If this message looks garbled to you or if the headlines in this message don't connect you to Web pages when you click on them, please request the "plain text" version of this newsletter ("Retirement Plans Edition") by emailing your request to publisher Dave Baker
July 9, 2001
Today's sponsor: SalaryExpert.com (click)
401(k) Accounts Are Losing Money for the First Time
Excerpt: "For the first time in the 20-year history of the popular 401(k) retirement savings plan, the average account lost money last year, even after thousands of dollars of new contributions. And despite some strengthening of stock prices in the last couple of months, recent estimates show, the declines persisted in the first half of this year." (New York Times; free registration required)
What Drives Benefits Managers to Change 401(K) Providers?
Excerpt: "In most cases, it's not plan costs that drive benefits managers to begin the laborious process of changing 401 (k) providers. It's participant services, viewed as falling short in some critical area. Here's the inside story of what inspired three employers to search for a 401(k) provider better suited to their employees' needs." (IOMA's Report on Managing Benefits Plans)
Working Overtime: An Odyssey (PDF)
Excerpt: "Many baby boomers who spent the '60s dropping out and turning on may spend much of their own 60s working, just to pay the bills. So who needs retirement, anyway?" (Contingencies magazine from the American Academy of Actuaries)
Another Question is Answered in the Stop, Look & Listen: Railroad Retirement Q&A Column
I have 15 years of railroad service but left several years ago. I became disabled in November 2000. I'm vested for both Railroad Retirement and Social Security. Do I have to file for both benefits or are they combined? How long do I have to wait until my payments start? (BenefitsLink.com)
Retiree Sues Pension Trustee; After Charges Posted on Web, Trustee Countersues for Libel
Excerpt: "[Disabled carpenter Horacio] Grana had enraged [San Francisco financier Richard] Blum last year by filing a lawsuit accusing the financier and union officials of mismanagement and cronyism in their handling of investments for the Carpenters Pension Trust for Southern California, which pays the retiree's pension. Blum denied the allegations. When Grana repeated them on his Web site, the financier responded with a libel suit asking for $20 million in damages..." (The San Francisco Chronicle)
Prudential's Error Has Costly Consequence for Investor: an IRA Battle
Excerpt: "A few weeks after he moved his money to the IRA, [Paul E.] Teixeira got a phone call from Prudential. It turned out that part of the money he had planned to roll over to the IRA was from so-called 'after-tax contributions.' ... In a follow-up letter in March, Prudential explained ... 'We regret to inform you that, due to a transcription error, the amount you received as an 'after-tax' distribution was overstated'." (The Providence Journal)
Pension Reform: Strengthening the Private Retirement Savings System (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "In our view, the legislation strengthens the private sector retirement savings system and offers important benefits to plan sponsors, participants, service providers, and policymakers." (The Vanguard Center for Retirement Research)
Congressional Measure Would Link 401(k) Investors with Professional Advice
Excerpt: "The Retirement Security Advice Act, recently introduced by U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, would allow employers to provide participants in defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, with access to professional investment advice so long as the advisers fully disclose their fees and any potential conflicts of interest.... Currently, because of potential conflicts of interest, investment firms that manage a 401(k) plan's investment options can't offer investment advice." (Knight Ridder/Tribune)
European Committee Adopts Report on Proposed Private Pensions Directive
Excerpt: "The Commission's proposed directive would cover institutions that operate on a funded basis for the sole purpose of providing retirement benefits (IORPs). The directive would impose certain conditions for the operations of IORPs, investment rules for IORPs, and rules permitting the cross-border management of occupational pension schemes." (Investment Company Institute)
Opinion: How to Privatize Social Security
Excerpt: "State and local pension plan funds, the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees and the Canada Pension Plan all have achieved excellent financial returns while keeping costs low and avoiding political interference in investment decisions. How? First ..." (Alicia Munnell and R. Kent Weaver in the Washington Post)
Social Security as a Financial Asset: Gender-Specific Risks and Returns
Working paper available for $5 from NBER. Excerpt: "This analysis suggests that women would have more to gain, compared with men, from a reformed Social Security system." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
(Following items also appear in Welfare Plans Edition)
Opinion: Finding Fault With AFL-CIO's Numbers on CEO Pay
Excerpt: "The AFL-CIO runs a Web site, Paywatch.org, that sheds light on the huge and growing gap between the pay of chief executives and the pay of workers. Would that the well-meaning site were totally accurate." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Webcasts ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Conferences ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Press Releases
Subscribe to the Welfare Plans Edition, too (click)
Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
You may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole.
Click here to learn how your company can sponsor a future issue!
BenefitsLink is a registered trademark of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., published by Dave Baker with much help from Mary Hall and lots of friends.
We're proud of our privacy policy .
To subscribe (free): visit https://benefitslink.com/newsletter - or the person desiring to subscribe can send an email to BLretirement@add.mb00.net
We have an online archive of prior issues at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletters/
The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Retirement Plans Edition
Retirement Plans Edition
July 9, 2001
Today's sponsor: SalaryExpert.com (click)
SalaryExpert.com is the most comprehensive salary site on the Internet, providing free competitive wage and salary data for 30,000+ jobs in 45,000 U.S./Canadian areas and 207 other countries. SalaryExpert.com's realistically conservative data features licensed benefits advice, U.S. salary source data defensible in court, research from professionals (not dot-com promoters), and buying power comparisons. SalaryExpert.com also offers downloadable handheld device versions of its database. For more information, visit www.SalaryExpert.com .
