Client Service Manager
The Newport Group
in FL, NC, WI

Employee Benefits / ERISA Attorney
Fennemore Craig, P.C.
in AZ

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica
in AZ

Assistant Retirement Plan Administrator
Law Offices of R. David Danziger, P.C.
in PA

Sr Pension Administrator
Growing TPA firm
in ANY STATE, NH

Assistant Fund Administrator
The Chicago Laborers' Pension and Welfare Funds
in IL

Retirement Plan Education Specialist
Verisight
in ANY STATE

Group Compliance Consultant
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association [NRECA]
in VA

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Paid to Perform: Equity Trends in Executive Comp
October 8, 2015 WEBCAST
(Equilar)

Complying and Adapting to the DOL's Fiduciary Proposal: A Comprehensive Update
October 13, 2015 WEBCAST
(Financial Research Associates)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Form 4972 and Instructions for 2015: Tax on Lump-Sum Distributions (PDF)
"Use Form 4972 to figure the tax on a qualified lump-sum distribution (defined below) you received in 2015 using the 20% capital gain election, the 10-year tax option, or both. These are special formulas used to figure a separate tax on the distribution that may result in a smaller tax than if you reported the taxable amount of the distribution as ordinary income." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[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.

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Form 8880 and Instructions for 2015: Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions (PDF)
"You may be able to take this credit if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, made [1] contributions (other than rollover contributions) to a traditional or Roth IRA (including a myRA), [2] elective deferrals to a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SEP, or SIMPLE plan, [3] voluntary employee contributions to a qualified retirement plan as defined in section 4974(c) (including the federal Thrift Savings Plan), or [4] contributions to a 501(c)(18)(D) plan." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS and DOL Announce Joint Delinquent Form 5500 Program
"The agencies will be reviewing payroll and plan data to identify sponsors who failed to file the Form timely. The goal, according to the IRS, is to ensure compliance with annual Form 5500 filing requirements, identify the reasons for non-compliance, and make recommendations to facilitate compliance for plan sponsors going forward." (Reid and Riege, P.C.)  

Does Age-Related Decline in Ability Correspond with Retirement Age?
"A variety of white-collar occupations, such as police detective and designer, are just as susceptible to declines in the abilities required for work as are blue-collar occupations. The Susceptibility Index is a significant predictor of early retirement; for example, workers in occupations in the 90th percentile of the Index are 5.7 percentage points more likely to retire by age 65 than workers in the 10th percentile. When controlling for the Susceptibility Index, the commonly used categorization of blue- or white-collar has no additional explanatory power in a model of early retirement." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)  

Will Phased Retirement Programs Make a Comeback?
"As expected retirement ages are rising, the definition of retirement is no longer viewed as a single event that occurs after an individual leaves their career job and goes off into the sunset. Rather, it is often now seen as more of a gradual transition from full-time employment to full-time retirement. This approach to retirement has evolved over the years as workforce demographics, technology, and approaches to workplace flexibility have created an opportunity to redefine the retirement process to meet both employer and employee needs." (WorldatWork)  

Chart of Litigation Related to Use of 'In-House' Proprietary Products and Services by Retirement Plan Sponsors (PDF)
This 33-page chart identifies lawsuits that have been filed to date, describes the claims asserted, and summarizes the substantive court rulings and the procedural status of the cases. Updated Sept. 2015. (Groom Law Group)  

Beefing Up Advice Options for Workplace Retirement Plans
"[Managed account advisers] can answer questions that go beyond asset allocation -- everything from Social Security claiming strategies to advice about drawing down funds. [They] can even do some hand-holding when markets take a nosedive.... Eighty-six percent of plan sponsors pick TDFs as their default option for participants who do not make investment elections on their own ... [M]anaged account services make up just 3 percent of default plan sponsor choices." (The Fiscal Times)  

