Investment Advisor - Qualified Plan Consultant
Fund Direct Advisors, Inc.
in NC

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Orange County CA TPA
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Health & Welfare Client Manager - Small Group Clients
RCM&D
in MD

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Nova 401(k) Associates
in ANY STATE

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Benefit Consultants Group
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Professional Services Company
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How to Form Effective Retirement Plan Committees
August 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(Pension Consultants, Inc.)

Cash for Premium Payments -- How to Avoid Penalties
August 28, 2015 WEBCAST
(HR360, Inc.)

ASC 715 and OPEB Valuation
September 29, 2015 WEBCAST
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

ESOP Symposium: Ownership Solutions for Established ESOPs
October 6, 2015 in GA
(National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])

IRA Beneficiary Distributions
October 15, 2015 WEBCAST
(Ascensus)

S Corporation ESOP Seminar
October 28, 2015 in MO
(National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO])

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Text of Federal District Court Opinion: $15 Million Award for Failure to Diversify Investments (PDF)
55 pages. "Although the mere transfer of an undiversified portfolio may not be a breach of fiduciary duty, creating such a transfer under circumstances in which the transferee plan would have to hold them indefinitely absent the creation of new trading arrangements and/or prompt and decisive use of Defendants' investment management authority, and subsequently failing to take any effective action to liquidate and diversify the portfolio to minimize the risk of large losses with respect to those transferred assets, was imprudent." [Severstal Wheeling, Inc. v. WPN Corp., No. 10CV954 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2015)] (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York)  

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Ninth Circuit: Multiemployer Plan Calling Unpaid Contributions 'Plan Assets' Does Not Make Persons Controlling Contribution Payments ERISA Fiduciaries
"The Ninth Circuit recently held that a multiemployer pension plan cannot label unpaid contributions as 'plan assets' so as to impose ERISA fiduciary status on persons controlling the payment of employer contributions to the plan.... [T]he court rejected the reasoning of the Second and Eleventh circuits, which have held that unpaid [multiemployer plan] contributions can be plan assets if the plan documents expressly define plan assets to include unpaid contractually required contributions." [Bos v. Board of Trustees, No. 13-15604 (9th Cir. July 30, 2015)] (McGuireWoods LLP)  

Preparing to Administer a Lump-Sum Cashout Window
"Some of the key steps include: Create a timeline ... Estimate the total lump-sum value for all [vested terminated participants (VTs)] and select a threshold for the lump-sum cap ... Identify which VTs are eligible for the window ... Amend the plan.... Perform death and address searches. Find copies of benefit calculations for eligible VTs.... Prepare communication package." (Milliman Retirement Town Hall)  

Venture Capital-Backed 401(k) Startups: A Paradigm Shift, or a Flash in the Pan?
"Underpinning these startups is a belief technology can solve a key problem for most small business retirement plans -- high fees. Since their launch, these companies have received a good bit of attention by the media ... Each company has significant shortcoming(s) the media has failed to mention." (Employee Fiduciary)  

The Fiduciary Duty to Monitor Service Providers
"[A]fter a sponsor outsources plan-related functions, what is its ongoing, 'residual' review obligation? The law on the duty to monitor is, currently, abstract -- we know some basic principles, but how they apply to specific issues (relevant to, e.g., fees or outsourcing) is, as yet, not very well articulated. In this article [the authors] review those basics, [and] identify some key duty-to-monitor issues for sponsors and some monitoring strategies that sponsors may consider." (October Three Consulting)  

Proposed Conflict of Interest Rule Has Flaw on Arbitration, Witness Says
" 'The best-interest contract exemption is self-defeating because it will allow brokerage firms to continue mandating arbitration clauses in these customer agreements,' [James D. Keeney] said Aug. 10 during the first day of the three-day DOL hearing. Investors would have to waive their Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, and by doing so would waive the fiduciary protections that would be required under the DOL's proposal, he added." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Conflict of Interests Aired at the 'Conflict of Interests' Hearing
"The DOL constructed the 25 panels to couple witnesses who are generally critical of the proposal with witnesses who largely support it. The result, at least as it played out on the first of four days of testimony, was a jarring display of arguments from both sides of the debate that gives the impression that the DOL proposal strikes a middle ground." (National Association of Plan Advisors [NAPA])  

DOL Fiduciary Hearings, Day 2: BIC in the Hot Seat
"Under the DOL's proposed fiduciary rule, the [best interests contract (BIC)] would be signed by clients upfront. Industry opponents say the requirement would turn off potential customers, as well as expose broker-dealers to legal liability that would cause many to abandon the commission model." (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

How NOT to Invest in an Alternative Investment in Your IRA
"The IRA owner wanted to invest his IRA funds in a note, the debt of an unrelated party.... [He] took distributions from two of his IRAs and threw in $100,000 of his own money and closed on the note.... [He] ends up with only one note ... titled in the name of his IRA.... What are his problems? ... [1] Titling an asset in the name of your IRA does not make it an IRA asset. Only an IRA custodian can hold an IRA asset. He cannot move the note into an IRA. [2] When you take a distribution of cash from an IRA it can only be replaced with cash. You must rollover what you took out. [3] Because of the IRA one-rollover-per-year rule, he can only rollover one of his distributions." (Slott Report)  

