Plan Administrator
Thomas F. Barrett Inc.
in MD

Pension Plan Administrator
American Pension Advisors, Ltd.
in IN

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Charles Schwab
in AZ, NC, TX

Pension Administrator - Retirement Plans
Steidle Pension Solutions, LLC
in NJ

Plan Administrator
Growing TPA
in AL, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, OH, PA, RI, TN, VA, WI

Retirement Plan Consultant
CBIZ
in OH

Defined Benefits / Cash Balance Analyst
Retirement Planning Services
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IRS Publishes New Employee Plans 'Issue Snapshots'

The IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) Knowledge Management team periodically issues research summaries called 'Issue Snapshots' on tax-related issues for practitioners. Recently the IRS added these summaries of employee plans issues:

• Treatment of 415(c) Dollar Limitations in a Short Limitation Year
• Treatment of 401(a)(17) Limitation in Defined Contribution Plan in a Short Plan Year
• Borrowing Limits for Participants with Multiple Plan Loans
• Qualification Requirements for Non-Electing Church Plans under IRC Section 401(a)
• Vesting Schedules for Matching Contributions
• Plan Forfeitures Used for Qualified Nonelective and Qualified Matching Contributions

ERISA Litigation Update: New Trends and Significant Changes

May 31 webinar includes tips for avoiding litigation. key issues in defending claims for benefits, and emerging areas of specialized ERISA claims. Discount for BenefitsLink readers .

A New Solution to Tackle the Old Problem of Missing 401(k)s

"Auto-portability incorporates a 'locate' function that searches electronic records of participants, and identifies multiple accounts that could belong to the same individual, and a 'match' algorithm to confirm that these accounts actually belong to the same participant. Auto-portability has been live for nearly eight months and has resulted in more than 3,700 successful instances of locate and match." Spencer Williams, in Employee Benefit News

Sponsors Tread Lightly with Capital Preservation

"Some sponsors have been sued because they offered a money market fund instead of a higher-return stable value fund. Sponsors and providers have been sued for offering a stable value fund whose fees were too high. Or because the funds were too conservative. Or because the funds were too aggressive.... Stable value is harder to explain to participants, more difficult to administer than money market funds and might have multiple restrictions imposed by the provider and, especially, the wrap provider, which offers insurance to maintain book value for investors in the underlying bonds." Pensions & Investments

Should Fixed Income Derivatives Play a Role in Liability Hedging for Pension Plans?

"Since fixed income derivatives are more capital efficient and flexible than physical bonds, they can play a key role in liability hedging for many corporate and other single-employer pension plans. Derivatives can help plan sponsors hedge interest rate risk more effectively and with fewer assets than a portfolio composed of bonds, freeing up capital to pursue growth investments. At the same time, derivatives can significantly sharpen the precision of the liability hedge, protecting well-funded plans from overall movements in interest rates and from any steepening, flattening, or kinking of the yield curve." Cambridge Associates

A Blueprint for Retirement in the 21st Century: The Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey 2018 (PDF)

72 pages. "[We] need to ensure that there is universal access to enable people to save for retirement ... [R]etiring at 65 is no longer financially viable for many workers.... [We], as individuals and as a society, need to look at our working lives in a fundamentally different way.... [M]any people are not doing enough to protect their long-term health. This will have lasting consequences on their ability to work as they get older, the affordability of their healthcare in the future, and their enjoyment of life.... Improving financial literacy requires a sustained and collaborative effort[.]" Aegon

Now is a great time to join Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)

Worldwide Employee Benefits Network helps me connect with thought leaders in the Benefits Industry. Join WEB today at www.webnetwork.org .

Will a Cash Balance Plan 401(k) Combo Secure Your Retirement?

