Pension Consultants/ Administrators
Leading Northern NJ Actuarial Firm
in NJ, NY

Administrator
Continental Benefits Group, Inc.
in NJ

Retirement Plan Administrator II
Fulton Financial Advisors
in PA

Communications Consultant Director
AIG
in ANY STATE

Implementation Partner
Lincoln Financial Group
in ANY STATE

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Correcting Retirement Plan Mistakes - Summer 2015 Updates
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Benefits for Same-Sex Spouses and Domestic Partners: Impacts From the Supreme Court and EEOC
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

fi360 Fiduciary Talk: Public Officials: Fiduciary or Not?
RECORDED
(fi360)

CEO Pay Ratio Rules Are Out — What Companies Need to Do Now
September 17, 2015 WEBCAST
(Towers Watson)

Missing Participants, Uncashed Checks and Fiduciary Updates
September 30, 2015 in NY
(ASPPA Benefits Council [ABC] of New York)

Making Plan Committee Meetings Truly Work – Workshopping Real Problems with Real Solutions
October 6, 2015 WEBCAST
(EACH Enterprise)

Retirement Plan Insights Seminar
November 10, 2015 in NV
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Finalizes Retirement Plan Funding Regs (PDF)
"Highlights of the highly technical instructions for actuaries of interest to plan sponsors include the ability to make a standing election to use available funding balances to pay for quarterly contributions, rules for a mid-year plan termination that can accelerate the due date for the plan's final mandated contribution, a modification adding interest credits on quarterly contributions paid early, and rational rules for applying the liquidity contribution obligation." (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

[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.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Ends Lump Sum Windows for Individuals in Pay Status (PDF)
"Importantly, the Notice was quick to point out that it does not provide any guidance with respect to the federal tax consequences of a lump sum risk-transferring program under the following Code sections ... [1] Code Sec. 401(a)(4) ... nondiscrimination rules; [2] Code Sec. 411 ... non-forfeiture and anti-cutback protections; [3] Code Sec. 415 ... benefit limits; [4] Code Sec. 417 ... spousal protections; [5] Code Sec. 436 ... benefit restrictions based on the plan's funding levels.... [If] you are in the process of providing a lump sum option that extends to individuals in pay status, [the authors] recommend a file memo to show that you reviewed Notice 2015-49 and that you fit within one of the [transition rule] exceptions ... or that you otherwise meet one of the long-standing exceptions under Reg. Section 1.401(a)(9)-6, Q&A-13(b)." (Groom Law Group, via Taxes the Tax Magazine)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Introduces ACA Information Center for Applicable Large Employers (ALEs)
This IRS web page links to and summarizes many online web pages and publications, including: [1] Now is the Time to Determine ALE Status; [2] How to Determine if You Are an ALE; and [3] Resources for Applicable Large Employers (Questions and Answers; Forms and Publications; the ACA Information Reporting (AIR) Program; Publications for Employers; Webinars for Employers; more). (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

House Subcommittee Hearing: Proposed DOL Conflict of Interest Rule Is 'Obamacare of Finance'
"The hearing included several criticisms of the DOL proposal, among them: [1] It will be particularly harmful to small savers in the African-American community; [2] DOL research is faulty and the rule is being rushed; [and] [3] Robo-advisors will not be able to replace financial advisors and broker-dealers.... The DOL used vague and unsupported research to conclude the bad financial advice is costing retirement savers $17 billion annually, [one speaker] said.... Several speakers noted the tight timeframe the DOL is working under, with the department proposing an eight-month implementation phase." (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

What the 2015 Trustees' Report Says About Social Security
"Social Security's 75-year shortfall is 1 percent of GDP. Critics who like to cite scary dollar figures -- like an 'unfunded liability' of $10.7 trillion over 75 years -- almost never bother to mention the economy's size, which is crucial to the program's affordability. GDP over the next 75 years will total nearly $1,200 trillion, and the shortfall is just 1 percent of that. In short, Social Security faces a funding gap that's well-documented but manageable." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)  

[Advert.]

SPARK Forum - November 8-10, 2015 -- The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

Join us at the retirement services industry's leading event for top marketing, sales, administration and record keeping professionals. Comprehensive agenda to meet the needs of 401(k) Plan Providers, Financial Advisors and Third Party Administrators.

