DST Retirement Solutions

ERISA Legal Consultant
Pension Consultants, Inc.
in MO

Employee Benefits Sales and Service Manager
CliftonLarsonAllen Wealth Advisors
in AZ, CO, WA

Pension Fund IT Department Manager
IUPAT Industry Pension Fund
in MD

Health & Group Benefits Consultant
Milliman
in TX

Compliance Consultant
Pinnacle Financial Services, Inc.
in FL

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Liability Insurance for ERISA Plan Sponsors: Maximizing Coverage Under Employee Benefits and Fiduciary Liability Policies
June 4, 2015 WEBCAST
(Strafford)

Potpourri of Recent Updates in Qualified Plans
June 18, 2015 in OH
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Cleveland)

Learn to Leverage LinkedIn to Grow Your Business
June 18, 2015 in IL
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Chicago)

IRS Reporting Requirements: What You Need to Know
June 23, 2015 WEBCAST
(First Advantage)

Fiduciary Best Practices and Protections: Lessons Learned from ERISA Litigation
August 13, 2015 in OR
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of Great Northwest)

IRA Beneficiary Distributions
August 18, 2015 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Announcement Extending Deadlines Due to Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds and Flooding in Texas
"This Disaster Relief Announcement provides relief relating to PBGC deadlines ... [to] any person responsible for meeting a PBGC deadline ... that is located in the disaster area for which the [IRS] has provided relief in HOU-05-2015, June 2, 2015 ... or cannot reasonably obtain information or other assistance needed to meet the deadline from a service provider, bank, or other person whose operations are directly affected by the Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds and Flooding that began on May 4, 2015, in Texas.... The relief generally extends from May 4, 2015 through November 2, 2015." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

[Advert.]

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[Guidance Overview]

Text of SIFMA Proposed 'Best Interests of the Customer' Standard for Broker-Dealers
"[This article includes] a mark-up of existing FINRA Rules that outlines the broad contours of how a best interests standard for broker-dealers might be developed as part of the path forward on this most important investor protection issue. SIFMA believes that this standard is consistent with [1] SIFMA's historical position, [2] Dodd-Frank Section 913, [3] the evolution of a best interests regime under FINRA Rules, and [4] the DOL's specific definition of a best interests standard under the BIC exemption." (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association [SIFMA])  

[Guidance Overview]

Notes from Meeting of Actuaries Intersector Group with PBGC, April 16, 2015 (PDF)
7 pages. Topics include: [1] Status of PBGC's internal review of assumption methodology; [2] Mortality, including projection scales; [3] Early warning program; [4] 4062(e) change; [5] Standard termination post-distribution certification; [6] Critical and Declining (C&D) plan notice; [7] Benefit Suspensions under MPR; and [8] Partition authority under MPRA. (American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Guidance Overview]

The Impact of the DOL's Fiduciary Proposal on Sales of Insurance Products
"Under the proposed fiduciary definition, most Insurance Advisors would be considered fiduciaries, subject to the Best Interest standard and [prohibited transaction (PT)] rules. In order to avoid a PT on the sale of insurance products to plans and participants, an Insurance Advisor would need to satisfy the requirements of PTE 84-24. In order to avoid a PT on the sale of insurance products to an IRA, the Insurance Advisor would need to comply with PTE 84-24 for sales of fixed annuity contracts and BICE for sales of variable annuity contracts (i.e., annuity securities)." (Drinker Biddle)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Amnesty Program for Non-ERISA Plans Made Permanent (PDF)
"Unlike the pilot, the permanent program imposes a penalty. The penalty for each submission is $500 for each delinquent return for each plan, up to a maximum of $1,500 per plan. The penalty is a flat amount, not adjusted for the number of days the filing is late. If the filing is less than 20 days late, it will generally be less costly to pay the $25 per day penalty rather than filing under this new program." (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

[Advert.]

Sign up for our 4th Annual ftwilliam.com Customer Conference, August 5-7 in downtown Chicago!

We are thrilled to have industry renowned experts Sal Tripodi and Sarah Simoneaux as featured speakers this year.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Says Self-Certification for Hardship Distributions Not Allowed
"While the IRS has not issued a timing requirement, compliance with the rules for hardship distributions appears to be a high priority in IRS examinations, so plan sponsors may want to review their administrative practices and consider making changes. However, sponsors may also wish to consider that the IRS is already under some pressure to retreat from what many view as a 'new position.' " (Towers Watson)  

