Implementation Specialist
PEN-CAL Administrators, Inc.
in CA

409A Plan Administrator
PEN-CAL
in CA

Junior Plan Administrator (409A/NQDC)
PEN-CAL
in CA

Retirement Plan Administrator
Convergence Group
in DE

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

DOL Regs in the Pipeline
"Currently, the agency has several important initiatives on its regulatory agenda for 2015/2016 that will affect various qualified retirement plan providers in different yet significant ways[:] ...  Pension Benefit Statements... Revision of Form 5500 Series and Related Regulations under ERISA... [and] Fiduciary Requirements for Disclosure in Participant-Directed Individual Accounts Plans -- Timing of Annual Disclosure." [Also see Part 2, which includes: Amendment of Abandoned Plan Program... Electronic Filing of Apprenticeship & Training Notices, and Top Hat Plan Statements... and Amended and Restated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program.] (PenChecks)  

[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 Updates Forms 8950 and 8951 for VCP Submissions
"[T]he IRS will accept submissions using the prior version of the forms through January 1, 2016 but prefers that plan sponsors use the new forms now. Plan sponsors using the prior version of Form 8950 are instructed to include the plan sponsor's NAICS business code in a cover letter and may receive a request for additional information or clarification of the submission." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Participants Get Larger Benefits Due to Disclosure Defects in Cash Balance Conversion
"[As] a remedy for Foot Locker's violation of the [ERISA] disclosure requirements, [the court] ordered Foot Locker to 'reform' the plan and pay the participants the benefits they would have received if the plan hadn't been amended. This equitable remedy of 'reformation' was adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Cigna Corp. v. Amara but there have been few cases where a court has had the opportunity to use reformation as a remedy for an ERISA violation." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Central States Teamsters Pension Fund Seeks Permission to Cut Benefits
"The pension fund had assets of $17.8 billion as of Dec. 31, and is projected to become insolvent in 2026.... The rescue plan application was submitted on Sept. 25 to the Treasury Department, which will post it shortly and allow for public comments. Treasury officials have up to 225 days to review an application, and once approved, 30 days to administer a participant vote on the proposed benefit reductions. The law requires the Treasury Department to approve an application if a plan's potential claims would cost the PBGC $1 billion or more." (Pensions & Investments)  

Fiduciary Fears Still Adding to Passive Product Tailwind
" 'An unfortunate misconception' exists among defined contribution (DC) plan fiduciaries that low cost is equivalent to low risk from either a market or a fiduciary perspective, says Jessica Sclafani, associate director at Cerulli. This misconception is benefitting index fund providers in terms of inflows, Cerulli data shows, but could lead to some serious plan sponsor confusion and even increased litigation down the road." (PLANSPONSOR)  

[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.

Advisers Form Coalition to Oppose DOL Fiduciary Rule
"The Coalition to Protect Retirement Security and Choice is comprised of nine adviser co-chairs and a steering committee of more than 30 advisers and insurance agents. The effort is sponsored by the American Council of Life Insurers and also includes support from the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and other groups. The initiative's goal is to amplify resistance to the DOL rule, which is designed to reduce conflicts of interest for brokers working with 401(k) and individual retirement accounts." (Investment News)  

Charley Ellis Foresees a 401(k) Crisis
"Ellis is well-known among institutional investors for his early support of index investing and for authoring perhaps the most famous investment article of the 1970s, 'The Loser's Game.' His argument that money managers succeed more by avoiding mistakes (including those of cost) than by finding winners was decades ahead of its time.... Companies need to realize that their employees need help. They need 'nudges' ... to achieve better outcomes. For 401(k) plans, this means automatically making several decisions for the employee, with in all cases the worker having the right to opt out -- a right that will typically be waived." (Morningstar Advisor)  

ERISA Advisory Council to Meet November 3-4, 2015
"[T]he 179th open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held on November 3-4, 2015.... The purpose of the open meeting on November 3 and the morning of November 4 is for the Advisory Council members to finalize the recommendations they will present to the Secretary. At the November 4 afternoon session, the Council members will receive an update from the [Assistant Secretary of Labor for EBSA] and present their recommendations ... on the following issues: [1] Model Notices and Plan Sponsor Education on Lifetime Plan Participation and [2] Model Notices and Disclosures for Pension Risk Transfers." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

