Retirement Plan Administrator
Mann Associates
in IL

Client Services & Retirement Plan Associate
Leading Retirement Solutions
in WA

Retirement Plan Sales Consultant
Tycor Benefit Administrators, Inc.
in PA

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

Same-Sex Spousal Benefits After the Supreme Court Decision
July 16, 2015 WEBCAST
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])

Effect of Death on Retirement Plans
July 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Safe Harbor 401(k) - Chicago
July 30, 2015 in IL
(SunGard Relius)

Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans - Norfolk
August 4, 2015 in VA
(SunGard Relius)

2015 SPARK Forum
November 8, 2015 in FL
(SPARK Institute)

10 Steps to Successful ESOP Administration
November 18, 2015 WEBCAST
(Beyster Institute)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Retirement News for Employers, July 6, 2015
Topics: [1] IRS Nationwide Tax Forums session on SEP and SIMPLE IRA plans; [2] Form 5500 series: Changes to Forms 5500 for 2014, Penalty Relief Program for Form 5500-EZ Late Filers; [3] Correcting plans: Use participants' correct compensation, Revised procedures, Sponsoring a 403(b) plan, and New lower fees; [4] Retirement savings tips: Mid-year retirement savings check-up, and How to take responsibility for your retirement. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

The hottest trend in pensions made easy with DATAIR!

DOUBLE, even triple, the benefits your clients could receive over new comparability designs! Increase your opportunity for new revenue while also protecting against revenue lost to competitors! Call us at 888-328-2474 with any questions!

[Guidance Overview]

It's That Time of Year Again for ERISA Plan Sponsors!
"For large ERISA sponsors ... with calendar year plans ... it is clearly Form 5500 time... Though 2015 should be a somewhat routine year for 5500 reporting in relative terms (Have you recovered from the stress of the 2010 filing process yet?) there is still some important practical information to be shared that will help make the 2014 5500 filing process a bit easier for plan sponsors and those who work with them. This article will attempt to provide most, if not all, of that valuable information." (National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA])  

'Till Death Do Us Part? Second Circuit Affirms Validity of After-Death QDROs
"While this case might suggest that plan administrators are entering a world of uncertainty where a posthumously entered QDRO can lay claim to death benefits already paid to another named beneficiary, existing case law suggests that such fear may be unwarranted. First, if plan administrators make a distribution in accordance with plan terms prior to receiving notice of a conflicting claim, they should be well positioned to defend any claim of liability for a subsequent claim. Second, if plan administrators are made aware of the conflicting claims prior to distribution of benefits, they can follow the example set by [this employer] and ask a court to make the determination." [Yale-New Haven Hosp. v. Nicholls, No. 13-4725-cv (2d Cir. June 4, 2015)] (Day Pitney LLP via Lexology)  

Considerations When Choosing a Method for Allocating Plan Expenses (PDF)
"Selecting an expense allocation method is a fiduciary act, which means that fiduciaries must make a prudent decision. The first step is to recognize the issue. The second is, by a prudent process, to evaluate the various considerations and then make a choice." (Fred Reish of Drinker Biddle, via PLANSPONSOR)  

The Threat to Small Business Retirement Savings
Infographic. "Stretching its current regulatory authority over employer-provided retirement plans, the [DOL has] proposed ... a new regulatory package that would put DOL in charge of financial advice provided to all [IRAs] as well as to all private-sector, employer-provided retirement plans. This regulatory expansion would change the rules governing how financial advice is provided to roughly $15 trillion in retirement savings ... Unsurprisingly, this kind of sweeping change would result in a lot of unintended consequences." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)  

[Advert.]

Your input needed! GAO asking plan sponsors about 401(k) plan lifetime income options

This GAO survey asks about the advantages and disadvantages of these options, education about them, and barriers that might limit their adoption. GAO estimates the survey will take about 15-20 minutes to complete; responses will be accepted until July 24th.

Finding the Right Retirement Withdrawal Strategy
"[If] you take this 4% recalculation of a volatile account balance every year, your spending is as volatile as your portfolio. That kind of becomes untenable in the real world.... So, [Jon Guyton's] idea was to start with a target -- for example, we're going to start at 4% or 5%, and we're going to assume it creeps up over time. We are going to recalculate and check on it every year. And as long as it's relatively close to where we were targeting, we'll hang tight. But if it gets really far off, we are going to start making changes." (Morningstar Advisor)  

Why Plan Sponsors Should Watch Those BrokerCheck TV Commercials
"Whether you are looking for an advisor to help with your personal investments or searching for an advisor to work with your 401(k) plan, the best time to use BrokerCheck is before you hire someone. However, periodic checks of your advisor's status are also important." (Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)  

