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[Official Guidance]
Information About 2010 Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment: SSA Resources
Excerpt: "With consumer prices down over the past year, monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits will not automatically increase in 2010. The following resources provide more information: . . . ." (Social Security Administration)


[Official Guidance]
Flat-Rate PBGC Premium for Plan Year 2010 Rises to $35 for Single-Employer Plans; Unchanged at $9 for Multiemployer Plans
Excerpt: "Flat-Rate Premium Increase for Plan Year 2010: The per-participant flat-rate premium for plan year 2010 is $35.00 for single-employer plans (up from $34.00 for plan year 2009) and $9.00 for multiemployer plans (unchanged from plan year 2009). By law, the premium rates are adjusted for inflation each year based on changes in the national average wage index." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


[Official Guidance]
Chart of IRS Retirement Plan Limits 2003 - 2010
Excerpt: "We have also produced a white paper that discusses the methodology that the Service uses to determine the limitations. This white paper includes the unrounded limitations." (Internal Revenue Service)


[Official Guidance]
PBGC Interest Assumptions for Valuing and Paying Benefits from Terminating Single-Employer Plans Having November 2009 Valuation Dates (PDF)
2 pages. (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


[Official Guidance]
Typeset Federal Register Version of Final IRS Regs on Measurement of Assets and Liabilities for Pension Funding Purposes; Benefit Restrictions for Underfunded Pension Plans (PDF)
82 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)


[Official Guidance]
IRS Announces Pension Plan Limitations for 2010; Almost All Remain Unchanged
Excerpt: "Effective January 1, 2010, the limitation on the annual benefit under a defined benefit plan under Section 415(b)(1)(A) remains unchanged at $195,000. . . . The limitation for defined contribution plans under Section 415(c)(1)(A) remains unchanged for 2010 at $49,000. . . . The limitation under Section 402(g)(1) on the exclusion for elective deferrals described in Section 402(g)(3) remains unchanged at $16,500. The annual compensation limit under Sections 401(a)(17), 404(l), 408(k)(3)(C), and 408(k)(6)(D)(ii) remains unchanged at $245,000." (Internal Revenue Service)


[Guidance Overview]
Reporting 12b-1 Fees: New Reporting Requirement for Indirect Fees Paid by a Mutual Fund to a Broker-Dealer
Excerpt: "Beginning this year, covered plans will need to report certain information about 'indirect' payments, which include 12b-1 fees. (Indirect payments are those which are made by anyone other than the plan or the plan sponsor. Since 12b-1 fees are paid from a mutual fund to a broker-dealer, they are 'indirect.') Indirect fees are divided into two subcategories." (Reish & Reicher)


[Guidance Overview]
Should You Become an Investment Manager within the Meaning of ERISA?
Excerpt: "[I]ncreasing numbers of sophisticated plan sponsors are asking their advisors to serve as an ERISA 3(38) investment manager and/or conducting searches for those who do. Significant opportunities are emerging for advisors that are equipped to serve in this capacity, but it is a decision that must be carefully evaluated and prudently implemented." (Reish & Reicher)


[Guidance Overview]
Benchmarking of 401(k) Investments and Service-Providers by Employers: Part of a Prudent Process
Excerpt: "When evaluating the relevant data, the fiduciaries should compare it to comparable information from the marketplace. In other words, fiduciaries have to 'benchmark' the investments and services in order to evaluate their quality, cost, effectiveness and other attributes. This requirement applies to all fiduciary decisions . . . ." (Reish & Reicher)


[Guidance Overview]
A Technique for Dealing with Temporary Suspension of the Required Minimum Distribution Rules
Excerpt: "Below is our simplest advice for plan sponsors who did not suspend RMDs during 2009." (Chang Rutherford & Long)


[Guidance Overview]
Social Security Benefits Will Not Increase in 2010; Taxable Wage Base Stays the Same (PDF)
Excerpt: "For Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI), the payroll tax rate in 2010 remains at 6.20% on wages up to the Social Security taxable wage base. For 2010, the Social Security taxable wage base will be $106,800 (identical to 2009)." (Buck Consultants)


[Guidance Overview]
Chart of 415, Etc., Limits Updated for News Release IR-2009-94
The chart of maximum limits subject to inflation indexing at Carol V. Calhoun's employee benefits site has now been amended to include the newly announced 2010 limits. Among other things, the chart shows limits under sections 415, 403(b), 401(k), and 457, as well as the Social Security wage base and Social Security and Medicare tax rates, for 1996-2010. (Calhoun Law Group, P.C.)