S&P 1500 Pension Funded Status Drops by 2% in September
"The estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies dropped by 2% to 79% as of September 30, 2015, from the combined effect of a drop in rates and losses in equity markets. As of September 30, 2015, the estimated aggregate deficit of $457 billion increased by $43 billion as compared to the end of August. Funded status is now up by $47 billion from the $504 billion deficit measured at the end of 2014[.]" (Mercer)  

J.C. Penney Cuts Its Pension Obligation with Lump Sums and Prudential Annuities
"J.C. Penney ... said it has cut its $5 billion pension obligation by more than 25 percent by making lump-sum offers to 12,000 retirees and by buying annuities for 43,000 retirees. No changes were made to pension plan benefits of active employees. Penney closed the plan to new hires in 2007.... Penney's pension plan will remain over-funded and the company doesn't expect to have to make cash contributions to it for the 'foreseeable future.' " (The Dallas Morning News)  

Investing and Insuring Are Not the Same Thing
"Claiming Social Security benefits early and investing them would mean accepting more longevity risk in addition to increasing market risk.... Increasing your Social Security benefits by delaying claiming them would decrease both your financial risk, because you would be investing less, and your longevity risk by making sure that you or a surviving spouse will have more income guaranteed if one of you lives a long time. When we ask if we would be better off with stock investments than Social Security benefits, we're asking if it is better to gamble that our investments will do well and we won't live a long time or to buy insurance that will increase our income if we do live a long time. The ideal answer is to have enough wealth to do some of each." (The Retirement Cafe)  

A Multidisciplinary Review of Research on the Distributional Effects of Raising Social Security's Early Entitlement Age
"[This paper] reviews literature that can be used to help evaluate proposals to increase the retired-worker beneficiary's early entitlement age (EEA), which is currently age 62. Many of these proposals seek to identify workers who would be unable to work past age 62 and include provisions intended to relieve the hardship or vulnerability thought to be imposed on those workers by the EEA increase. This paper reviews the relevant social science literature using a multidisciplinary approach to capture the interaction between social insurance philosophy and empiricism that exists in that literature." (U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])  

Social Security Coverage for State and Local Government Workers: A Reconsideration
"This paper reviews and extends discussion on whether state and local government workers [SLGW] should face mandatory coverage in Social Security. Relative to earlier work, we focus on links between this issue and recent developments in state and local pensions. Although some of the issues apply equally to both existing and newly hired SLGWs, it is most natural to focus on whether newly hired employees should be brought into Social Security." (The Brookings Institution)  

Caregiving Expenses Can Derail Retirement Planning
"Caregivers who help provide financial assistance for the care of loved ones estimate that they pay, on average, about $10,000 a year out of their own pockets to help support the care recipient ... up from an average of $7,285 in 2010. They are shelling out money for everything from household expenses, personal items and transportation services, to payment for informal caregivers and care facilities. Where do these caregiving souls find the money? A lot of the time, they tap their retirement accounts[.]" (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

Is Your Severance Policy an ERISA Plan?
"[A]n advantage to ERISA coverage is that the employer can reserve to itself discretion to decide claims, which discretion will be respected by a court so long as the decision was not arbitrary and capricious. Disadvantages to ERISA coverage are that a Form 5500 may need to be filed annually, employees can bring a federal court lawsuit alleging a violation of ERISA, and prevailing claimants can recover attorneys' fees. A recent decision by the ... Second Circuit highlights the fact that even where an employer believes it has established a severance policy and has not explicitly characterized that policy as an ERISA plan, the arrangement may in any event be considered a plan subject to ERISA's requirements." [Okun v. Montefiore Medical Center, No. 13-3928 (2d Cir. July 17, 2015)] (Stinson Leonard Street)  

ISS 2015-2016 Policy Survey Summary of Key Items
"ISS appears to be poised to assess the appropriateness of certain adjusted performance metrics as part of its qualitative assessment of a company's incentive plans. This evaluation ultimately may impact ISS's vote recommendation on a company's Say on Pay proposal." (Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)