"Small business owners can play catch up for retirement and dramatically reduce their tax liability with a stacked approach to Cash Balance Pensions on top of a Profit Sharing 401(k) plan. With potential tax savings north of $100,000 per year it's hard to believe more people aren't talking about this type of retirement planning technique. For high-earning business owners, a cash balance may hold the key to securing a comfortable retirement." David Rae, in Forbes

Participants' Personal Debt Gains Attention

"A growing number of employers in recent years have started supporting employees in debt management.... Along with increased employee savings, employers cite reduced employee stress and improvements in workforce retention and recruitment as reasons for their efforts." Pensions & Investments

Democrat Senators Question Trump's Nomination for PBGC Director in Midst of Multiemployer Plan Crisis

"The president has nominated Gordon Hartogensis -- who, the senators say, seems to have little to no prior experience relevant to the pension system and the work of the PBGC -- to replace Reeder. Meanwhile Reeder, who is in the middle of his five-year term, has been advocating for changes to help the PBGC's programs, especially the program for multiemployer defined benefit (DB) plans." planadviser

Judge Judy and the SEC's Best Interest Proposal

"At some point, the SEC is going to have to address the issue of the definition of 'best interest' under their 'fiduciary' proposal.... [T]he easiest and most effective option would be to adopt the DOL rule's definition ... If, as expected, the DOL chooses to adopt the SEC's eventual fiduciary rule, this would obviously make the transition easier for the DOL, plan sponsors and plan participants.. The DOL's definition of 'best interest' would also further the alleged purpose of the SEC's BI proposal -- protecting investors." The Prudent Investment Fiduciary Rules

Plan Fiduciaries May Be 'Cruising for a Bruising' with Target Date Funds (PDF)

"[F]iduciaries are basing their TDF choice on limiting their liability. They believe that [1] any qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) will do and [2] you can't go wrong with the Big 3 [providers] because everyone else is using them.... At 15 years to the target date, the vast majority (75%) [of participants] want growth over safety, but this preference shifts dramatically so that only 17% prefer growth over safety at retirement.... [Participant] preferences are in line with Vanguard when participants are young but they move to the SMART index near the target date. In retirement, ... preferences are more conservative than all 4 paths." Target Date Solutions

The Politics of Pensions in America

"To give the committee a chance to work out of the political glare, it will not report until after the midterm elections. Furthermore, any proposal supported by a majority both of Republicans and Democrats will get an automatic up or down vote in the Senate. Nonetheless, getting any compromise will be very difficult because in every case, the proposals made by one constituency are political poison to another.... [T]he collapse of these pension funds could end up doing as much or more damage than Hurricane Harvey." Former PBGC Director Joshua Gotbaum, via The Brookings Institution

Court Awards Six Figure Attorneys' Fees to Claimant Even Though Disability Claim Was Ultimately Denied

"[T]he court grants in part Plaintiff's motion for attorneys' fees and denies Defendants' request for attorneys' fees, even though Defendants were ultimately successful on the merits of the underlying long-term disability dispute.... In awarding Plaintiff attorneys' fees, the court determined that Plaintiff achieved some degree of success on the merits by obtaining an order of remand. The court rejected Defendant's argument that the hourly rate of $700 was excessive and that a lower rate should be applied to work performed between 2014-2016." [ Gorbacheva v. Abbott Laboratories Extended Disability Plan , No. 14-02524 (N.D. Cal. May 25, 2018)]
Kantor & Kantor

Full-Timer Becomes Part-Timer

An employee has met the eligibility requirements (age 21, 1 year of service, semi-annual entry dates) and has not contributed to date. This individual is no longer working full-time; he has become a part-time employee. Can he now be excluded? The document excludes "part-time, temporary or seasonal employees, i.e., employees whose regularly scheduled service is less than 1,000 Hours of Service during each 12-month eligibility computation period." BenefitsLink Message Boards

Submit Form 945 Shortly After Plan Terminates?

Small client has closed his practice and was never enrolled in EFTPS. Two participants have elected a lump sum (total taxes of about $2,000). Normally taxes are paid with a 945 form. The accountant asks why we must wait until January 2019 to submit the check and 945 voucher. Can the 945 be filed early? BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Ascensus Appoints Lisa Massena as Vice President of Business Development Ascensus

Chard Snyder and City of Mason Celebrate Official Opening of New Corporate Headquarters Ascensus

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AIG Expands Presence in Pension Risk Transfer Market American International Group, Inc. [AIG]

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