fiduciary Proposal, According to Advisors Polled at Pioneer Investments Webinar
Pioneer Investments

Fringe Benefit Group Expands Claims Paying Capabilities with Acquisition of Third Party Administrator, EPSI
Fringe Benefit Group

Mariner Retirement Advisors is Certified for Fiduciary Excellence
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

Prevent 401(k) Payroll Disasters With New Book
401k Essentials

New PRT Index Charting Tool Offered on Penbridge Pension Risk Transfer Database
Penbridge Advisors

Third-Year Enrollment Results in the Aon Active Health Exchange Underscore Long-Term Sustainability of Private Exchanges
Aon Corporation

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