Plan Participants Support Socially Responsible Investing
"Nearly 9 in 10 retirement plan participants (87%) want investment options that align with their values. The vast majority of retirement plan participants (82%) were likely to select a responsible investment option if offered by the plan, with nearly one-third of those interested claiming that they would direct all of their plan contributions to responsible investment options. Most participants (two-thirds or more) assume responsible investing funds will be as good as or better than other mutual funds in terms of risk, volatility and performance." (Calvert Investments)  

More Americans Using Financial Advisors, Want Advice to Be in Their Best Interest
"Consumer use of financial advisors has increased significantly in the last five years from 28 percent in 2010 to 40 percent in 2015 ... 9 out of 10 Americans agree (with 76 percent strongly agreeing) that when they receive investment advice from a financial advisor, the person providing the advice should put the consumers' interests ahead of theirs and should have to tell consumers up front about any conflicts of interest that could potentially influence that advice.... Although more people use financial advisors, a majority (63 percent) believe that current laws do not do enough to protect consumers from being taken advantage of in the financial markets." (Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards)  

Puerto Rico's Pension Fund Poised to Go Broke
"As Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla prepares to push for bondholders to renegotiate debts he says the commonwealth can't afford, he's also contending with an estimated $30 billion shortfall in the Employees Retirement System. The pension, which covers 119,975 employees, as of June 2014 had just 0.7 percent of the assets needed to pay all the benefits that had been promised, a level unheard of among U.S. states. If not fixed, the depleted fund could jeopardize a fiscal recovery by foisting soaring bills onto the cash-strapped government even if investors agree to reduce the island's debt." (Bloomberg)  

Summary of the Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions: Q2 2015 (PDF)
"For the 100 largest public-employee pension systems in the country, cash and security holdings totaled $3,369.0 billion in the second quarter of 2015, a decrease of 1.0 percent from the first quarter total of $3,401.5 billion.... Earnings in the second quarter totaled $32.0 billion, a decrease of 59.2 percent from $78.3 billion in the previous quarter." (U.S. Census Bureau)  

Funding Bills Include Cuts in Social Security Services
"Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative funding would face more cuts under the House and Senate committee-approved appropriations bills for 2016, which would mean more cuts to staffing and field office hours, longer waits for appointments and phone calls, and more backlogs for disability appeals and other critical work.... Even without adjusting for inflation, the Senate Labor-HHS-Education bill would cut nearly $250 million from SSA's regular administrative funding, compared with 2015 -- harsher even than the House bill, which would freeze funding at 2015 levels." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)  

[Opinion]

Financial Services Institute Supplemental Comment Letter to EBSA on Proposed Fiduciary Regs and Exemptions (PDF)
87 pages. "FSI remains of the view ... that the Proposal would create a regulatory regime that is operationally too complex, too cumbersome, and far too costly to manage, and that erects counterproductive obstacles for commission-based accounts.... In our view, the Proposal will make it significantly harder for consumers to receive high quality, personalized retirement advice -- in particular, clients with small account balances for whom advice will become cost-prohibitive if the Proposal goes forward as written -- thus decreasing investor choice among and access to retirement advice from a trusted advisor." (Financial Services Institute)  

[Opinion]

Investment Company Institute Supplemental Comment Letter to EBSA on Proposed Fiduciary Definition and Conflict of Interest Rules (PDF)
"This supplemental letter explains why the asset-weighted average return for categories of mutual funds, rather than the simple average, is the appropriate measure for assessing the overall experience of investors using broker-sold funds.... We also provide additional detail about why a large share of IRA investors will not be able to get access to fee-based advice under the Department's proposed rules, even if those advisers also manage taxable investable assets on behalf of these households." (Investment Company Institute [ICI])  

[Opinion]

Insured Retirement Institute Supplemental Comment Letter to EBSA on Proposed Definition of Fiduciary
23 pages. "[We] reiterate our request that the Department provide exemptive relief for all fixed and variable annuities under both PTE 84-24 and a workable version of the Proposed BIC Exemption ... [This letter describes] IRI's views on how to integrate [concepts discussed at the August public hearing] into the Proposed BIC Exemption in a workable manner, as well as additional modifications we believe are necessary to ensure the exemption doe s not inadvertently prohibit any particular distribution models, compensation structures or types of products." (Insured Retirement Institute [IRI])  