Investor Attitudes in the Wake of the 2008-2009 Market Decline
Excerpt: "A survey conducted by Vanguard Center for Retirement Research in May-June 2009 examines investor attitudes toward equity investing following the market turmoil of 2008-2009. Although the study found that expectations for investment returns were relatively modest and worry about market risks remained high, it also found an ongoing commitment to holding equities for retirement and other long-term goals." (Vanguard Institutional)


401(k) Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity During 2008 (PDF)
63 pages. Excerpt: "After rising in 2003 and for the next four consecutive years, the average 401(k) retirement account fell 24.3 percent in 2008. The average 401(k) account balance moved up and down with stock market performance, but over the entire five-year time period increased at an average annual growth rate of 7.2 percent, attaining $86,513 at year-end 2008. The median 401(k) account balance increased at an average annual growth rate of 11.4 percent over the 2003-2008 period to $43,700 at year-end 2008." (Investment Company Institute)


Most California Voters Back Proposed Public Pension Changes to Reduce Benefit Costs
Excerpt: "Californians favor changing the pension system for newly hired state and local government employees, and most back three possible scenarios that could reduce benefits, a new poll finds." (The Press-Enterprise)


Deciding Whether a Roth Conversion Is Right
Excerpt: "Especially if you want to leave retirement assets to family or friends, a Roth conversion is one of the simplest, best planning tools available. You avoid the requirement to take yearly minimum distributions starting at age 70-1/2, and that can leave more for beneficiaries if you don't use the money yourself. And subject to certain restrictions, no tax is assessed when the money is withdrawn, so income can compound tax-free. But this technique has a hefty price tag." (New York Times; free registration required)


[Opinion]
TIME Magazine's 401(k) Plan Cover Story: Bad Facts, Bad Story
Excerpt: "[T]his article is emblematic of the uneven, at times unfair, coverage of 401(k)s during the market decline." (Vanguard Blog)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
ERISA Section 510: The Setting Is Ripe For Claims
Excerpt: "With layoffs continuing into the second half of the year, the setting is ripe for an increase in claims by employees who believe their discharge was motivated by their employers' desire to reduce or avoid benefit plan expenses. And section 510 claims are not necessarily made in a vacuum. They can come as part of a general wrongful discharge claim, age discrimination claim, or a whistleblower action where the employee also alleges the employer attempted to interfere with ERISA-protected rights." (Chang Rutherford & Long)

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Webcasts and Conferences

149th Meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans
in District of Columbia on November 3, 2009
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Annual Plan Administration Webinar
Nationwide on November 3, 2009
presented by Actuarial Consultants, Inc.

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Webinar
Nationwide on November 11, 2009
presented by Actuarial Consultants, Inc.

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

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Press Releases

IRS Announces Pension Plan Limitations for 2010
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Workers Worry More about Financial Security Than Health Insurance
Prudential Financial, Inc.

Suemori & Inouye, Inc. Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX)

Premier Consulting Associates Contracts with Benefit Informatics to Offer New Health Plan Analysis and Reporting Solutions to Clients
Benefit Informatics

( Click to post your press release )

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Employee Benefits Jobs

Senior Retirement Consultant/Relationship Manager
for Cammack LaRhette Consulting
in MA, NY

Pensions Specialist
for Nationwide
in OH

Manager, Qualified Plans
for Travelport
in ANY STATE, GA

( Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs )

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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)

(Click on banner to learn more.)

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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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