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Retirement Plans Newsletter July 12, 2018 |
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Jobs
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Webcasts, Conferences Advantage of ESOP's
Office of Civil Rights "OCR" is Auditing Now. Next Steps and How to Comply
Guide to the Fundamental Rules of Tax-Free Roth 401(k)s
Is Your Retirement Plan Really Safe? Creditor Protection of Retirement Plan Assets
Plan Corrections: Fixing the Broken Plan Workshop
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Senior Pension Administrator|
[Official Guidance]
"The August 2018 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.25 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for July 2018, these assumptions represent no change in the immediate rate and are otherwise unchanged."
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[Advert.]
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Your Plan Will Face a Cyberattack -- Here's How to Prepare (PDF) "[T]he focus of cyberattacks in the [DC] world has shifted from hardened targets like recordkeepers and custodians to plan sponsors, which often lack the extensive cybersecurity defenses of their vendors.... A cybersecurity framework (CSF) provides guidance for how organizations can assess and improve their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to cyberattacks. There are a variety of frameworks that plan sponsors and recordkeeping vendors can use to manage their risk[.]"
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SEC Prioritizes Data Security and Expects More Mature Cybersecurity Programs "[R]egulators and law enforcement are focused on cybersecurity threats that rely on investment services platforms and resources to target or harm the investing public. For registered investment advisers and broker-dealers, the primary implication of this focus is that the SEC will continue to expect more mature cybersecurity programs that adapt to the changing threat environment and appropriately manage and communicate risks to investors and other market participants[.]"
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Should Participant Behavior Influence Investment Lineup Offerings? "[T]here are, we think, significant reasons for saying 'No': ... [T]here's the difficulty of determining whether participants are moving money from a fund due to underperformance or for other reasons.... [By] engaging participants on their reasons for the actions taken are fiduciaries obligating themselves to provide counter arguments or explanations justifying the decision to continue holding the fund(s)? ... If participants deeply disfavor a particular fund offering, even though the investment guidelines favor it, might there be some obligation to replace it with a similar fund that participants perceive more favorably? If so, is this a weighty enough consideration to balance the negatives noted above?"
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New Actuarial Standard Requires Risk Disclosures in Pension Reports "The intent of this new standard is to require pension actuaries to better educate (and disclose to) employers and pension plan sponsors about the risks facing their plans such as (but not limited to) plan maturity measures.... This alert describes some of the key features of the new standard and our view of the impact on plan sponsors in a question and answer format."
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[Advert.]
New ERISA Regulations for Disability Claims and Appeals
August 13 webinar will explain what new practices to follow, how to change past practices to become compliant with the new regulations, and the risks of non-compliance. Discount for BenefitsLink readers. |
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Brown University Retirement Plan Lawsuit Advances "The workers can move on with their claims related to record-keeping services, including that Brown acted imprudently by using more than one record-keeper, not employing competitive bidding in its selection, and allowing the plans to pay excessive administrative fees ... The workers also can advance their claim that the university breached its fiduciary duties by selecting more expensive funds with poor historical performance, such as the CREF stock account and the TIAA real estate account[.]" [Short v. Brown Univ., No. 17-318 (D.R.I. July 11, 2018)]
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Alight Solutions 401(k) Index(tm): June 2018 Observations "Only one day of above-normal trading activity in June. Continued movement away from equities, with 13 of 21 days favoring fixed income funds. On average, 0.013% of balances were traded daily."
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Why You Should Be Especially Careful with Future Roth Conversions "In the past, you would have been able to 'test' the Roth waters with conversions, with the assurance that you could recharacterize those conversions by the applicable deadline, if you changed you mind.... Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ... any Roth conversion that you perform on January 1, 2018 and after must remain as Roth conversions, and included in your income for the year in which the assets leave your traditional retirement account."
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Participants Should Watch for Late 401(k) Deposits "One thing participants do not review often enough is contribution deposit dates. Reviewing this information not only ensures that your employer is timely depositing your contributions, but also that any late contributions include an extra lost opportunity contribution in accordance with the [DOL] rules."
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[Opinion]
Actuaries Want Plan Sponsors to Provide More Complicated Benefit Statements "[T]he [American Academy of Actuaries] would like to see plan sponsors provide significantly more information to their participants. Needless to say, this additional information would make the hard-copy benefit statement required by law much more complicated to prepare and potentially more confusing to participants."
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Benefits in General |
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Time to 'Tune Up' Your Employee Benefit Service Provider Agreements "[A]reas of potential concern with service provider agreements that may warrant a closer look. [1] Use of employee data ... [2] Indemnification.... [3] Agreement term."
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Executive Compensation |
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CEO Compensation in the Largest U.S. Companies "[T]he long-term incentive (LTI) grant value/opportunity -- that is, not the eventual payout value -- has increased anywhere from approximately 3-8% annually, depending on the year and the industry.... LTI payouts can be two or three times the size of the initial grant value. Couple this with the fact that LTI grants make up more than a majority of the total annual pay opportunity for CEOs, and it is clear that perceived high pay levels are largely due to the long-term incentive pay component."
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Selected Discussions |
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Can a One-Participant Plan (or Just the Trust) Continue After the Death of the Sole Participant? Can a one-participant plan (or just the plan's trust) continue after the death of the sole participant?
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Mid-Year Plan Termination and Failed ADP Test Calendar Year plan terminating mid-year in 2018. Plan Sponsor is hoping to have all participants paid out before 12/31/2018, to avoid a 2019 5500 filing. However, the Plan has failed the ADP Test for the 2018 Plan Year (from 01/01/2018 to date of termination -- business sold). Is it possible to calculate corrective distributions mid-year to avoid the 2019 5500 filing? If so, do I just use the gain/loss to a current date?
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EPCRS for Missed Deferral Opportunity: Eligible for 25% Correction Method? Failure began in 2014 and goes all the way through today. Can the plan sponsor use the 25% correction option for the most recent years? Or, because the failure goes back so far, must 50% be used (to correct for the whole enchilada)?
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Press Releases |
Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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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 2018 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 those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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