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Retirement Plans Newsletter February 11, 2019 |
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Jobs |
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Webcasts, Conferences Pension and Budget Integrity Act / Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Premium Strategy Meeting
Helping Small Business Owners and Their Employees Save for Retirement
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Retirement Plan Actuary|
[Official Guidance]
28 pages; Jan. 24, 2019. "What's New: [1] Compensation limits for 2018 and 2019.... [2] Elective deferral limits for 2018 and 2019.... [3] Defined contribution limits for 2018 and 2019.... [4] Defined benefit limits for 2018 and 2019.... [5] SIMPLE plan salary reduction contribution limit for 2018 and 2019.... [6] Catch-up contribution limits for 2018 and 2019 ... [7] Changes to the hardship distribution rules for section 401(k) plans.... [8] Tax relief for victims of Hurricanes Michael and Florence."
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[Advert.]
DC Investment Lineup, SF 3/28, CHI 4/2, DAL 4/4, NY 4/9
Learn how your peers are helping their participants reach better retirement outcomes. Through a series of panel sessions and tabletop discussions, you'll walk away with new tools and techniques to build a diversified investment lineup. |
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[Official Guidance]
Text of EBSA Proposed Exemption Involving UBS and Affiliates 64 pages. "Certain UBS affiliates are acting as QPAMs pursuant to an individual exemption granted on December 29, 2017, which addresses prior convictions. This proposal uses the term 'Potential 2019 French Judgment Against UBS/UBS France' to describe an adverse judgment issued by a French court regarding case Number 1105592033. The Department is proposing this exemption to protect plans and IRAs that use UBS asset managers, from the costs and expenses that may arise ... The temporary nature of this exemption gives the Department the opportunity to determine whether a longer term exemption is necessary and/or appropriate, including whether additional conditions are warranted."
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[Guidance Overview]
"The proposed regulations incorporate statutory changes under the [PPA] and [MPRA], which require plan sponsors to disregard certain benefit reductions and contribution increases when calculating an employer's withdrawal liability and annual withdrawal liability payments. The proposed regulations also provide simplified methods for calculating withdrawal liability."
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[Guidance Overview]
"The proposed regulation does not have an effective date.... Investment advisers (and professionals holding themselves out as such) are generally deemed to be fiduciaries ... Broker-dealers and representatives are also presumed to be acting as fiduciaries and have the burden of proving they are not.... [M]any broker-dealers ... would likely need to develop bespoke compliance and supervision standards and procedures to be able to comply with the Nevada regulation."
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Maryland Pursues Fiduciary Rule Along with New Jersey, Nevada "Maryland's sweeping consumer protection bill includes language that would define an array of financial professionals as fiduciaries ... The proposal would extend fiduciary responsibilities to broker-dealers, their agents and insurance providers, as well as investment advisors and their reps."
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[Advert.]
DC Investment Lineup, SF 3/28, CHI 4/2, DAL 4/4, NY 4/9
Learn how your peers are helping their participants reach better retirement outcomes. Through a series of panel sessions and tabletop discussions, you'll walk away with new tools and techniques to build a diversified investment lineup. |
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CalPERS Sued to Identify Retirees with Disability "Transparent California, a website listing the pay and pension of state and local government employees, has filed a lawsuit to force CalPERS to identify retiree pensions with a one-word label as 'service' or 'disability.'... The Transparent California suit, in an example of how publicly identifying retirement could help curb fraud, cited a CalPERS news release on a hotline tip that led to the court-ordered recovery of $203,876 from a former state hospital worker in Coalinga."
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Corporate Pensions Experience Great Start to 2019 (PDF) "The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans improved by $19 billion during January ... The funded status deficit narrowed to $148 billion from $167 billion at the end of December 2018, the result of investment gains earned in January.... As of January 31, the funded ratio rose to 91.0%, up from 89.7% at the end of December."
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Global DC Pension Assets Exceed DB Assets for the First Time "[DC] assets are on the rise and now exceed DB assets in the seven largest pension markets, for the first time. Global pension fund assets are down 3.3% in the past year, but are close to double their size of ten years ago.... Equities allocations in the largest seven markets have decreased by 20 percentage points in aggregate during the past 20 years (60% to 40%), which funded the corresponding increased allocation to alternative assets in the same period."
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Retirement Preparedness and Financial Literacy in Singapore: How Do the Self-Employed Compare? (PDF) 35 pages. "This paper examines how the self-employed in Singapore compare to regular employees as well as the unemployed in terms of retirement preparedness, retirement saving, and portfolio diversification. [The authors] also investigate the extent to which differences in financial literacy can account for the different behaviors across types of workers."
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[Opinion]
Open MEPs Will Be a Retirement Plan Market Disruptor "Each employer may use its own adviser, but will the MEP offer one adviser? Likewise, will it use just one TPA or no TPA at all? If a broker/dealer or adviser decides to sponsor an MEP, who will it use for recordkeeping and TPA services or as an investment provider or adviser?"
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[Opinion]
ARA Makes Recommendations to PBGC on Coverage Determination Form "The ARA suggests that the PBGC: [1] espouse additional flexibility to allow prospective coverage determinations before a plan is fully established, and that can be requested at the option of the plan sponsor filing for the coverage determination; [and] [2] issue a periodic report summarizing their findings on coverage determinations[.]"
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Benefits in General |
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Court Overturns Arizona Law Which Prohibited Municipal Employee Benefits Ordinances "The ruling reinstates a portion of a 2006 law that permits Arizona municipalities to pass local ordinances requiring employers to provide employment benefits more favorable than those provided under statewide laws. However, federal law, such as [ERISA], still imposes limits on how much these local ordinances may compel employers to do." [Meyer v. Arizona, No. 18-0031 (Ariz. Ct. App. Feb. 5, 2019)]
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Selected Discussions |
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Overpayment: Terminated Participant Gets 100% of Account Event Though Not Fully Vested Participant leaves the company and requests distribution of plan balance. Broker processes a payout without consulting TPA. With plan sponsor consent the participant is paid out 100%. Problem is the participant wasn't 100% vested. Any experience getting funds returned so proper amount can be withheld?
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Proposed Regs on Hardship Withdrawals: Still Just Proposed? Any word yet on proposed changes to hardship withdrawals? Is anything final?
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Press Releases |
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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Identity Theft: The Rising Threat to Retirement, and How TPAs Can Make a Difference
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Arbitrability of ERISA Fiduciary Breach Cases
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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 2019 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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