[Opinion]

American Benefits Council Supplemental Comment Letter to EBSA on Conflict of Interest Rule (PDF)
8 pages. "The definition of fiduciary advice should clarify that casual conversations not involving any expectation of material reliance are not fiduciary advice.... Under the proposal, any 'suggestions' offered 'for consideration' are sufficient to trigger fiduciary status. This is too low a bar and too broadly defined.... We continue to believe that the current rule in Interpretive Bulletin 96-1 should be preserved. We did not see anything in the Department's Regulatory Impact Analysis documenting that there have been any problems under 96-1. If the Department has concerns about the use of examples, a more targeted rule should be considered." (American Benefits Council)  

[Guidance Overview]

Section 409A Audits: Observations and Workplan (PDF)
31 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] High-Level Review of Section 409A; [2] Update on IRS Audit Activity and 409A Guidance: Introducing the REAL Audit Enemy (It's Not the IRS); and [3] Preparing for an Audit: Preliminary Questions, Building the Catalog, Zoological Taxonomy, Common Pressure Points, and Handling Risk and Errors. (Winston & Strawn, for American Benefits Council)  

Section 409A Corrections to Employment Agreements: Time for an Ounce of Protection in 2015
"[IRS Chief Council Memorandum 201518013] supports the correction of defective severance provisions if that occurs in the year before a termination of employment occurs. The IRS memo was actually unfavorable to the taxpayer, because it rejected a 409A correction that took place in the year severance occurred. While time remains this year, it is worth reviewing any agreements, plans, or releases that provide for severance." (Paul Hastings LLP)  

Recommended Steps to Successful Equity Plan Approval, Part 2
"Consider imposing a meaningful limit on the number of shares that may be granted to non-employee directors under the plan ... Give the compensation committee and board of directors sufficient time ... to review the proposed share authorization, the plan changes, and the rationale for the share increase and plan changes.... Include in the proxy a detailed discussion of the reasons for the share authorization and the board's analysis ... Include information in the proxy about share overhang and burn rates[.]" (Morgan Lewis)  

CEO Contractual Protection and Managerial Short-Termism (PDF)
37 pages. "[F]irms with CEO contractual protection are less likely to cut R&D expenditures to avoid earnings decreases and are less likely to engage in real earnings management.... [T]his effect increases with the duration and monetary strength of CEO contractual protection.... [T]he effect is stronger for firms in more homogeneous industries and for firms with higher transient institutional ownership, as protection is particularly important for CEOs in these firms, and is stronger when there are weaker alternative monitoring mechanisms." (The Accounting Review)  

Questions for IRS, PBGC, and DOL Sought for Gray, Blue, and Green Books
"The Gray Book Committee is accepting questions in preparation for their meetings with the [IRS, PBGC and DOL] for the 2015 editions. They are seeking relevant questions [to be submitted by Dec. 1] covering such areas as funding, nondiscrimination, benefit restrictions, qualification issues, PBGC-related issues, and other areas that are of interest to enrolled actuaries." (Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Public Plans Community)  

National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the U.S., March 2015 (PDF)
572 pages. "The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive measures of compensation cost trends, the incidence of benefits, and detailed benefit provisions. This bulletin presents estimates of the incidence and key provisions of selected employee benefit plans. Estimates presented are on benefits for civilian workers -- workers in private industry and in state and local government -- by various employee and employer characteristics. For the purposes of the NCS, the Federal Government, agricultural, and household workers, and workers who are self-employed, are excluded." [Bulletin 2782, Sept. 2015] (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

Mercer Enters Strategic Alliance with Transamerica for Defined Contribution Recordkeeping Services
Mercer

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