Retirees Call on Policymakers to Stop the Clock on Cuts to Their Multiemployer Pensions
"Retirees from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin came to testify at a Treasury hearing on regulations regarding the cuts, to lobby their Members of Congress, and to speak out at a press conference on Capitol Hill.... The vast majority of the people testifying at the hearing were retirees who would be harmed by cuts to their benefits. Pension Rights Center Director Karen Ferguson told Treasury, 'MPRA is unprecedented, overturning 40 years of law by allowing trustees to reduce the benefits of retirees in ongoing plans. It has also established a dangerous precedent that could lay the foundation for cuts in earned pensions well beyond the multiemployer sphere.' " (Pension Rights Center)  

What Goes In Your IRA? None of Your Small Business!
"For many years, optimistic promoters have helped IRA owners establish businesses inside their IRAs and averred that such businesses could pay the IRA owner 'reasonable compensation' without causing any problem. ERISA and the prohibited transaction rules were enacted in 1974. Why did it take 39 years to find out that this assertion was erroneous, at least according to the Tax Court?" (Morningstar Advisor)  

[Opinion]

Which of These Two Visions of the Future of Financial Advice Will Become Reality?
"It's 2025. Nearly a decade has passed after the 75th Anniversary of the Investment Advisers Act and the [DOL's] enactment of its 'Conflict of Interest' rule.... Under the new DOL and SEC standards, conflicts of interest were required to be avoided wherever possible. This recognized that disclosures -- while important -- were largely ineffective consumer protections ... Reversing a series of ill-advised decisions and rulemaking by lack of enforcement, the SEC prohibited waivers and disclaimers of core fiduciary duties, a practice often seen in 2015 by dually registered RIAs ... FINRA, which had publicly opposed DOL's imposition of fiduciary standards in mid-2015, and in so doing revealed its true nature as an instrument of Wall Street's sales culture, had its jurisdiction over market conduct activities removed by an Act of Congress." (Ron Rhoades)  

[Opinion]

Testimony of Pension Rights Center to Treasury on Proposed Rules for Retiree Benefits Cuts Under MPRA
"Most of the retirees you are hearing from are participants in the Central States Teamsters plan. That is because their trustees have told them that their pensions are about to be cut. Estimates are that there are hundreds of thousands of other retirees who will also be affected. They just don't know it yet.... MPRA is unprecedented, overturning 40 years of law by allowing trustees to reduce the benefits of retirees in ongoing plans. It has also established a dangerous precedent that could lay the foundation for cuts in earned pensions well beyond the multiemployer sphere." (Pension Rights Center)  

[Opinion]

ERIC Responds to PBGC Final Regs on Reportable Events
"The PBGC did take into account ERIC's opposition to credit scores and did not make them a mandatory measure of plan sponsor status. The final regulations also continue to offer a safe harbor for plans that do not owe variable rate premiums; however, it did add unnecessary and additional analysis by a plan sponsor. The regulation on reportable events will now require sponsors to gather and analyze financial information that goes beyond the health of the plan." (The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC])  

[Opinion]

Statement of NAIFA to House Subcommittee Hearing on 'Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans' (PDF)
"Through the imposition of these requirements on advisors who are paid on a commission basis, the proposal implicitly favors a fee-for-service model that does not work for most Americans of modest means.... At a minimum, we hope that the Members of these Subcommittees will encourage the [DOL] to re-propose the rule if it intends to proceed with this rule-making process.... [T]he one issue the [DOL] cannot rectify unilaterally is the disharmony that its proposal will create between investments sold through Individual Retirement Accounts and those sold outside of the retirement context; only the SEC can issue rules that would impose a uniform standard in both contexts." (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors [NAIFA])  

[Opinion]

Testimony of IRI to House Subcommittee Hearing on 'Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans'
"It is critical ... that the establishment of a best interest standard does not inadvertently limit plan participants and IRA investors access to a broad spectrum of guaranteed lifetime income products, from living benefits to immediate annuities to deferred income annuities and qualifying longevity annuity contracts (QLACs). DOL can easily avoid this outcome by [1] revising the prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs) in the proposal to provide a clear and workable path for advisers and financial institutions to make these products available to their clients, and [2] clarifying the proposed definition of 'fiduciary' and the proposed carve-outs from that definition to establish a more appropriate threshold for the imposition of fiduciary status." (Insured Retirement Institute [IRI])  

[Opinion]

Statement of ACLI to House Subcommittee Hearing on 'Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans' (PDF)
"The proposal negatively impacts small plan formation by restricting sales activities that encourage small business owners (with 100 employees or fewer) to start, maintain, or improve their employee benefit plans. The DOL has limited the 'sales exception' to exempt certain large plans, while impeding the sales of products and services to small businesses. Only 50 percent of workers employed in small businesses have access to retirement plans. Growing stress on government programs adds to the need for greater incentives for these small businesses to start and maintain retirement plans -- not new barriers." (American Council of Life Insurers [ACLI])  

Collaborative and Retirement PlanVision Partner to Provide Actionable Insight to Advisors
Infinata

SOA Names Jeremy Brown as President-Elect
Society of Actuaries

Betterment Announces New 401(k) Offering for Employers
Betterment

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