SunGard's Relius Education

Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in OK

ESOP Administrator
Blue Ridge ESOP Associates
in ANY STATE

Pension Consultant/Administrator
Third Party Administrators, Inc.
in NH

Document Support Specialist
ftwilliam.com [Wolters Kluwer Law & Business]
in ANY STATE

Director of Compliance
ERISA Pros
in GA

Senior Defined Benefit Data Analyst
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in MA

Defined Benefit Calculation Developer
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in MA

VP Retirement Planning Services
Benefit Sources & Solutions Chadler
in NJ

Relationship Manager
New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in ANY STATE

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Faster, Easier, Better Value: It's Not too Late to Switch to a Better Document System for PPA
August 14, 2014 WEBCAST
(ASC Institute)

Solving the Benefits Time/Cost Crunch of Managing Employee Benefits
August 19, 2014 in NJ
(Corporate Synergies)

ERISA Basics National Institute
October 16, 2014 in IL
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

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Pension Funding Smoothed for Another Five Years
"The 2014 Act extends the time when the 25-year averaging will apply. In addition, the phase-in of the expanded corridor has been delayed until after 2017.... The new rules apply to the 2013 plan year, but a plan sponsor can elect to have the extension apply beginning with the 2014 plan year. If a plan sponsor imposed benefit restrictions in the 2013 year based on the expiration of MAP-21, it may be necessary to elect that the extension apply starting with 2014." (McGuireWoods LLP)

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Fidelity Settles Lawsuit with Own Employees Over 401(k) ERISA Allegations
"[The] settlement agreement provides for $12 million to be paid to the class and for .. affirmative relief [including]: [1] The Plan will make available a wide selection of both Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual funds.... [2] Fidelity is increasing auto-enrollment for eligible employees from 3% to 7% of eligible compensation, and will default current participants who are currently deferring below 7% to 7% of eligible compensation. Fidelity will apply its match to those increased contributions. [3] The Plan shall provide that revenue sharing attributable to non-Fidelity mutual funds shall be credited to participants in the same way as revenue attributable to Fidelity mutual funds and collective trusts pursuant to the 8th amendment to the 2005 restatement of the Plan is credited to participants." (The Lowenbaum Partnership and FRA PlanTools)

SEC Charges State of Kansas with Fraudulently Understating Municipal Bond Exposure to Unfunded Pension Liability
"According to the SEC's cease-and-desist order ... the state's offering documents failed to disclose that the state's pension system was significantly underfunded, and the unfunded pension liability created a repayment risk for investors in those bonds.... According to one study at the time, the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) was the second-most underfunded statewide public pension system in the nation. In the offering documents for the bonds, however, Kansas did not disclose the existence of the significant unfunded liability in KPERS." (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC])

Fourth Circuit Decision Could Spell More Uncertainty for Retirement Plan Fiduciaries
"[T]he 4th Circuit requires not just an objective determination of whether a prudent fiduciary might have also made this decision, but a determination that in light of all circumstances known to the plan fiduciaries, the decision is one that more prudent fiduciaries than not would also make.... The decision is also notable because it is a 'reverse stock drop' case in which the decision to remove a stock fund from a plan was alleged to be imprudent when the stock price subsequently surged. At its worst, the decision in [ Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee ] ... has the potential to push plan sponsors and fiduciaries toward a Catch-22 position when it comes to taking action on retaining or eliminating company stock funds." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)

Structuring Credit Facilities for Defined Contribution Plan Funds (PDF)
"While alternative investments (real estate, private equity and hedge funds) are typically illiquid, the higher rates of return offered by such investments may offset the risks to DC plans and fiduciaries caused by such illiquidity, particularly when a credit facility can mitigate much of the illiquidity concerns. This Legal Update provides background on a number of issues for DC Fund sponsors and for lenders in connection with a credit facility to a DC Fund. It also proposes structural solutions for certain of those issues." (Mayer Brown)

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One-Third of Americans Have Never Increased Their Retirement Plan Contribution Rate
"An additional 26 percent of workers have not increased their contribution in more than one year. Considering that 44 percent of American employees save 10 percent or less of their annual income each year, these findings indicate that many employees have the opportunity to improve their retirement readiness by increasing their plan contributions regularly." (TIAA-CREF)

Brokers Lure Soldiers Out of Low-Fee Federal Retirement Plan
"Workers who leave jobs with the federal government transferred $10 billion last year out of the Thrift Savings Plan. Forty-five percent of participants who left federal service in 2012 removed all of their funds from the plan and closed their accounts by the end of 2013.... 'Swayed by the financial industry's marketing efforts,' Thrift Savings Plan members in recent years 'have become an even more popular target' for companies luring them into higher-cost IRAs, Gregory Long, the plan's executive director, wrote[.]" (Bloomberg)

Five Ways to Improve a Retirement Investor's Goal-Oriented Target
"Increase your annual contribution.... Lower your projected retirement income.... Work longer (full-time at the same company).... Work longer (part-time).... Some combination of all of the above.... The most important thing to remember is time heals all wounds." (Fiduciary News)

Pension Finance Update as of July 31, 2014 (PDF)
"Pension sponsors lost a bit of ground in July due to declines in stock prices near month-end. Our traditional 'Plan A' 1 lost more than 1% last month, while the more conservative 'Plan B' was down less than 1%. For the year through July, both plans are underwater -- 'Plan A' is down 5% and 'Plan B' is down 2%." (October Three Consulting)

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IRS Phone Forum: Defined Benefit Plan Terminations, August 14 at 2 pm

Learn about issues related to terminating a defined benefit retirement plan. We'll discuss how the IRS defines the date of termination, final funding requirements, PBGC issues, reversions, and what is needed in a notice of intent to terminate the plan.

