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Retirement Plans Newsletter December 4, 2020 |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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[Official Guidance]
"This rule amends the [PBGC]'s regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2021. This table is needed to compute the value of early retirement benefits and, thus, the total value of benefits under a plan.... This rule is effective January 1, 2021." Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] |
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[Guidance Overview]
"The DOL considers escheatment a less desirable option and believes that ERISA preempts state escheatment laws for active retirement plans.... The IRS's guidance addresses how to withhold and report on escheated assets, but it doesn't address whether or when escheatment should be used. Questions also remain on how to treat escheated assets once they're rolled over to an eligible plan." Ascensus |
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"This search tool retrieves publicly available Form 5500 Series or Form PR filings.... Some filings may not be displayed through this website, such as original filings that were amended." Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL] |
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"The plaintiffs alleged that the Boeing defendants breached their ERISA fiduciary duties by concealing problems with the 737 Max, which allegedly caused Boeing's stock price to be artificially inflated and ultimately to decline once the problems with the 737 Max were made public.... [T]he court determined that the investment committee had delegated all fiduciary responsibilities related to the ESOP to an independent fiduciary and that no defendant in the action had fiduciary responsibilities related to the ESOP." [Burke v. The Boeing Co., No. 19-2203 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 12, 2020)] Proskauer |
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"The plaintiffs claimed that from December 2, 2014, the plan 'had at least 410 million dollars in assets under management,' which increased to over $1 billion in 2017 and 2018. The plaintiffs argued that since it is a large plan, it 'had substantial bargaining power regarding the fees and expenses that were charged against participants' investments.' " [Milano v. Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corp., No. 20-17793 (D.N.J. complaint filed Dec. 2, 2020)] Law|Street |
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"June 30, 2019, is the measurement date for three-quarters of the plans in the 2020 study. The 12 months since that date were marked by extreme market volatility amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.... [The authors] estimate that aggregate plan assets rose just slightly from $3.82 trillion as of the most recent fiscal year-ends to $3.84 trillion as of June 30, 2020." Milliman |
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"Based on NEPC's hypothetical open- and frozen-pension plans, the funded status of the total-return plan went up by 2.6%, while the LDI-focused plan saw an increase of 3.8% as long-duration fixed income outperformed on the back of falling credit yields." NEPC |
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20 pages. "The Retirement Section of the Society of Actuaries commissioned a research project on the topic of communicating pension risk, recognizing the challenges in addressing this complicated topic with stakeholders.... The literature search [is] limited to articles addressing risk for U.S. defined benefit plans, and [targets] plan sponsors and their agents as opposed to plan participants, insurers, or regulatory agencies such as the [PBGC]." [Also available: Literature Search Results (XLSX).] Society of Actuaries |
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"The grocers and the UFCW created the UFCW and Employer's Variable Annuity Pension Plan for future benefits ... The UFCW International Union-Industry Pension Fund, Mokena, Ill., had $6.1 billion in assets as of June 30, 2019, and was 53.5% funded, according to the most recent Form 5500, which showed 83,656 participants, mostly active. Kroger and Stop and Shop are listed as the largest annual contributors, at $44.7 million and $23.4 million, respectively, followed by Albertsons at $10.6 million." Pensions & Investments |
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"Delaware is the latest state to tentatively commit to add a best-interest annuity sales standard to its regulation of insurance products. The state is accepting comment until Jan. 5, 2021 ... State officials have taken the NAIC model and tailored the language to their own comfort level on issues such as whether producers must consider other annuity options in the marketplace to satisfy the 'care' obligation." InsuranceNewsNet.com |
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Selected Discussions |
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"If you use one, what type of workflow tracking software do you use to manage your firm's caseload? Pension Pro? Pension Pal? Other software? In-house database/spreadsheet? We are looking to alternatives to what we do now. I've used Pension Pro, and it may be too robust for us. I'm not sure whether there's a scaled-down version, but at the one company I worked for that used it, it seemed a bit complicated with all the task assigning and stuff." BenefitsLink Message Boards |
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Press Releases |
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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Exposing Excessive Fee Litigation Against America’s Defined Contribution Plans (PDF)
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Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020, H.R. 8696
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2020 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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