Relationship Manager
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services
in FL

Senior Plans Administrator
American National
in TX

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Wellness Programs & the Final ADA & EEOC Regulations: Next Steps for Employers
July 14, 2016 WEBCAST
(Midwest Business Group on Health)

Accountable Care Organizations: Payer and Provider Collaborations to Increase Population Health
July 26, 2016 in TX
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Dallas Chapter)

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[Guidance Overview]

DOL Final Investment Advice Regulation's Impact on the Retail Investor Marketplace (PDF)
16 pages. "The purpose of this article is to: [1] provide a summary of the definition of 'investment advice' under the Final Regulation; [2] discuss the impact of the Final Regulation and the prohibited transaction exemptions, particularly the BIC and PTE 84-24, on the distribution of products and services; and [3] provide some recommendations on how to proceed." (Groom Law Group, via The Investment Lawyer)  

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2016 Retirement Plans Facts - answers at your fingertips

With more than 600 retirement plans questions asked and answered, 2016 Retirement Plans Facts provides proven and practical guidance in this changing arena.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Proposed Regs Under Code Sec. 457
"[T]hese rules: [1] [recognize] a termination by an employee for 'good reason' as an involuntary severance from employment; ... [2] recognize required compliance with a noncompetition agreement as a substantial risk of forfeiture; ... [3] permit, in certain situations, elective deferral of current compensation and a rollover of existing substantial risk of forfeiture; [4] define bona fide severance pay plans that are exempt from Code Section 457 ... [5] define bona fide sick pay and vacation plans that are exempt from Code Section 457[.]" (Proskauer Rose LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Proposes New 457 Regs for Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans of Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employers
"IRS Notice 2007-62 had signaled the IRS's intent to impose restrictive rules for what constitutes a 'substantial risk of forfeiture' under section 457(f), consistent with the rules under Code section 409A. However, the proposed regulations defining a section 457(f) substantial risk of forfeiture are more flexible and accommodating for designing deferred compensation arrangements than had been described in the Notice." (Faegre Baker Daniels LLP)  

Disney Faces Another ERISA Lawsuit Over Sequoia Fund
"In a proposed class action filed June 28, Disney workers allege that the company's retirement plan investment committee should have dumped its Sequoia Fund holdings when the fund's increasing stake in the troubled Valeant -- which the workers dub 'the Pharmaceutical Enron' -- caused a substantial drop in stock price that led to lost retirement savings." (Bloomberg BNA)  

Corporate Pension Sponsors Fight for Ex-Employees' 401(k) Assets
"[United Technologies Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Robin Diamonte] grew tired of watching retiring and separating plan participants become fodder for call centers trolling to open new IRA accounts. To counter this pressure, she and her peers at International Paper Co. and IBM Corp. have launched campaigns to inform employees of their choices when it comes to their 401(k) accounts.... Diamonte faces an uphill battle. As U.S. defined contribution assets have grown to trillions of dollars, brokerages and mutual fund firms big and small have responded with aggressive efforts to vacuum up the 401(k) assets of separating and retiring employees." (Institutional Investor)  

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Inheriting an IRA or Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan

July 12 webinar. Get information you need to advise clients on inherited IRA and qualified plan distributions. Covers required minimum distribution rules and how an IRA payable to a trust may still qualify as a designated beneficiary.

Brexit and DB Plans
"Cash-sensitive DB sponsors are generally protected from swings in market interest rates by the ERISA minimum funding interest rate stabilization rules. For them, the fallout from Brexit is generally irrelevant ... Earnings-sensitive sponsors are not. Market interest rates were, pre-Brexit, already significantly down for the year. Brexit has driven them down further. If these lower rates continue to year end, liabilities for financial disclosure purposes will increase significantly.... Pre- and post-Brexit decreases in interest rates, if they persist to year end, will increase ... PBGC variable-rate premiums (provided they are not affected by the variable premium cap)." (October Three Consulting)  

Pension Finance Update, June 2016
"Financial markets have been roiled in the past week by Brexit, adding to pain pension sponsors had already been suffering this year. Both model pension plans we track suffered setbacks in June -- Plan A lost 4% last month, while Plan B was off 2%. Through the first half of 2016, Plan A is now down 10% and Plan B is down 5%." (October Three Consulting)  

Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions: First Quarter 2016
"This report provides national summary data on the revenues, expenditures and composition of assets of the largest defined benefit public employee pension systems for state and local governments. This report produces three tables: Tables 1 and 3 include data on cash and security holdings and Table 2 provides data on earnings on investments, contributions and payments." (U.S. Census Bureau)  

Summary of the Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions: First Quarter 2016 (PDF)
"For the 100 largest public-employee pension systems in the country, assets (cash and investments) totaled $3,252.2 billion in the first quarter of 2016, increasing by 0.1 percent from the 2015 fourth-quarter level ... Compared to the same quarter in 2015, assets for these major public pension systems decreased 4.0 percent from $3,388.5 billion.... Employee contributions declined 3.6 percent quarter-to-quarter, from $11.5 billion to $11.1 billion during the first quarter of 2016, but experienced a year-to-year increase of 5.5 percent, from $10.5 billion in the first quarter of 2015." (U.S. Census Bureau)  

OECD Focus on Pensions: ESOPs Acknowledged, Social Investing Promoted (PDF)
"The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party on Private Pensions (WPPP) ... [final version of] its Core Principles of Private Pension Regulation... added, following comments by numerous US and European stakeholders, acknowledgement of US-style ESOPs.... This [article focuses] on the new ESOP provisions in the Core Principles, the beginning of apparent advocacy of ESG investing by pension funds, and a few of the other areas that are beginning to attract the attention of the WPPP." (Groom Law Group)  

Using a 'Preference Checklist' to Make Retirement Decisions
"Because the optimal [Social Security] claiming age varies depending on factors such as longevity, successful interventions need to be effective and selective: delaying claiming age for those who should delay, but not for those who should claim early. [The authors] investigate a recently developed choice architecture tool, a preference checklist (a list of choice-relevant factors that consumers might want to consider, but often do not)." (TIAA Institute)  

[Guidance Overview]

Text of EBSA Fact Sheet: Interim Final Rule Adjusting ERISA Civil Monetary Penalties for Inflation (PDF)
"Beginning in 2017, the Department will adjust the new ERISA Title I penalty amounts annually for inflation no later than January 15 of each year.... EBSA will post any changes to ERISA Title I penalty amounts on its website. Annual inflation adjustments are not subject to notice and rulemaking.... The table [in this fact sheet] shows the current penalty amounts enforceable by EBSA and the inflation adjusted penalty that will go into effect for penalties assessed after August 1, 2016." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL])  

[Guidance Overview]

409A Deferral Election Results: A Mixed Bag
"As with many of 409A's rules, the restrictions on deferral elections require tight timing. This blog will highlight the differences between permissible 401(k) and NDCP deferral elections while also describing some of the plan design options available to provide participants with at least some flexibility when making their NDCP deferral elections with respect to salary and bonuses." (Milliman Retirement Town Hall)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Supplemental 409A Guidance on Deferred Compensation Plans
"[T]he proposed regulations modify current rules under Section 409A, including with respect to: [1] the short-term deferral rule ... [2] the definition of 'eligible issuer of service recipient stock' ... [3] recurring part-year compensation; [4] amounts payable following the death of service providers and their beneficiaries; [5] the conflict of interest exception to the prohibition on the acceleration of payments[.]" (Holland & Knight)  

Ameritas Life Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Guardian’s 401(k) Plan Business
Ameritas

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