Billing and Eligibility Specialist
Zenith American Solutions
in MN

Retirement Plan Administrator
Plan Design Consultants, Inc.
in CA

Operations Supervisor (Claims)
Zenith American Solutions
in CA

Claims Processor 3
Zenith American Solutions
in CA

Retirement Plan Specialist
Arista Wealth Management
in NV

Billing and Eligibility Supervisor
Zenith American Solutions
in WI

Consulting Actuary
TPA Firm
in ANY STATE

Trust Accountant for 401(k)/Defined Contribution Plans
R.J.L. Pension Services, Inc.
in FL

DC Retirement Plan Administrator
RetireWell Administrators, LLC
in NJ

ERISA/Labor Attorney
Spear Wilderman, P.C.
in PA

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Employer Shared Responsibility and the ACA
November 4, 2015 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Council - San Diego Chapter)

Next-Generation Affordable Care Act
November 11, 2015 WEBCAST
(Benefitfocus)

What the Healthcare Law Means for your Small Business
November 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA])

Missing and Non-Responsive Participants: The Impact of Terminated Employees
November 17, 2015 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Council - San Diego Chapter)

2016 Retirement Industry Conference: Advancing Retirement Readiness
May 4, 2016 in MA
(LIMRA)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Announcement: Maximum Insurance Benefit Level for 2016
"[T]he annual maximum guaranteed benefit for a 65-year-old retiree in a single-employer plan remains at $60,136 for 2016. The guarantee for multiemployer plans also remains unchanged.... [T]he multiemployer guarantee structure has two tiers, providing 100 percent coverage up to a certain level, and 75 percent coverage above that level. For a retiree with 30 years of service, the current annual limit is 100 percent of the first $3,960 and 75 percent of the next $11,760 for a total guarantee of $12,870. This limit has been in place since 2001." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

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[Guidance Overview]

401(k) Plan Sponsor Duties: Timeliness of 401(k) Participant Deposits (PDF)
"For plans with fewer than 100 participants, a deposit is considered timely if it's made within 7 business days after the date the contributions would have been otherwise payable in cash. For larger plans ... [the deposit generally is 'timely' if made] no later than the 15th business day of the month following the month when deferrals were withheld. 'Deposited' means received by the plan's trust, not when the check was cut or remitted. It's not enough to simply mail or remit deferrals by the 7th day; the plan sponsor must reasonably factor in the necessary time for deferrals to reach the trust or investor." (Kushner & Company)  

[Guidance Overview]

Can an LLC Adopt an ESOP?
"The IRS recently issued [Private Letter Ruling 2015 38021] allowing an LLC to adopt an ESOP. This is the IRS of course, so the ruling included several conditions.... This ruling was very careful to recite certain aspects of the LLC that the IRS clearly wanted to emphasize in approving the LLC's request to adopt an ESOP." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)  

House Passes Bill to Fatally Delay DOL Rule
"A bill proposed by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., passed 245-186 and would prohibit the [DOL] from instituting new rules governing financial services before the [SEC] reviews the proposed regulations.... A similar measure was passed by House in 2013, but died in the Senate for lack of action. The RIPA legislation again faces an uphill climb in the upper chamber, and if it passed there, President Barack Obama reiterated Tuesday that he would veto the bill." (InsuranceNewsNet.com)  

The Budget Deal's Surprise Blow to Pensions
"[The deal proposes] to raise the fixed rate premium employers pay to the [PBGC] per employee from the current $64 in 2016 -- to $68 for 2017, $73 for 2018, and $78 for 2019, and then be indexed for inflation. There's also a proposed increase to the variable rate premiums employers pay if their plan is underfunded -- those premiums would jump from $30 per $1,000 of underfunding to $38 per $1,000 of underfunding by 2019." (Forbes)  

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DOL Warms to Considering Social Responsibility in Selecting Investment Funds
"The DOL reiterated that economic features should remain the primary focus of plan fiduciaries, but other factors can and should be taken into account in the following circumstances: Tie-Breaker for Economically Equivalent Funds.... Economic Impact of the Socially Responsible Focus.... [T]he DOL emphasized that no additional evaluation or documentation is required for socially responsible funds." (Mazursky Constantine LLC)  

Villas, Castles and Vacations: How Perks and Giveaways Create Conflicts of Interest in the Annuity Industry
12 pages. "[T]hirteen of the fifteen companies -- 87% -- admitted to offering kickbacks directly to agents, indirectly through third party gift payments, or both.... Annuity companies also create conflicts of interest and evade some existing restrictions by offering perks and inducements to annuity sales agents through third party marketing organizations.... Current disclosure rules are inadequate to ensure that customers are informed about the incentives agents receive for selling them specific financial products." (U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren)  

401(k)s Shifting to Fixed-Dollar, Per-Head Fees
"Fixed-dollar fee arrangements now account for 47 percent of surveyed plans. 'While previously popular among larger plans -- those with $1 billion or more in assets -- fixed-dollar arrangements are now increasingly prevalent among midsize plans with $100 million to $500 million in assets,' said Ross Bremen [of NEPC] ... The survey also revealed a steady decline in overall plan fees, including record-keeping fees and investment fees, which are the annual expense ratios charged by fund managers." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

2014 Asset Allocations in Fortune 1000 Pension Plans
"On average, sponsors of frozen pension plans invested almost half their assets in conservative, lower-variance investments, such as cash and debt instruments, whereas sponsors of plans where some or all workers were still accruing benefits (open and closed plans) seemed more inclined to take on riskier investments.... De-risking approaches, such as liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies that hedge against interest rate movements, played an important role in buffering funding declines." (Towers Watson)  