Making a 'Backdoor' Roth IRA Contribution While Avoiding the IRA Aggregation Rule and the Step Transaction Doctrine
"Perhaps the greatest caveat to the backdoor Roth contribution strategy, though, is the so-called 'step transaction doctrine', which allows the Tax Court to recognize that even if the individual contribution-and-conversion steps are legal, doing them all together in an integrated transaction is still an impermissible Roth contribution for high-income individuals to which the 6% excess contribution penalty tax may apply. Fortunately, though, the step transaction doctrine can be navigated, by allowing time to pass between the contribution and subsequent conversion ... But perhaps the easiest way to avoid the step transaction doctrine is also the simplest ... stop calling it a backdoor Roth contribution in the first place!" (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

Pension Indicator Update for July 2015
"The results of the Pension Indicator(TM) this month are not that much more varied than what we typically see; however, we did end up with a mixed bag of positive and negative net results for the month depending on the type of plan and your investment strategy for this month. There was a drop in long-term yields in June ... equities generally outperformed bonds ... The final result is a month that generally treaded water. Depending on your individual circumstances, yours could have sunk or floated." (Findley Davies)  

Global Pension Finance Watch: Rate Increases Drive Positive Results in Second Quarter
"Benchmark discount rates increased over the quarter in all regions, with the largest increases in the Eurozone, the U.S. and Canada. Portfolio returns, on the other hand, were mostly negative. The discount rate increases were the dominant factor, so that the pension index increased in the second quarter for all regions except the U.K." (Towers Watson)  

Reconsidering Social Security Coverage for State and Local Government Workers
"Under current law, state and local governments that do not offer their own retirement plan must enroll their employees in Social Security. But if it does offer a retirement plan, the state or local government can choose whether to enroll its workers in Social Security. This paper reviews and extends discussion on whether state and local government workers should face mandatory coverage in Social Security.... [The authors] focus on links between this issue and recent developments in state and local pensions." (The Brookings Institution)  

Six Financial Risks During Retirement
"While it is certainly important to create a long-term financial plan spanning multiple decades, ... there also needs to be a conversation with regards to safeguarding your nest egg once you do reach retirement.... Risk #1: Longevity ... Risk #2: Inflation ... Risk #3: Rising Healthcare Costs ... Risk #4: Asset Allocation ... Risk #5: Withdrawal Rat ... Risk #6: Elder Abuse and Fraud." (Paladin Research & Registry)  

[Opinion]

Testimony of Pension Right Center at Public Hearing on DOL Proposed Conflict of Interest Rules (PDF)
"[Y]ou have heard a litany of complaints from various segments of the financial services industry about how the rules are unworkable, and that middle-income Americans and communities of color will suffer grievous harm if the proposals are implemented.... [E]very single consumer-oriented group with an interest in retirement security who represents these communities has expressed support for the proposals, while the opposition has come exclusively from an industry with billions of dollars at stake in maintaining the status quo. We should be wary when the lion claims to represent the interests of the lamb." (Pension Rights Center)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Final Regs: Extension of Time to File Certain Information Returns
"The temporary regulations Section 1.6081-8T are substantially identical to the regulations Section 1.6081-8 that will be removed, except that the temporary regulations: [1] add information returns on forms in the 1097 series and Forms 1094-C, 3921, and 3922 to the list of information returns with procedures prescribed by regulations for the extension of time to file; [2] remove information returns on forms in the W-2 series (except Form W-2G) from the list of information returns eligible for the automatic 30-day extension of time to file, and instead provide a single 30-day non-automatic extension of time to file those information returns; and [3] clarify that the procedures for requesting an extension of time to file in the case of forms in the 1095 series apply to information returns on Forms 1095-B and 1095-C, but not 1095-A." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Adopts Final CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule (PDF)
"The major administrative undertaking imposed by the pay ratio disclosure rule involves identifying the median employee. The final rule features a number of welcome changes to the proposed rule with respect to this task.... The final rule permits companies to select ... any date within the last three months of the company's fiscal year for identifying the median employee.... Whereas the proposed rule would have required companies to identify the median employee each year, the final rule will generally require companies to determine the median employee only once every three years ... The final rule continues to permit each company to identify the median employee using one of a number of different methods[.]" (Groom Law Group)  

FASB Exposure Draft Calls for Changes in Accounting for Share-Based Compensation
"The proposed changes cover eight topics, some of which are fairly straightforward and will likely be met with little objection from the business community. Others may cause concern for some companies, even if they make things somewhat simpler.... Accounting for income taxes.... Cash flow classification of excess tax benefits.... Expected forfeitures.... Minimum tax withholding.... Classification of employee taxes paid.... Classification of awards with repurchase features.... Expected option term for nonpublic entities.... Use of intrinsic value for nonpublic entities." (Towers Watson)  

Fiduciaries to Restore $19K to Manchester, New Hampshire, 401(k) Plan
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Labor Department Receives Judgment for more than $1.3M from DSI Contacting Inc. after Misuse of Employee Retirement Funds
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Booz Allen Awarded $202 Million Contract as CMS Marketplace System Integrator
Booz Allen Hamilton

FIS to Acquire SunGard, Deepens Enterprise Banking and Capital Markets Solutions
FIS

Cowden Associates, Inc. Hires Health & Benefits Consultant and Two Retirement Analysts
Cowden Associates, Inc.

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