401(k) Relationship Manager
MVP Plan Administrators, Inc.
in ANY STATE, NC

Benefits Program Advisor III
H-E-B
in TX

401(k) Administrator
Sunwest Pensions
in AZ

401K Plan Administrator
QBI, LLC
in CA

Transition Manager - Retirement Services
OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc
in IN

Retirement Plan Specialist
PlanTech, LLP
in ANY STATE, AL

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How Healthcare Transparency Can Reduce Costs and Improve Quality
August 20, 2015 in GA
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Atlanta Chapter)

Custom Target-Date Strategies
September 10, 2015 in IL
(Pensions & Investments)

Custom Target-Date Strategies
September 17, 2015 in NY
(Pensions & Investments)

2015 Large Employer Reporting Seminar
September 24, 2015 in VA
(TFA Benefits)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board Proposed Regs: TSP Default Investment Fund Errors
"This proposed regulation would update the TSP's existing error correction rules to address the correction of default investment fund errors caused by erroneous dates of birth." (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)  

[Advert.]

Feeling Left Out? It's Time to Get "Ahead of the Curve"

This October the nation's retirement industry elite will converge in our nation's capital to get "Ahead of the Curve" with insights from industry insiders, regulators, pundits and the nation's leading voices. It's ASPPA Annual. Join us.

IRS Employee Plans Office Will Stop Answering Technical Questions by Email
"The change in Employee Plans' email policy is one more example of the IRS's dwindling resources to assist plan sponsors. This change, along with the significant changes just announced to the determination letter program for individually designed plans, signals a new compliance environment -- one in which plan sponsors increasingly must ensure their plans' compliance with fewer government resources to rule on and interpret the Code's retirement plan rules." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Contributions to Self-Directed Defined Contribution Plans: Who Is Participating, Why, and How?
"[This article provides] an overview of the U.S. DC pension system and review the literature on the effect of matching contributions, automatic enrollment, active choice deadlines, choice overload, financial literacy, peer effects, mental accounting, and personal experience on individuals' DC contributions." (National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER])  

Defined Contribution Plan Study Looks at How Much Participants Rely on the Guidance of Their Employers
"When given a choice between two job offers (one had an employer-sponsored retirement plan, and one had a higher salary), pre-retirees are five times more likely to choose the retirement plan offer ... [N]early all retirement plan participants -- nine in 10 -- said they have at least some regret about when they started saving for retirement. Some 75 percent said they could have saved at least a little more in the past.... The large majority of people want at least a 'slight nudge' from their employers when it comes to saving, but employers think that number is even lower. Eighty percent of study participants believe they would have more in savings if their employer would have done more to nudge them along." (American Century Investments)  

Model Retirement-Saver Portfolios for Vanguard Investors
"[T]he biggest challenge for investors who are already sold on what Vanguard has to offer is winnowing down the firm's standout lineup into a reasonably compact portfolio. One way for retirement savers to do so is to buy one of the firm's target-date funds ... For investors who would like more nuance in their portfolios ... [the authors has] created Vanguard-specific portfolios.... This week's group of portfolios is geared toward investors in tax-deferred accounts, meaning that they're not designed for tax efficiency." (Morningstar)  

[Advert.]

Now is a great time to join Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)

WEB members represent more than 25 professions and 30 areas of expertise within the pension and benefits industry-including administrators, consultants, attorneys, accountants, investment managers, communications experts and benefits managers. Join today.

DOL's Fiduciary Target Is Wall Street Culture, Not Commissions
"Advisors can keep their 'conflicted' commissions, but it's time to stop harming clients by depleting their retirement savings, [says Timothy Hauser, a Labor deputy assistant secretary] ... The agency wants a fundamental shift in Wall Street culture and sees a 'best interest contract' as a way to reduce investor harm ... This shift would permit advisors to continue receiving 'conflicted' streams of income like commissions." (Financial Planning)  

Alternatives for Pension Cost Recognition: Issues and Implications (PDF)
11 pages. "It is common to develop pension cost based on a single aggregated discount rate, i.e., that used to develop projected benefit obligation. Alternative approaches have been identified that represent more 'granular' applications of yield curve rates. Use of such alternatives may reduce the amount of recognized pension cost, but also have implications for expected gains/losses to be recognized at year-end." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