Retirement Security: A Moving Target (PDF)
"As employers grapple with retirement security issues today, they face competing objectives. Is the goal retirement income or portable savings? Should the employer focus on retirement income adequacy for long-service workers or instead, put aside a percentage of pay toward retirement for all workers? Should the employer bear the risk for market fluctuations or should the employee bear the risk? Or both?" (Center for State & Local Government Excellence)  

Congress Ends File-and-Suspend and Restricted Application Social Security Strategies
"While the new limits to Restricted Application will not apply to anyone who is already age 62 or older in 2015, the new crackdown may suspend current spousal or dependent benefits in 6 months for those who are only receiving those benefits thanks to File-and-Suspend! In other words, those who already engaged in the File-and-Suspend strategy may find it terminated mid-stream, and no benefits will be payable until the individual who suspended chooses to reinstate benefits." (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

Text of GAO Report on Social Security's Future: Answers to Key Questions (PDF)
92 pages, updated Oct. 2015. "This guide -- first issued in 2005 -- is intended to describe, in a concise and easy-to-understand way, the complexities of Social Security, the challenges the programs face, and the options available to address these challenges. The first section of this guide explains how Social Security works ... The second section explains the programs' financial and other challenges ... The third and fourth sections present a wide array of options that have been proposed to address challenges for the OASI and DI programs, respectively.... [T]he fifth section of this guide provides a framework for evaluating the various policy options." [GAO-16-75SP] (U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO])  

Five Firms to Pay $18 Million in Restitution to 75,000 Charities and Retirement Accounts Overcharged for Mutual Funds
"[FINRA] has ordered five firms to pay restitution estimated at more than $18 million, including interest, to affected customers for failing to waive mutual fund sales charges for eligible charitable organizations and retirement accounts. The following firms were sanctioned. Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P. -- $13.5 million ... Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Inc. -- $2.9 million ... Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC -- $1.2 million ... AXA Advisors, LLC -- $600,000 ... Stephens Inc. -- $150,000 ... Collectively, an estimated $55 million in restitution will be paid to more than 75,000 eligible retirement accounts and charitable organizations as a result of [cases announced in July] and the cases announced [October 27]." (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority [FINRA])  

The Complicated Product That Is Leaving Some Retirees Deeper in Debt
"[Pension advances], and the companies that offer them, are receiving renewed attention from consumer advocates, legislators and federal regulators.... Consumer advocates say that because the products are not officially classified as loans, costs are not always clearly explained. Instead, sales representatives focus on the size of the monthly payments. Effective interest rates can range from about 30 percent to more than 100 percent." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Whose Trust Should Be Named as Your IRA Beneficiary?
"One of the tax code requirements to allow a trust to use stretch distributions is that the trust be irrevocable or become irrevocable at death. If Peggy is the first to die, her trust will become irrevocable but Tom is still alive. His trust remains revocable. His trust will not be able to utilize stretch provisions. The reverse situation works out the same way.... Tom should name his trust as the beneficiary of his retirement accounts and Peggy should name her trust as the beneficiary of her retirement accounts." (Slott Report)  

[Opinion]

ERIC Statement on Proposed PBGC Premium Increases
"The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) is outraged at the Congressional proposal to increase the [PBGC] premiums for single-employer pension plans.... 'Even the PBGC's own analysis does not call for an increase in premiums on single-employer defined benefit plans. PBGC premium increases like the one announced today do nothing to encourage single-employers to continue defined benefit plans or improve benefits for retirees; in fact, the increases only work to further weaken the private retirement system,' said [ERIC President Annette Guarisco Fildes]." (The ERISA Industry Committee [ERIC])  

[Opinion]

Associations Submit Comments to the Treasury on the Process for Transferring myRA Account Balances to Private Sector Roth IRAs (PDF)
"From a service provider perspective, there are inherent risks to having account balances defaulted when an account holder fails to provide instructions for a rollover, and there are certain factors that may make a Roth IRA provider unwilling to be selected to receive automatically transferred my RA account balances. Given these potential challenges, SIFMA, ABA, and FSR believe there are a number of issues Treasury should take into account before considering any default arrangement[.]" (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association [SIFMA], American Bankers Association, and Financial Services Roundtable)  

Last Minute Budget Deal Contains Changes Affecting Employee Benefit Plans (PDF)
"Among the fiscal provisions are several changes to pension and healthcare benefits, which were largely included to generate revenue to offset the cost of the legislation.... PBGC premium increases ... Extension of DB funding stabilization rates ... Accelerate 2025 PBGC premium due date ... Expanded options for plan-specific mortality tables ... Repeal of ACA automatic enrollment." (Groom Law Group)  

Equity and Phantom Equity Based Compensation for LLCs
"LLCs taxed as partnerships can issue: Restricted or Performance Units ... Capital Interests ... Profits Interests ... Phantom Unit Rights or Unit Rights ... Phantom Unit Appreciation Rights." (Jackson Lewis P.C.)  

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Announces Largest National Network of Patient-Focused Care Programs
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

Kyla M. Keck of SageView Advisory Group Elected to At-Large Seat on the American Retirement Association’s Board of Directors
SageView Advisory Group

PSCA Non-Qualified Plan Survey -- Participation Request
PSCA [Plan Sponsor Council of America]

Fidelity to Offer Envestnet Retirement Solutions’ Integrated Workstation to Retirement Advisors
Fidelity Investments

New Financial Finesse Study Uncovers Emerging Solution to America's Retirement Crisis
Financial Finesse

Qualifying FBi Clients can Secure Significantly Reduced Premiums on their Fiduciary Liability Insurance
Fiduciary Benchmarks, Inc.

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