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Text of PBGC Interest Rate Update for Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans, April and Second Quarter 2018
"The second quarter 2018 interest assumptions under the allocation regulation will be 2.27 percent for the first 20 years following the valuation date and 2.59 percent thereafter. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for the first quarter of 2018, this represents no change in the select period ..., a decrease of 0.12 percent in the select rate, and a decrease of 0.01 percent in the ultimate rate (the final rate). The April 2018 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.00 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for March 2018, these interest assumptions represent a 0.25 percent increase in the immediate rate and no changes in i1, i2, or i3."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

P&I 401k/403b Investment Lineup: San Fran, Chicago, Dallas, NY

San Fran 4/10 | Chicago 4/12 | Dallas 5/1 | NY 5/3 ? Register to learn about the crucial issues and options plan sponsors must consider to help their participants achieve their retirement savings and income goals.

IRS Intends to Issue Opinion and Advisory Letters for Pre-Approved Defined Benefit Plans for the Second Six-Year Remedial Amendment Cycle
"[ Ann. 2018-05 ] extends the end of the pre-approved defined benefit plan's remedial amendment cycle with respect to changes included in the 2012 Cumulative List from January 31, 2019 (as provided in Rev. Proc. 2016-37 ) to April 30, 2020.... An adopting employer of an M&P or VS plan may apply for an individual determination letter (if eligible) during the period beginning May 1, 2018, and ending April 30, 2020."
Thomson Reuters Practical Law

Tenth Circuit Opinion: BICE Applies to Fixed Indexed Annuity Sales (PDF)
"The DOL considered both sides of this issue and ultimately decided to treat FIAs differently than fixed rate annuities because of their risk, complexity, and conflicts of interests. It did so with evidentiary support in the record. It is not this court's role to 'displace the [agency's] choice between two fairly conflicting views.' " [Market Synergy Group, Inc. v. DOL, No. 17-3038 (10th Cir. Mar. 13, 2018)]
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

Made to Measure: Evaluating the Impact of a Retirement Managed Account (PDF)
16 pages. "Many defined contribution plans today offer a managed account option. Yet there is no standard method for valuing these accounts that considers the full range of potential product features and their financial impact.... [This whitepaper presents] a method for valuing managed accounts ... [and] delineate[s] the menu of features that may be offered through a managed account investment option in a defined contribution plan."
Great-West Financial and Empower Retirement

Litigation Against 403(b) Plan Fiduciaries (PDF)
"The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of 403(b) plans, discuss when such plans are subject to ERISA, review the key allegations raised in ERISA breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, and discuss the status of these cases."
Groom Law Group, via The Investment Lawyer

Check out our 2018 Webinar Schedule

Check out our webinars featuring Sarah Simoneaux and Brian Furgala! Topics will include ERISA updates, dealing with difficult customers, evaluating control groups, an overview of most asked technical questions to TAG, and more to come. Register here.

NAIC to Huddle on Contentious Best Interest Model Law
"The Annuity Suitability Working Group will discuss their next steps after a recent comment period on the regulation. Critics from both sides have panned the attempt to deliver a best-interest standard.... NAIC model laws must then be adopted by a state before they are applicable. Several states, however, are not waiting. New York, Nevada, New Jersey and Connecticut are a few states where the fiduciary, best-interest standard is winning votes."
InsuranceNewsNet.com

The Mobile Workforce's Missing Participant Problem (PDF)
13 presentation slides. "Key Findings: [1] 11% of all terminated account records had a stale address ('missing'); [2] 1 out of every 5 job changer relocations results in a missing participant; [3] The probability of locating a missing participant with an active participant address record is 67%; [4] 9% of participants would not verify their address if asked by a former employer; [5] One third of participants learned of a retirement account with a previous employer they did not realize they had; [6] 60% of participants preferred an automated process to update address or consolidate accounts."
Retirement Clearinghouse

IRS Digs in on New VCP Fee Structure
"While the IRS said it will 'certainly consider' the comments and recommendations regarding the impact of the new user fees on small businesses,' after a brief explanation as to the biennial process for reviewing user fees, and noting that those fees vary 'after considering the average time (and difficulty of) complying with the requests,' exemptions and reduced fees are allowed where the IRS deems them to be appropriate."
American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries [ASPPA]