Plan Sponsors Must Require More from Managed Account Providers
"More needs to be known about managed account services for retirement plan participants and the role employer plan sponsors play in offering them ... Because these services differ from investment options provided within 401(k) plans, yet can serve as a qualified default investment alternative, little is understood about whether they are advantageous for the minority of participants who select them." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

In-Plan Retirement Income Solutions: Landscape Overview and Obstacles to Adoption (PDF)
8 pages. "[T]here may be a fiduciary risk to offering guaranteed income products ... [as] the regulatory guidance for selecting and monitoring these products is unclear.... [M]ost recordkeeping platforms are unable to accommodate these guaranteed income products at this time. For these reasons, as well as the low participant utilization, lack of portability, high participant cost and increased administrative complexity of these solutions, [the authors suggest] that plan sponsors wait for regulatory clarity and guidance to emerge and for the market to evolve before adding an in-plan retirement income solution to their plan lineups." (Portfolio Evaluations, Inc.)

Transparency in Defined Benefit Plan Investing
"[L]ack of information impairs a plan's fiduciary's ability to protect the interests of the plan and exposes the plan fiduciary to personal liability. This applies from the initial analysis in the decision to invest through the period the plan holds the investment.... Rejection of investments based on transparency concerns is becoming quite common. Many institutional investors now realize they have the 'power of the purse' and will walk way from an investment if reasonable terms cannot be negotiated." (Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC)

Liability-Driven Investment: From Theory to Practice
"[K]ey requirements for success: [1] Strong, coordinated partnership among the plan sponsor, its actuaries and other advisors ... [2] The proper models, metrics and dedicated resources ... [3] Highly skilled asset managers ... [4] A manager with the deep, multi-sector fixed income expertise required for a precise, holistic hedging and monitoring strategy ... [5] An LDI completion manager or consultant responsible for the finely-tuned orchestration of the framework's many moving parts[.]" (J.P. Morgan Asset Management)

Rethinking ERISA's Promise of Income Security in a World of 401(k) Plans
"This article discusses the evolution of retirement income funds from defined benefit packages to 401(k) and IRA accounts and how the changing dynamic has reshaped the way retirees think about post-retirement income.... [The author] presents questions about the ability of retirees to successfully address the complex issues relating to investment choices including, what entity they entrust their savings to, the volume and source of distributions, and long-term sufficiency planning." (Lawrence A. Frolik, University of Pittsburgh School of Law)

Investment Committees Through the Diversity Lens
"Diversity was defined more by professional experience and background than by racial/ethnic diversity. By that measure, more than 60% of committee members considered themselves to be very/extremely diverse.... 40% of respondents felt that having diversity in an investment committee was 'not at all' or 'not very important.' 72% of the respondents indicated that having a formal diversity policy was either 'not at all important' or 'not very important.'" (Vanguard)

Employee Benefits 'Crisis' Management: Uncertainty and the Workplace (PDF)
16 pages. "Whether it's the looming retirement crisis some see (or see for some) on the horizon, the crippling impact of college debt on the finances (and future financial security) of younger Americans, or the health care crisis that the [ACA] was designed to forestall (or that some say is destined to create), those at nearly every point of the political spectrum are challenged with the urgency of the need to address the 'crisis.' But do current circumstances actually constitute a 'crisis'?" (Employee Benefit Research Institute [EBRI])

Performance-Based Long-Term Incentive Compensation: The Devil in the Details
"45% of executive long-term incentive (LTI) compensation was delivered through performance plans last year, up from 38% in 2011. 32% was delivered through options, down from 37% in 2011. 23% came in the form of restricted stock, down from 25% in 2011. Despite the growing popularity of performance share/unit plans, these arrangements have a number of accounting nuances that could present surprises." (Towers Watson)

Use of Performance Awards for CEOs Continues to Rise
"Mercer's latest analysis of compensation and benefits for CEOs at 240 companies in the S&P 500 reveals CEOs earned a median total compensation package of $9,656,000 with approximately two-thirds of the value coming from long-term incentive grants. Pay in the form of long-term incentives climbed to a median $6,457,000, a median year-over-year change of 4%." (Mercer)

Stat Doctors Mobile App Marks Next Generation in eHealth Delivery Stat Health Services Inc.

Jon Prescott Joins Envisage Information Systems Envisage Information Systems

BNY Mellon Names Michael Gordon to Head New Retirement and Strategic Solutions Group BNY Mellon

Greg Scott Named National Sector Leader of Deloitte?s Health Plans Practice Deloitte

Collective Health Introduces a New Model for Employer Health Insurance Collective Health

Findley Davies Provides Unbiased Evaluation Of Private Exchanges Findley Davies, Inc.

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