ASPPA

Retirement Plan Administrator
Actuarial Consultants, Inc.
in CA

Mid Level Paralegal - Global Equity Services
Baker & McKenzie LLP
in CA

Retirement Service Account Manger
NFP Lincoln Benefits Group
in PA

Advisor Relations Consultant
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

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Form 5500 Event
May 13, 2014 in PA
(PEBA [Penjerdel Employee Benefits and Compensation Association])

Daily Valuation Top 10 Tips
May 20, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASC)

401(k) Plan Workshop 2014 - New York
May 28, 2014 in NY
(SunGard Relius)

PPA Pre-Approved Plans Workshop - Corbel and PPD Documents - Kansas City
May 28, 2014 in KS
(SunGard Relius)

ACA Reporting Requirements Under IRC 6055 & 6056
June 17, 2014 WEBCAST
(FutureOffice Network)

Benefits Communication Master Class #4 -- Data Drives Decisions: Segmenting and Targeting Benefits Communication
June 26, 2014 WEBCAST
(Benz Communications)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Reasons to Wait Until You Retire to Make a Roth Conversion
"[Y]ou can contribute to an IRA, 401(k) or other retirement plan while you are working in a high-income-tax-state, possibly getting a deduction (check your state rules) and allow that money to grow tax-deferred until you retire. Then, when it's time to take the money out -- or make a Roth IRA conversion -- you can be in a low or no tax state and minimize your tax liability. This can be such a big deal that [some people move] to a state just so they wouldn't have to pay income taxes on large Roth IRA conversions." (The Slott Report)

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Free Webcast May 20th: Daily Valuation Top 10 Tips

The tips you need to make daily processing easier, faster and more efficient! The webcast is geared towards ASC clients, although everyone is welcome. Click here to register today!

Auto Enrollment: Two Sides to Every Coin
"The two most common failures for auto enrollment plans are: [1] failure to notify employees of the plan provision, and [2] failure to enact the auto enrollment and withhold deferrals on a timely basis, or at all. These failures nearly always result from bad data -- incorrect date of hire on a payroll file, for example, a miscoded rehire, or a keying error when entering deferral changes into a payroll system. The possibilities are numerous and the corrections can be costly." (Milliman)

SEC Charges Utah-Based Retirement Plan Administrator With Defrauding Investors
"The SEC alleges that American Pension Services Inc. (APS) and its founder, president and CEO Curtis L. DeYoung squandered more than $22 million of investor funds on high-risk investments. DeYoung hid the losses by issuing inflated account statements, allowing him to continue collecting fees and further victimizing his customers.... According to the SEC's complaint unsealed yesterday in federal court in Salt Lake City, DeYoung's scheme dates back to at least 2005 and targeted customers with retirement accounts holding non-traditional assets typically not available through traditional 401(k) retirement plans or other IRA custodians." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

Corporate Pension Funding Status Rises to Highest Level Since 2007
"The average funding ratio for the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit plans jumped to 93.5% in 2013 -- more than 10 percentage points higher than the previous two years and the highest since 2007 ... The aggregate funding deficit of the largest 100 plans shrank to $122.3 billion in 2013, from a deficit of $301.6 billion in 2012.... In an environment of higher interest rates, lower plan liabilities and higher equity returns, 97 plans increased their funded status in 2013, while 24 plans had a funding surplus, four more than in the previous year." (Pensions & Investments)

DOL Proposes Required Retirement Income Projections (PDF)
"One notice or disclosure will not change the entire outlook of plan participants ... However, a retirement income forecast could be useful to participants if it is coupled with additional information and an easily understood call to action.... Once participants are moved to act, plan sponsors and service providers need to be ready to answer these questions: [1] What tools are available for me to further investigate my retirement readiness? [2] How much of an annual increase in contributions is needed to reach my objectives? [3] How else can I close the gap between my retirement target and the current state of my savings? [4] How much do I really need in retirement? [5] Are my goals realistic and appropriate? [6] Can I retire now? If not now, when?" (Ekon Benefits via Plan Consultant)

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New York Teachers' Pension Plan Discloses Double Digit PE Gains But Won't Reveal Details
"The New York State Teachers' Retirement System will tell you that its private equity portfolio has generated a net IRR of 11.1 percent through the end of June 2013. But don't ask for the details. The pension fund believes that the returns of individual funds are trade secrets ... [T]he pension fund draws the line at providing basic information such as the name of each limited partnership, the amount committed and the amount drawn down." (Thomson Reuters)

Estimating Changes in Retirement Expenditures and the Retirement Spending Smile
"David Blanchett of Morningstar ... finds in reality, real retiree spending decreases slowly in the early years, more rapidly in the middle years, and then less slowly in the final years, in a path that looks less like a slow and steady decline and more like a 'retirement spending smile' instead.... The implications of this research are not only that financial planners should be more cognizant to assume some level of real spending decreases throughout retirement ... but also that the traditional research may be somewhat overestimating the amount of funds needed to retire in the first place, as a lower average spending level across all the retirement years means it simply may not take quite as much to retire as is typically assumed or modeled in a typical financial plan!" (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)