Retirement Patterns from Career Employment
"[The authors] find that a majority of older Americans with career jobs retire gradually, in stages, rather than all at once.... [B]ridge job behavior is most common among younger respondents, respondents without defined-benefit pension plans, and respondents at the lower-end and at the upper-end of the wage distribution. Implications: Older Americans are now working longer than pre-1980s trends would have predicted." (Kevin E. Cahill, Michael D. Giandrea, and Joseph F. Quinn, via SSRN)  

Dale Smith, Longtime TPA, Dies
Dale Franklin Smith, age 76, died July 20, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a graduate of West Point Military Academy (Class of 1962) and was the founder and owner of Pension Plan Professionals, Inc., a fee-only third-party administration firm in Jacksonville. An ASPPA member, he was a Qualified Pension Administrator (QPA). He was one of the first persons to be designated as an Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) by the IRS. Dale also was a founder and member of the first board of directors of the Northeast Florida Employee Benefits Council and an instructor in the Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) accreditation program. (Florida Times-Union)  

[Opinion]

Ten Questions About the Proposed DOL Fiduciary Rule
"Industry opposition seems great. Won't this stop the rule? ... What was your biggest surprise at the DOL's four days of hearings? ... Were the DOL's hearing merely 'theatre'? ... Are there any surprises as to WHO is either supporting or not supporting the proposed rule? ... What changes would you like to see to the DOL's proposal? ... What will the SEC do, as to the fiduciary standard's applicability?" (Ron Rhoades)  

[Opinion]

Let Older Americans Keep Working
"Every day, 10,000 baby boomers -- Americans born from 1946 to 1964 -- leave the work force. Most of them have not saved enough for retirement; at least one-fifth have basically no retirement savings. Our economy has a shortage of skilled workers. Keeping older Americans on the job therefore benefits everyone: It is crucial to maintaining economic growth, and it will help the boomers to preserve and increase their savings if longevity continues to rise." (The Brookings Institution)  

[Opinion]

Financial Firms, Protecting Their Conflicts of Interest, Take to the Airwaves
"The life insurance industry warned that the rules would prevent customers from continuing 'to enjoy the access they currently have to certain financial products.' Well, yes. Customers would lose access to retirement products with hidden fees and conflicts of interest that cost them money. Consumer advocates, by contrast, are all for the change.... The whole point is that millions of customers can't tell if they should trust their advisors, because the latter's conflicts of interest are often well-hidden." (Los Angeles Times)  

[Opinion]

The DB vs. DC Plan Debate: Missing the Major Point
"DC plans are the only alternative for public plans but their inherent transparency makes them anathema to public workers who would not be happy having everyone know the real cost of their benefits, politicians unhappy about having to pay that real cost, and actuaries unhappy about losing all those fees." (Burypensions)  

When Does ERISA Apply to Working Owners of Small Companies? Federal District Court Opinion Provides Guidance
"ERISA may apply based on who owns the business.... '[A] plan covering only corporate shareholders was exempt from ERISA only if the company was wholly owned by one shareholder or by the shareholder and his or her spouse.' ... Since Silverman owned the company with two others, he 'is considered an employee under ERISA and his plan is an ERISA plan. Additionally, [Silverman] also was paid a salary and hired by the corporation, further supporting his treatment as an employee for ERISA purposes.' " [Silverman v. Unum Group, No. 14-CV-6439 (S.D.N.Y. July 30, 2015)] (Lane Powell PC)  

SEC Issues CEO Pay Ratio Final Rule
"Despite the SEC's adoption of the final rule, the debate has begun in earnest as to whether companies will in fact ever actually be required to disclose their Pay Ratios.... We do not believe the Final Rule will quell this criticism. We anticipate that the Final Rule will be subject to the following two-prong attack: ... [1] one or more business organizations (or business entities) may sue the SEC to prohibit the implementation of the Final Rule on the grounds that the SEC failed to adequately assess the economic effects of the Final Rule.... [2] if Republicans should gain control of the White House in 2016 and maintain control of Congress, the outright repeal of the Dodd-Frank mandate would likely increase." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)  

Call for Proposals - Present at the 2016 National Wellness Conference
National Wellness Institute

ICMA-RC’s Enhanced, Industry-Leading Mobile App Expands Retirement Planning Capabilities for Participants
ICMA-RC

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