401(k) Accounts Are Losing Money for the First Time
Excerpt: "For the first time in the 20-year history of the popular 401(k) retirement savings plan, the average account lost money last year, even after thousands of dollars of new contributions. And despite some strengthening of stock prices in the last couple of months, recent estimates show, the declines persisted in the first half of this year." (New York Times; free registration required)
What Drives Benefits Managers to Change 401(K) Providers?
Excerpt: "In most cases, it's not plan costs that drive benefits managers to begin the laborious process of changing 401 (k) providers. It's participant services, viewed as falling short in some critical area. Here's the inside story of what inspired three employers to search for a 401(k) provider better suited to their employees' needs." (IOMA's Report on Managing Benefits Plans)
Working Overtime: An Odyssey (PDF)
Excerpt: "Many baby boomers who spent the '60s dropping out and turning on may spend much of their own 60s working, just to pay the bills. So who needs retirement, anyway?" (Contingencies magazine from the American Academy of Actuaries)
Another Question is Answered in the Stop, Look & Listen: Railroad Retirement Q&A Column
I have 15 years of railroad service but left several years ago. I became disabled in November 2000. I'm vested for both Railroad Retirement and Social Security. Do I have to file for both benefits or are they combined? How long do I have to wait until my payments start? (BenefitsLink.com)
Retiree Sues Pension Trustee; After Charges Posted on Web, Trustee Countersues for Libel
Excerpt: "[Disabled carpenter Horacio] Grana had enraged [San Francisco financier Richard] Blum last year by filing a lawsuit accusing the financier and union officials of mismanagement and cronyism in their handling of investments for the Carpenters Pension Trust for Southern California, which pays the retiree's pension. Blum denied the allegations. When Grana repeated them on his Web site, the financier responded with a libel suit asking for $20 million in damages..." (The San Francisco Chronicle)
Prudential's Error Has Costly Consequence for Investor: an IRA Battle
Excerpt: "A few weeks after he moved his money to the IRA, [Paul E.] Teixeira got a phone call from Prudential. It turned out that part of the money he had planned to roll over to the IRA was from so-called 'after-tax contributions.' ... In a follow-up letter in March, Prudential explained ... 'We regret to inform you that, due to a transcription error, the amount you received as an 'after-tax' distribution was overstated'." (The Providence Journal)
Pension Reform: Strengthening the Private Retirement Savings System (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "In our view, the legislation strengthens the private sector retirement savings system and offers important benefits to plan sponsors, participants, service providers, and policymakers." (The Vanguard Center for Retirement Research)
Congressional Measure Would Link 401(k) Investors with Professional Advice
Excerpt: "The Retirement Security Advice Act, recently introduced by U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, would allow employers to provide participants in defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k)s, with access to professional investment advice so long as the advisers fully disclose their fees and any potential conflicts of interest.... Currently, because of potential conflicts of interest, investment firms that manage a 401(k) plan's investment options can't offer investment advice." (Knight Ridder/Tribune)
European Committee Adopts Report on Proposed Private Pensions Directive
Excerpt: "The Commission's proposed directive would cover institutions that operate on a funded basis for the sole purpose of providing retirement benefits (IORPs). The directive would impose certain conditions for the operations of IORPs, investment rules for IORPs, and rules permitting the cross-border management of occupational pension schemes." (Investment Company Institute)
Opinion: How to Privatize Social Security
Excerpt: "State and local pension plan funds, the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees and the Canada Pension Plan all have achieved excellent financial returns while keeping costs low and avoiding political interference in investment decisions. How? First ..." (Alicia Munnell and R. Kent Weaver in the Washington Post)
Social Security as a Financial Asset: Gender-Specific Risks and Returns
Working paper available for $5 from NBER. Excerpt: "This analysis suggests that women would have more to gain, compared with men, from a reformed Social Security system." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Opinion: Finding Fault With AFL-CIO's Numbers on CEO Pay
Excerpt: "The AFL-CIO runs a Web site, Paywatch.org, that sheds light on the huge and growing gap between the pay of chief executives and the pay of workers. Would that the well-meaning site were totally accurate." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings ( Post Yours! )
for AECOM Technology Corporation
in CA
in CA
for premier claims administrator
in FL
in FL
Newly Posted Webcasts ( Post Yours! )
on August 1, 2001
presented by ASPA
presented by ASPA
on July 31, 2001
presented by Cato Institute
presented by Cato Institute
on July 26, 2001
presented by Human Resource Consultants
presented by Human Resource Consultants
Newly Posted Conferences ( Post Yours! )
in MA
on October 29, 2001
presented by NCEO, WaW, GEO
presented by NCEO, WaW, GEO
in CA
on November 5, 2001
presented by NCEO, WaW, GEO
presented by NCEO, WaW, GEO
Newly Posted Press Releases
LIFE GROUP ADMINISTRATORS MERGES INTO CNA TRUST
(CNA Trust)
Subscribe to the Welfare Plans Edition, too (click)
Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
You may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole.
Click here to learn how your company can sponsor a future issue!
BenefitsLink is a registered trademark of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., published by Dave Baker with much help from Mary Hall and lots of friends.
We're proud of our privacy policy .
To subscribe (free): visit https://benefitslink.com/newsletter - or the person desiring to subscribe can send an email to BLretirement@add.mb00.net
We have an online archive of prior issues at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletters/