Senior Consultant
USI Consulting Group
in CT, NY

Pension Analyst
Southwest Service Administrators
in AZ

Senior Legal Counsel, Strategic Investor Services
T. Rowe Price
in MD

Administrative Consultant for Qualified Retirement Plans
PenSys, Inc.
in CA, NC

Loan and Distribution Clerk
PenSys, Inc.
in CA

Implementation Coordinator
PenSys, Inc.
in CA

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Take Benefits Engagement From Good to Better
April 26, 2018 WEBCAST
Benz Communications

Managing Missing Plan Participants: New IRS Guidance on RMDs for 401(k), 403(b) and Other Qualified Plans
May 15, 2018 WEBCAST
Strafford

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Considering Expanding Determination Letter Program in 2019 for Certain Individually Designed Plans
"Following the close of Cycle A on January 31, 2017, the IRS now only makes determinations on individually designed plans for initial plan qualification, for qualification upon plan termination, and in certain other limited circumstances the IRS has described in specific published guidance.The IRS has left open the possibility that it may consider opening up the determination letter program in the future for certain types of individually designed plans. In Notice 2018-24, the IRS is soliciting comments on what specific types of plans it should consider accepting for determination letters in 2019."
Kilpatrick Townsend

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[Guidance Overview]

The Fiduciary Rule: Next Steps After Vacatur (PDF)
"It may be that providers will determine that at least some of the changes made to their business models in response to the Final Rule will permit them to better serve plans and retirement investors ... Plan sponsors that developed infrastructure to collect and assimilate changes to their providers' business models and documentation in response to the Final Rule will turn again to those processes to understand and evaluate the changes made by providers in response to the vacatur.... [P]lan providers ... will need to reconstitute their prohibited transaction compliance programs in light of the reinstatement of the 5-part 'investment advice' fiduciary definition and the pre-Final Rule system of exemptions."
Eversheds Sutherland

The ERISA DIY Guide: Six Easy Steps to Getting Sued Over Your 401(k) Plan
"[1] Keep sole control over your employees 401(k) investments and ignore all recommendations to the contrary ... [2] Invest the majority of the plans money in one incredibly speculative company ... [3] Base decisions on your research from internet message boards ... [4] Watch as the stock craters in value ... [5] When employees complain that they're losing all their money, threaten to terminate the plan ... [6] When employees keep complaining that they're losing all their money, terminate them."
Kaufman & Canoles, P.C.

Diversification of Investments: Ground Zero for Prudent Fiduciaries
"[W]hat does 'diversifying the investments of the plan so as to minimize the risk of large losses' actually mean, and how can it be achieved? Further, and perhaps more remarkably, how can portfolio return be enhanced when the portfolio is broadly and deeply diversified? "
W. Scott Simon, via Morningstar Advisor

First Round of Robo-Advisor Fee Litigation Goes to Record-Keepers
"The lawsuits claim, in essence, that fees collected by record keepers for investment advice were unreasonably high, because the fees exceeded the amount actually paid to Financial Engines. The suits claimed that the record keepers did not provide services of sufficient value to justify retaining the spread between the amount charged and the amount actually paid to Financial Engines. In March, two federal courts dismissed claims against the record keepers, bringing the total to four similar cases that all have been dismissed."
Proskauer

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Locating Missing Participants Under the PBGC's Expanded Program for Terminated Plans
"The revised program provides a helpful alternative for plan administrators of terminating defined contribution plans ... [A]dministrators of ongoing plans will need to continue to find other ways to address the problem of missing participants and beneficiaries."
McDermott Will & Emery

Who Participated in Retirement Plans, 2014 (PDF)
"Among all workers aged 26 to 64 in 2014, 63 percent participated in a retirement plan either directly or through a spouse. That percentage ranged, however, from 53 percent of those aged 26 to 34 to 68 percent of those aged 45 to 64; and from 24 percent for those with adjusted gross income (AGI) less than $20,000 per person to 85 percent for those with AGI of $100,000 per person or more." [Published April 2017]
Investment Company Institute [ICI]

Seventh Circuit Holds That ERISA Does Not Preempt Illinois Slayer Statute
"While this decision provides meaningful guidance on the applicability of slayer statutes to retirement benefits, it is currently only binding on jurisdictions residing in the Seventh Circuit ... It remains to be seen whether the holding will become binding on other jurisdictions as well." [Laborers' Pension Fund v. Miscevic, No. 17-2022 (7th Cir. Jan. 29, 2018)]
Holland & Knight

Pension Finance Update, March 2018
"Pension sponsors saw funded status slip in March, due to lower interest rates and stock market losses. Both model pension plans ... lost ground last month -- traditional Plan A lost 2% while the more conservative Plan B lost less than 1%. For the year, Plan A remains almost 3% ahead, while Plan B is up less than 1%."
October Three Consulting

S&P 1500 Pension Funded Status Decreased by One Percent in March
"The estimated aggregate funding status of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies decreased by one percent in March 2018 to 87% at the end of the month, as a result of losses in the equity markets. As of March 31, 2018, the estimated aggregate deficit of $286 billion USD increased by $24 billion USD as compared to the $262 billion USD measured at the end of February[.]"
Mercer

Multiemployer Plan Data
Selected charts on multiemployer and public plans, from the 2018 Enrolled Actuaries meeting.
Burypensions

New Integration Software Melds Clients with Advisers
"[Human capital management (HCM)] and payroll companies struggle ... with handling all the complexities of employee benefits information.... [T]his type of complexity requires a robust benefits system that can be readily reconfigured -- not an all-purpose HCM system that wasn't specifically designed for benefits administration.... [W]eb-based APIs can make such a system far more flexible.... [T]he next logical step will be to simplify and standardize API formats[.]"
Employee Benefit Adviser

Failure to File 8955-SSA; Should We Pay Penalties Up Front?
A new (to our TPA firm) 403(b) client has not filed 8955-SSA in the past due to confusing "instructions" from a vendor supposedly doing the administration. Our firm is filing for the 2017 year (the first year for which we're responsible). The client is anxious about possible penalties. I've heard some people say "don't self-file" on the penalty payment, and that, if the IRS decides to assess a penalty, they'll contact the client with details. Please share any experience with this.
BenefitsLink Message Boards

RMD from 401(k) Plan Must Come Pro Rata from Employer Account and Elective Deferrals Account?
Owner-Participant of 401(k) Profit-Sharing plan has to take an RMD. He has 100k in the pooled profit-sharing account and 50k in FBO 401k account. Isn't this ONE retirement plan and RMD can come from either/both accounts?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Hardship Withdrawal OK for Cosmetic Surgery?
Any problem making a hardship distribution for cosmetic, elective surgery? After hearing the facts, we think the participant's need really is more preventive than elective. The participant has submitted the surgeon's estimate of the cost, as proof of the amount needed. Thoughts?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

5500-EZ Switching to 5500-SF; Mark as 'First Return'?
A plan has been filing 5500-EZs for years. We want to change to filing the one-person version (the 5500-SF) for better tracking. Should be check the "first return/report" box on Line B because this is the first filing with EFAST as opposed to filing with the IRS all the previous years?
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Press Releases

Maestro Health Launches an Innovative Health Plan Management Approach
Maestro Health

Budros, Ruhlin & Roe Introduces Retirement Plan Services Team
Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, Inc.

Retirement Plan Services Acquired by EPIC Advisors
EPIC Advisors, Inc.

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