March ESOP Madness: Ready to Make the Most of Your Annual Participant Statements?
"[1] Develop a communications goal ... [2] Communicate the rules of the 'ESOP game' ... [3] Use a 'dummy' or sample statement to show the score ... [4] Share stats to illustrate what drove stock value ... [5] Give employee owners a game program ... [6] Have fun and celebrate employee ownership."
Blue Ridge ESOP Associates

Pension De-Risking for Workers and Retirees
"Boomers and Gen Xers may be in for some potentially unpleasant surprises in retirement. The pension they were expecting to receive every month from their former employer ... may be turned over to an insurance company hired to manage the pension plan and turn it into monthly annuity payments.... [Those] pension benefits will no longer be guaranteed by the [PBGC] ... If the insurer fails, you'll receive an amount no higher than the state maximum; the precise figure varies from state to state, but is typically $250,000 of benefits paid out over time."
Next Avenue

Avoiding 'Lipstick on a Pig': Evidence-Based Investing for ERISA Fiduciaries
"[G]oing forward, expect to see the plaintiff's bar focus additional attention on the issue of a fiduciary's duty to be cost efficient and the closet index issue, as the evidence overwhelmingly establishes the failure of most actively managed funds to meet such hurdles.... Is any compensation 'reasonable' or in the 'best interest' of a customer if the historical performance ... indicated that such investments were not cost efficient and/or would have failed to provide any inherent value for a customer ... at the time the recommendations were made? "
The Prudent Investment Fiduciary Rules

Retirement Risk: Don't Trade Downside Protection for More Upside
"The challenge with the Fidelity glide path isn't so much that they are suggesting a bad portfolio ... [T]hey are recommending a portfolio with a risk/reward tradeoff that is well above the level necessary for the participant profile their glide path is designed for.... To the extent that the anticipated level of reward is well above what is called for by the participant profile, participants are likely to experience greater risk and more potential regret than necessary."
Russell Investments

The Total Rewards Needle Is Moving -- Are You on Target?
"What occupational magnets do employers need to provide to remain competitive? ... When is the last time your organization benchmarked your health and welfare plan? How does your 401(k) plan 'stack-up' to the market? When is the last time you performed a compensation study?"
Hill, Chesson & Woody

Update on Top Hat Plan Litigation
"One of the interesting points of the Court's decision was its discussion of the DOL's only guidance on this requirement, Opinion Letter 90-14A, and the question of whether an employee must have 'bargaining power' in order to qualify as a member of 'a select group of management or highly compensated employees.' " [ Sikora v. UPMC , No. 17-1288 (3d Cir. Nov. 24, 2017)]
Winston & Strawn LLP

Participant Dies But No Beneficiary Designation on File, Not Sure Who is Beneficiary in Intestacy Situation
We have a 401(k) plan with a participant who died last year. She has a sizeable amount in the plan (over $200k), and as far as the sponsor knows, she had no will and both her husband and daughter predeceased her. They believe she has some adult grandchildren, but so far none has contacted them. I suggested they contact one of the grandchildren to find out the status of her estate. But the question arose as to what we do if no one asks for the money. And also, what happens in a couple years when the participant would have turned 70-1/2 (RMD)?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

ADP Test Failure But HCE No Longer Has Liquidity in 401(k) Account Due to Participant Loan
ADP test failed, and the HCE does not have enough in his 401(k) account to cover the required distribution (plus earnings) because he recently took a sizable loan, all from 401(k). It seems to me that he must remove the required amount from his account, even if it means pulling from rollover or another source. Help!
BenefitsLink Message Boards

401(k) Plan OK If Only Activity is a Participant Loan?
I was given a new 401(k) plan to administer for a small business consisting of only a few employees. Immediately after the plan was made "active", the owner rolled over some money into the plan. She has since taken 2 loans out against this rollover money. She is not making any contributions and no one else has signed up for the plan. This is the 2nd plan that I have where the owner rolls money into it for the sake of being able to take out a loan. Again, no other employees are contributing to it. Is this legal?
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