Estimate of the Financial Effects on Social Security of H.R. 1811, the 'Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act' (PDF)
19 pages. "The Bill includes the following three provisions with direct effects on the OASDI program: [1] Use the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) to calculate the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), beginning with the December 2017 COLA.... [2] Eliminate the OASDI taxable maximum in years 2022 and later; thus the full 12.4 percent OASDI payroll tax rate would apply to all OASDI covered earnings.... [3] Provide benefit credit on earnings taxed above the current-law taxable maximum.... Assuming enactment, OASDI Trust Fund reserves would be expected to become depleted in 2051... For 2017, projected OASDI program cost is slightly lower under the proposal than under current law. Beginning in 2018, projected OASDI program cost is higher under the proposal than under current law." (U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])  

What Every Plan Sponsor Who Utilizes Low-Cost Index Funds Should Do (As Soon as Possible!)
"[It] is not a given that your plan recordkeeper will simply obtain the lower-fee share class for you once you reach the asset minimum. In fact, [the authors] have encountered several instances where plan assets remained invested in the higher-fee share class for some time, even though they qualified for the less expensive share class.... As part of your due diligence process, if your plan utilizes low-cost index funds, you should follow up as soon as possible with your plan recordkeeper to confirm that your plan assets are indeed invested in the least expensive share classes of these funds, based on minimum asset requirements." (Cammack Retirement Group)  

How the Re-Proposed Fiduciary Rule Came to Be
"As everyone in the ERISA world knows, the [DOL] on April 20, 2015 published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register relating to the definition of fiduciary ... [T]his article is [an] attempt to put it all into context by providing a timeline of how it got to where it is today. Context, after all, can help planning." (The Retirement Plan Blog)  

SIFMA Tries to Head Off DOL with New Fiduciary Proposal
"The group said a best interest standard should apply across all investment recommendations[,] ... should also be integrated with the SEC's efforts and provide strong protections for retail clients ... [and] should couple robust disclosure with enforcement by the SEC, FINRA and state regulators while maintaining investors' rights to legal action.... SIFMA's rule would have firms or advisors disclose material conflicts of interest to clients in a clear and concise manner so that they understand the implications of said conflict. And, notwithstanding that disclosure, a recommended transaction or investment strategy must be in the best interests of the client." (On Wall Street)  

Workers See Regular, Roth 401(k)s as Same
"Due to differing tax treatments, each $1,000 placed into a traditional, tax-deductible 401(k) costs less today than $1,000 placed into a Roth 401(k), but that Roth will provide more money in retirement. New research indicates that workers don't recognize this difference between the two types of employer-sponsored retirement accounts when deciding how much to save." (SquaredAway Blog, by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Let's Move the Dial on Retirement Savings
"The latest figures show 7 of every 10 eligible employees are enrolled. Participation jumps to 89% when employees benefit from automatic enrollment.... [T]oo many plans are defaulting participants into the plan at a deferral rate of 3% or less. This rate is too low to move the dial on savings. Even with employer contributions factored in -- and too many participants are missing out on these matches -- the average savings rate is hovering around 10%. That's still below our recommended 12%-15% target." (Vanguard)  

S&P 1500 Pension Funded Status Sees Steady Improvement of 9% Since Low Point in January
"The estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies improved by 1% to 83% as of May 31st, 2015 ... The estimated aggregate deficit of $381 billion as of May 31st, 2015 improved by $43 billion from the end of April. Funded status is up by $123 billion from the $504 billion deficit measured at the end of 2014[.]" (Mercer)  

[Opinion]

GAO Report on Retirement Savings: Overall Gaps Identified, But Focus of Retirement Security Reform Should Be on Uncovered Population
"[R]eplacement rates are NOT appropriate in large-scale policy models for determining whether an individual will run short of money in retirement. Why? Because simply setting a target replacement rate at retirement age and suggesting that anyone above that threshold will have a 'successful' retirement completely ignores: Longevity risk. Post-retirement investment risk. Long-term care risk.... The evidence from EBRI's simulation modeling certainly agrees with the GAO that a significant percentage of households will likely run short of money in retirement if coverage is not increased. However this is because we model all the major risks in retirement and do not simply assume some ad-hoc replacement rate threshold." (Jack VanDerhei, Employee Benefits Research Institute [EBRI])  

[Opinion]

America's Retirement Nightmare?
"The time has come for enhanced social security just like the time has come for enhanced CPP. Canadians are lucky they have the CPPIB which is managing hundreds of billions and doing an outstanding, albeit not perfect, job. In the U.S., there is no comparable public pension fund at the federal level which operates at arms-length from the government. There are many delusional state pension funds clinging to the pension rate-of-return fantasy, but there is no movement to for transforming and enhancing Social Security to address America's new pension poverty." (Pension Pulse)  

AB Launches Multi-Manager Target-Date Collective Investment Trust Portfolios
Mercer

The Retirement Advantage Enhances Website
The Retirement Advantage [TRA]

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