More Changes Ahead for North Carolina Retirement System
"The Investment Fiduciary Governance Commission, a special review panel convened by [North Carolina Treasurer Janet] Cowell, recommended April 24 that the state create a board of trustees, the structure public pension funds in all but a few states use. And once implemented, the switch will give Ms. Cowell more time to devote to investment decisions and her priority of increasing allocations to alternatives. But that promises a whole new controversy, following a forensic investigation conducted on behalf of the State Employees Association of North Carolina questioning the fees and level of disclosure provided by alternative money managers." (Pensions & Investments)

The Retirement Readiness of Three Unique Generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials (PDF)
61 pages. Excerpt: "Sixty-five percent of Baby Boomer workers plan to continue working past age 65 or do not plan to retire. The majority of Generation X (54 percent) also plan to do so. In contrast, most Millennials (60 percent) plan to retire at 65 or sooner.... Most workers also plan to continue working after they retire, including 40 percent who plan to work part-time and 12 percent full-time. Only 27 percent of workers do not plan to work after they retire, and 21 percent are not sure. Again, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials share similar expectations.... Baby Boomers and Generation X (both 62 percent) plan to work for reasons related income or benefits, far more so than Millennials (49 percent). Interestingly, many Millennials (47 percent) plan to work in retirement for enjoyment." (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)

Pension Annuitization Attractiveness Remains Solid
"As of April 1, 2014 the [ Dietrich Pension Risk Transfer Index ] reached 95.55; increasing slightly over last month. Modest gains in the annuity discount rate proxy (3.17%) and plan funding levels have helped turn the Index around. On average, the (monthly) cost to transfer pension risk off the corporate balance sheet has been steady this year. However, ... there is much volatility that doesn't register on a monthly metric." (Dietrich & Associates)

A Better Methodology for Monitoring Target Date Funds (PDF)
"[P]lan fiduciaries need a better methodology to analyze and monitor their plan's TDFs.... Bypassing the 'to' versus 'through' classifications, we can more accurately evaluate a TDF by using a comparable peer group. For example, if a fiduciary prefers a TDF with a preservation of capital philosophy and a moderate glide path, [this] methodology provides the ability to compare various TDFs with similar glide paths -- regardless of whether the TDF is classified as 'to' or 'through' retirement. Once TDFs are grouped this way, plan fiduciaries obtain a more meaningful analysis of performance, based on traditional metrics such as total return, relative return, expense ratio, risk and risk adjusted returns." (Cammack Retirement Group)

Plan Sponsors in Hospitality and Leisure Businesses May Face Biggest Challenges to Retirement Plan Participation
"Workers in financial services and information industries have the highest retirement savings rates, at 70% and above. Only 37% of leisure and hospitality employees save -- just slightly below construction, with 45% of employees participating in a workplace retirement plan.... The leisure and hospitality industry -- hotels, restaurants, recreation firms and parks -- has a higher number of younger workers, with an average age of 34, much younger than the national average[.]" (PLANSPONSOR)

The Effects of Health Care Reform on Retirement Plans
"Some employers who have already established the overall amount they wish to contribute for employee benefits may react to this new requirement by cutting back on their 401(k) matching contributions, which could result in less incentive for employees to make 401(k) plan contributions.... [This] could ultimately result in problems with discrimination testing for employers.... Health care reform could have the inadvertent effect of discouraging employers from establishing or maintaining 401(k) plans, since any reduction in [W-2] Box 1 salary due to employee 401(k) plan contributions could make it more likely that the employer's group health plan does not pass the affordability test for that employee." (Practical Law Company)

BLS Employment Cost Index, March 2014
"Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending March 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.3 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of compensation) increased 0.4 percent.... Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.7 percent over the year.... In March 2013, the increase in the cost of benefits was 2.0 percent. Employer costs for health benefits increased 2.4 percent over the year. In March 2013 the increase was 3.0 percent." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

'Substantial Risk of Forfeiture' Clarification Impacts Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employer Noncompete Arrangements
"Until the IRS issues final regulations under Code Section 457(f), a non-compete, particularly if it is combined with this type of part-time consulting arrangement, could still be a valid tax-deferral mechanism. One caveat is that in order for a non-compete to impose a substantial risk of forfeiture that defers taxation, the facts and circumstances must show that (i) given the employee's age and employment opportunities, the non-compete imposes a legitimate burden, and (ii) the employer intends to enforce the non-compete." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)

2014 Say on Pay Voting Results
"As of April 25, 2014: 489 companies held Say on Pay votes in 2014. 6 companies have failed with an average 57% 'Against' vote. 75% of companies have received a greater than 90% 'For' vote. Average vote among all companies: 91.6% 'For' vote, 6.7% 'Against' vote, 1.7% Abstain." (Steven Hall & Partners)

Employee Benefits Expert Kristi Cook, J.D., Teams with Trust Builders, Inc. Trust Builders, Inc.

Powerful Custom Glide Path Technology Combats Participant Inertia and Common Investing Pitfalls in Retirement Plans Transamerica Retirement Solutions

Retirement Plan Clients Give The Principal Thumbs-Up Principal Financial Group

Keightley & Ashner Attorneys Named to 2014 Washington, DC, Super Lawyers List Keightley & Ashner LLP

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