|
Employee Benefits Jobs
|
|
Webcasts and Conferences
|
|
Discussions
|
|
Subscribe Now to This Newsletter (free)
We also
publish the BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter (free):
Subscribe Now
|
|
[Guidance Overview]
The Final Fiduciary Rule: Top Five Takeaways for Plan Sponsors (PDF)
"[1] There are no changes with respect to the existing responsibilities of plan fiduciaries.... [2] There is a seller's exception worth paying attention to.... [3] Investment education is not investment advice.... [4] Recommendations regarding rollovers are investment advice.... [5] The final rule does not intend to make HR employees fiduciaries."
(Trucker Huss)
|
[Guidance Overview]
PBGC Proposes Relief for Penalties on Late Payment of Premiums
"Under the proposed regulation, the penalties are cut in half. Thus, the 1% self-correction penalty becomes 1/2 percent with a 25% cap, and the 5% penalty becomes 2-1/2% with a cap of 50%. The $25 dollar floor is eliminated.... The PBGC proposal does not change the requirement to pay interest on the late premium payments. The rate of interest is mandated by law and not subject to the discretion of the PBGC."
(Cheiron)
|
Money Market Reform and Stable Value: Considerations for Plan Fiduciaries
"Although the performance advantage offered by stable value compared with money market funds narrowed when short-term rates spiked up, stable value has outperformed money market funds every year ... from 1990 through March 31, 2016 ... However, with interest rates near zero since the global financial crisis, the difference between stable value and money market returns has been significantly exaggerated compared to historical norms.... Stable value funds are subject to a number of restrictions and risks not applicable to money market funds that plan fiduciaries should carefully evaluate."
(Vanguard)
|
Q&A on the DOL's Fiduciary Rule: BICE & PTEs
"[If] a new person is enrolled in an existing SIMPLE IRA or 403b after the rule is implemented, is BICE required for the new person that comes into the plan? ... With respect to the contract requirements for IRAs and non-ERISA plans under BICE, what content requirements are there? Or, are we creating the content of the contract as we go along? ... If specific funds are being used within the core menu of investment options available, will this be deemed education? ... For the sellers carve-out, is providing a disclaimer in marketing materials and/or account opening documents that the firm is not a fiduciary sufficient? ... How does BICE dovetail -- or not -- with the eligible investment advice provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006?"
(fi360)
|
Pension Risk Transfer: Annuities Getting Increased Attention (PDF)
"[T]he number of respondents reporting that their companies have already executed liability transfer transactions has risen from 3% in 2010 to 15% this year.... [A] large increase (from 5% in 2010 to 23% this year) is also seen in those who said they would be 'very likely' to purchase an annuity within the next two years.... The more fully a plan is funded, the easier it becomes for an employer to manage its DB plan risk, and the more options it has open to it -- including, in some cases, liability transfer."
(Prudential)
|
Look Before You Leap Into Annuity Buyouts (PDF)
"[An] annuity buyout can enable a corporation to reduce its pension liability and the associated risk.... [P]lan sponsors should be wary of moving too far without solid analysis of how an annuity buyout would affect them.... [G]eneric analysis ... is not an adequate foundation for decision-making; it can miss the mark -- in some cases, by a considerable margin -- and result in a tricky situation when subsequent events don't turn out as projected."
(Russell Investments)
|
What We Can Learn from the British Retirement 'Scheme'
"While the U.K.'s system is still relatively small ... and the transition began later than in the U.S. and Australia, it's growing quickly due to mandatory auto-enrollment requirements that began in 2012.... The U.K. system has been the beneficiary of both forward-thinking and fortunate timing.... [T]he U.K.'s auto-enrollment with opt-out is closer to what might be acceptable in the U.S. than, for instance, Australia's fully compulsory system."
(401K Specialist)
|
Public Pension Debt Jumps 84% -- Total Now $4.8 Trillion
"[The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research] Pension Tracker estimates the total public pension debt on a 'market basis,' where all monies are invested in safe 20-year maturity Treasury bonds offering a constant yield of 2.18 percent, at about $41,219 per household, or about $15,037 per person.... [and] the total public pension debt on an 'actuarial basis,' with an estimated variable future investment return, is $8,872 per household and $3,231 per person. Pension Tracker also finds a disproportionate impact on the 'average' pension debt calculations due to the extraordinarily large impact of the 'market based' pension debt per household for three states -- Alaska, Illinois and California[.]"
(Breitbart)
|
CalPERS Fees Slightly Below Peer Group Median
"[T]he $293.6 billion pension fund paid $1.18 billion in fees or 41.1 basis points in calendar year 2014, slightly below its peer group median of 43.2 basis points. However, the study does not include performance fees for private equity, real estate, infrastructure and natural resource investments."
(Pensions & Investments)
|
[Opinion]
Raising Social Security Retirement Age Will Hurt When Early Retirement Is Unavoidable
"Nearly half of Social Security beneficiaries retire early and, therefore, face a permanent reduction in their benefits. Raising the retirement age would only increase the number of people facing this permanent reduction in benefits.... [T]hese benefit cuts disproportionately affect low-skilled workers with the least education, who are the mostly likely to take early retirement.... Retirement is not an easy decision for many workers and many are forced to retire, even if they are not ready."
(National Public Pension Coalition)
|
|
Benefits in General
|
|
|
Many Employers Want Guidance From Financial Advisors About Voluntary Benefit Options
"Two of five employers that currently do not rely on guidance from a financial advisor say they would welcome such help with voluntary benefit options such as retirement plans, life and disability insurance, and other protection benefits ... Firms that would characterize such assistance as 'extremely' or 'very' valuable range from 33 percent for those with fewer than 25 employees to 55 percent for those with 1,000 or more employees ... The percentages of employers that would see such advice as at least 'somewhat' or more valuable range from 75 percent for the smallest employers to 80 percent for larger firms[.]"
(MassMutual)
|
|
Press Releases
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2016 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials
contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be
reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior
written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the
owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other
notice from copies of the content.
Links to web sites other than BenefitsLink.com and
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com are offered as a service to our readers; we were not involved in
their production and are not responsible for their content.
Privacy Policy
|
![Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]](https://benefitslink.com/bnrs/2016/IFEBP_WhartonInvesting_top.jpg "Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]")