Do Catch-Up Contributions Increase 401(k) Saving?
"To encourage Americans to save more for retirement, some suggest raising 401(k) contribution limits. To assess such an option, this analysis estimates the effects of a 2001 increase in 401(k) limits that also introduced a higher 'catch-up' limit for those 50 and over. The increase in the limits did boost contributions in 2002-05, but only for those near the prior limits, particularly those eligible to make catch-up contributions. Since few participants -- only about 10 percent -- are constrained by the limits, raising them does not offer a broad-based solution for low saving rates." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Will the Average Retirement Age Continue to Increase?
"The decrease in DB pension coverage from previous jobs and the decline in retiree health coverage between the [Health and Retirement Study (HRS)] and [Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)] cohorts each push the retirement age up by approximately one year, all else equal. The one-year increase in Social Security's Full Retirement Age is associated with a 0.3-year increase in the retirement age, all else equal. After accounting for other differences between the HRS and SIPP cohorts, the average retirement age is projected to rise by one year over the next three decades, from age 61.8 to 62.8." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Employee Concerns Can Befuddle a 401(k) Plan Sponsor/Fiduciary
"[A recent] survey shows, except for people with smaller incomes, there's more interest among employees about their investment selections than about how much they should save to live a comfortable retirement.... By not saving as early as possible, retirement savers miss out on one of the greatest opportunities they have when it comes to, ultimately, retiring in comfort....With or without guidance, more than half of the 401k participants prefer to do their own investment research and make their own decisions." (Fiduciary News)  

Early Retirement: The Cost of Spending Sooner
"The cost of early spending is greater than the cost of forgone savings and the two combined are substantial.... Retiring at 70 allows the retiree to contribute $56,000 more to savings in this example. Five more years of 7% annual returns with no withdrawals provides over $530,000 more in portfolio savings.... Because the 70-year old has a 4-year shorter remaining life expectancy, he can spend 4.6% of this portfolio [each year] ... which is 15% more than the 4% he could spend at age 65. The increase in spending from 4% of $1.18M to 4.6% of 1.71M is more than $30,000 a year." (The Retirement Cafe)  

Pension Indicator, Updated as of June 30, 2015
"The Pension Indicator(TM) reflects both the equity and fixed income markets on the asset side for pension plans and interest rates (as reflected in the discount rate) for pension plan obligations. The result of movements in the marketplace is combined for four hypothetical asset allocation mixes and four plan designs, for a total of 16 combinations. At the end of June 2015, the Pension Indicator was very much in line with [last month's Pension Indicator] for most of the combinations. But, it wasn't a smooth ride in between. Things had started to go downhill by the end of calendar 2014 followed by the fairly sharp decline in January 2015. Luckily, it has been clawing back up since January 2015 and the good news for the June 30 fiscal year-end organizations is they can breathe a sigh of relief." (Findley Davies)  

June 2015 Funded Status of S&P 1500 Pension Plans
"The funded status of 84% has improved by 10 percentage points from 74% at the end of January 2015. The estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies improved by 1% to 84% as of June 30, 2015, as increases in interest rates used to calculate corporate pension plan liabilities made up for poor equity market performance. The estimated aggregate deficit of $346 billion as of June 30, 2015 improved by $35 billion from the end of May." (Mercer)  

Teamster Retirees' Campaign Against Pension Cuts Draws Support
"Less than six months after getting started, a grassroots campaign among Teamsters union retirees to protect their pensions appears to be picking up steam, attracting the support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and threatening to influence the outcome of the union's own leadership elections next year." (In These Times)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC's Proposed Clawback Rule Raises Section 409A and Other Tax Issues (PDF)
"Section 409A's general prohibition on accelerations means a company should not satisfy its clawback obligation under the proposed rule by deducting the amount to be recovered from an executive's nonqualified plan account (or any other amount subject to Section 409A), as such a practice would expose the executive to Section 409A's tax penalties. There is also a potential problem if the documentation for an arrangement subject to Section 409A provides for recouping amounts owed by the employee, even if recoupment is to occur at the originally scheduled payment date." (Groom Law Group)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Proposes Sweeping Rule on Incentive Pay Clawbacks
"Few classes of listed issuers would be exempt under the proposed rule. Exempt companies include clearing agencies for security futures products or standardized options and registered management investment companies that do not pay incentive compensation to executive officers. More notable are those issuers not proposed for exemption: emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies, foreign private issuers, controlled companies, and issuers of only listed debt or preferred securities. The proposed rule would not give exchanges discretion to exempt categories of issuers not expressly exempted under the proposed rule." (Jenner & Block)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Proposes Executive Compensation Clawback Rules
"Incentive-based compensation would be deemed received for purposes of the proposed rules in the period in which the applicable financial reporting measure is attained, even if the payment or grant occurs after the end of that period.... Recovery would not be required if the compensation committee ... of the listed issuer determines that (i) it would be impracticable to seek recovery because the direct costs of enforcing recovery would exceed the recoverable amounts or (ii) recovery would violate the issuer's home country law." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)  

Snapshot Survey: Financial Services Executive Compensation
"78% of companies are making changes to their executive pay programs as a result of difficult market conditions. The most popular changes planned are the strengthening of bonus-malus and clawback conditions (47%), strengthening the link between performance management and compensation (44%) and increasing the use of non-financial measures (31%) in reviewing performance." (Mercer)  

Employee Fiduciary Announces Record Sales for First Half of 2015
Employee Fiduciary, LLC

US Labor Department Solicits Nominations for 2016 ERISA Advisory Council
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Cowden Associates, Inc. Launches “Retirement ComprehensiveCast” Services
Cowden Associates, Inc.

View All Press Releases