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[Guidance Overview]
The FTC Red Flags Rule: Impact on Employee Benefit Programs
Excerpt: "Even though the FTC has made it clear that participant plan loan features in individual account balance plans or individual account balances in a retirement plan do not make plan sponsors 'creditors' under the Rule, the Rule does raise a secondary question as to whether the fiduciaries of retirement plans should consider issues related to identity theft in their plan administration." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
IRS Extension of Remedial Amendment Period for Governmental Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "The IRS has modified the staggered determination letter submission system for individually designed governmental plans. In Revenue Procedure 2009-36, the IRS provides that effective August 31, 2009, the remedial amendment cycle for governmental plans will not end until the 91st day after the close of the first legislative session beginning more than 120 days after a determination letter is issued to the plan. In addition, the IRS also formalized its November 2008 guidance that governmental employers may make a one-time election to file for a determination letter under Cycle E rather than Cycle C." (Buck Consultants)


[Guidance Overview]
Retiree's Pension Decision: Lump Sum or Annuity?
Excerpt: "Taking the lump sum will give you considerably more flexibility and control over the timing and amount of distributions than the annuity. This could be a big factor in your decision if you need more income over the next 10 years prior to receiving social security. I would be in favor of the lump sum here. If you take the annuity, you will be counting on your company's (or potentially a company that acquires your company in the future) ability to make those payments to you for the rest of your life and your spouse's life. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp may or may not insure all of your benefits if your company can't meet its obligations." (The Dallas Morning News)


As NYC Pension Fund Under-Performed, Campaign Contributions to Comptroller Grew
Excerpt: "The New York city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., is staking his mayoral campaign on his skills as a financial manager, which he says are exemplified by his supervision of the nation's largest municipal pension system. But a review of how the $80 billion system has performed since he took office shows it has consistently lagged behind many of its public pension peers even as the city tripled the number of money managers it uses and the fees that it pays those firms. Over the last seven years, four of the five city pension funds performed below the median for similar funds around the country. In fact, more than two-thirds of big public pension funds did better than the city's largest fund, the New York City Employees' Retirement System, according to a widely used financial yardstick compiled by Wilshire Associates, an investment advisory firm." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Proposal Would Benefit Laid-Off State Workers on Verge of Retirement in Hawaii
Excerpt: "State employees who had planned to retire in December, but instead received layoff notices informing them of their jobs being cut Nov. 13, could be allowed to retire as planned. The option is being discussed between the state and the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state's largest public-worker union. In a notice to its 40,000 members, the HGEA said the state has offered to make the retirement option available for those who have submitted the paperwork stating their intention to retire at the end of the year. Potential retirees would have to waive their rights to 'bump' less senior members, and they would not be able to change their mind." (starbulletin.com)


Integrating Financial and Life Planning in the Second Half of Life (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "You can't give truly informed financial advice, for example, if you don't know about work plans, residential relocation, changes in family relationships, new plans for travel and leisure, health issues, and even the client's general level of content or discontent with life - all of which may be in flux simultaneously. And those other decisions in turn shouldn't be made without financial analysis. Real lives cannot be compartmentalized, and older clients need guides who command all aspects of this new territory." (Still River Retirement Planning Software, Inc.)


Reviewing Stable Value Funds in Light of Media Scrutiny
Excerpt: "Because the stable value option typically has the largest account balance within the DC plan, participants and plan sponsors are taking notice. Research Note, a new Segal Advisors publication, details the questions that sponsors of DC plans should be asking their investment consultant and service provider regarding the stable value option." (Segal Advisors, Inc.)


The Case for Investing in Bonds During Retirement
Excerpt: "This Issue in Brief highlights the trade-off that households must make between a guaranteed return of capital and a guaranteed return on capital - they cannot have both at the same time. Short-term deposits provide a guaranteed return of capital, but offer no guarantees as to the return the household will receive on its capital. In contrast, a portfolio of Treasury bonds of appropriate maturities provides a guaranteed return on capital, but with the return of capital guaranteed only at maturity. This brief argues that retired households seeking a secure and dependable income should prioritize return on capital over return of capital. For such households, the true risk-free asset is a portfolio of bonds and, in particular, inflation-protected bonds of appropriate maturities." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)


[Opinion]
Is It Time to 'Super-Size' Social Security?
Excerpt: "The more I read about the quality of consumer investment decisions, the more tempting it is to consider automatic retirement funds that require no decisions. Poll after poll shows that consumers don't understand even basic investment and tax rules, and invariably make poor choices. If I was running the U.S. government asylum, I'd want to check off a box that allowed me to 'super size' Social Security. McDonald's could market the program." (U.S. News & World Report)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Stock Option Backdating Likely More Widespread, According to Study
Excerpt: "The majority of companies that improperly backdated stock options never were caught by regulators or confessed to the practice, according to a new academic study. Researchers at the University of Houston's C.T. Bauer College of Business used a sophisticated statistical test to sift through more than 4,000 publicly traded companies for those with patterns of granting options at abnormally favorable times, often at low points for their share prices. The study identified 141 companies with such advantageous options-granting practices that the researchers concluded they were highly likely to have been involved in backdating. Ninety-two of those companies never were publicly linked to investigations or announced earnings restatements related to backdating." (The Wall Street Journal)


House Passes Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009; Update on Other Pending Executive Compensation Legislation (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "With Congress in adjournment until September, it is timely to review the status of pending legislation that would affect executive compensation practices. In addition to the executive compensation legislation passed in February that affects financial institutions receiving TARP financial assistance, many other bills have been introduced in this Congress that, if passed, will significantly change the executive compensation landscape. The House's passage of H.R. 3269 on July 31 reinforces the commonly held view that additional executive compensation legislation is likely before the end of 2009." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)


Pay and Benefits Edge of Michigan Public Employees Disputed
Excerpt: "State employees earning more pay and benefits than their private sector counterparts is folklore, a Michigan State University economist says. A study by Charles Ballard looked at the changes state employees have seen in their level of employment, benefits, work hours and compensation from 2001-08 and concluded state workers earn less money and pay more for benefits than nongovernment employees. The study is at odds with figures cited in House Speaker Andy Dillon's recent proposal to combine state workers' health benefits with those of teachers and municipal workers. A House Fiscal Agency analysis cited by Dillon found state employees contribute less to their health care than those in the private sector." (The Detroit News)

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Webcasts and Conferences

Health Care Reform: What It Means for Employers and Employees. Session Two: What Changes Occurred After the Recess?
Nationwide on September 15, 2009
presented by Buck Consultants, an ACS Company

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

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Press Releases

Hewitt Analysis Shows Average COBRA Enrollments Doubled Since Subsidy Became Available in February 2009
Hewitt Associates LLC

Something's Gotta Give. And For Best Companies, It's Not Employee Benefits
Principal Financial Group

Consumer Driven Health Plans Surpass HMOs in Popularity With Employees
United Benefit Advisors

New York Life Center For Retirement Income At The American College Launches Website
New York Life Insurance Company

USAA Survey Finds Baby Boomers Keeping With Tradition With Few Roth IRA Conversions Planned in 2010
USAA

( Click to post your press release )

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Employee Benefits Jobs

401(k) Client Relationship Manager
for CPS, Inc.
in IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI

Client Relationship Manager - Minneapolis or Iowa
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in IA, MN

Defined Benefit Plan Administrator
for The Senex Group
in CA

Annuities Learning Technical Writer
for Prudential Financial
in CT

Vice President, Learning
for Prudential Financial
in CT

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Handy Links:

• View Today's Active Message Threads
• Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
• Employee Benefits Library

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