Plan Termination Account Manager
Nova 401(k) Associates
Telecommute

Defined Benefit Administrator
Northeast Professional Planning Group
in NJ, NY

DC Plan Administrator
Northeast Professional Planning Group
in NJ, NY

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Benefits and Breakfast: Minimizing the Risk of Plan Litigation
July 17, 2018 in IL
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The Demise of ERISA's Amended Fiduciary Rule
July 25, 2018 WEBCAST
West LegalEdcenter

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and Abandoned Plan Program Workshop
September 12, 2018 in KY
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

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Hardship Withdrawals After the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018

"While there is no change to current rules for 2018, the rules with respect to hardship distributions are going to change significantly beginning in 2019. Beginning in 2019, participants may legally take hardship distributions from QNECs and QMACs and earnings on 401(k) contributions, QNECs and QMACs, if the plan permits them to. Sponsors will want to review their hardship distribution policy and consider whether they wish to extend it to these amounts. There will also be new rules (of some sort) for determining whether a participant has a hardship." October Three Consulting

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Boeing Loses $150M Fight With Spirit Over Pension Benefit Costs

"Boeing Co. couldn't persuade the Delaware Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that left it on the hook for about $150 million in employee benefit costs in a long-running dispute with Spirit Aerosystems Inc. Under the parties' purchase agreement, Spirit never agreed to assume Boeing's liability for pension and retiree medical benefits, a three-justice panel held July 12. Spirit agreed only to credit the Boeing employees' past service with Boeing for the purpose of determining their eligibility for benefits under Spirit's own benefit plans, the justices said in affirming a lower court ruling." [ The Boeing Co. v. Spirit Aerosystems, Inc. , No. 5, 2018 (Del. July 12, 2018)]
Bloomberg BNA

Efforts to Discourage Participant Loans

"More than six in ten (63.6%) [respondents] said their retirement plan uses education or plan design features to discourage participants from taking loans, while 36.4% said it does not. More than one-quarter (27.3%) indicated their plans do not offer a loan feature ... More than four in ten (40.9%) reported that the number of loans outstanding is limited to one, 13.6% said loans are limited to only certain accounts, such as employee deferrals, and 4.5% said loans can only be taken for reasons of substantial hardship." PLANSPONSOR

Will Capacity Run Out in the Bulk Annuity Market?

"[T]here are three different aspects of the longer-term capacity question: [1] Will the insurers have the manpower to price and execute the transactions in the market? [2] Will the insurers have access to sufficient, suitable high-yielding assets so that attractive pricing can continue? ... [3] [W]ill there be enough capacity in the longevity reinsurance market?" Willis Towers Watson

New Illinois Program to Offer Retirement Savings Plan

"A new state program will automatically deduct money from the paychecks of about 1.2 million Illinois residents for retirement savings.... The state-sponsored retirement program works with certain businesses with 25 or more employees. The businesses will be connected with a financial firm that will provide ways for workers to build retirement savings with after-tax cash deducted from each paycheck for a Roth individual retirement account." The Olympian

Legislation Introduced to Boost SIMPLE Plans for Small Businesses

"The SIMPLE Plan Modernization Act, introduced July 13 by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mark Warner (D-VA) would increase the contribution limit for SIMPLE plans. The bill's sponsors say that increasing the limit would achieve two basic goals: encourage more small business employers to offer a retirement savings benefit to their employees; and allow small business employees to save even more each year on a tax-deferred basis." National Association of Plan Advisors [NAPA]

Present Consequences of Unfunded State Government Pension Liabilities and Ways Forward

"State governments with large unfunded pension liabilities are paying more to borrow from capital markets than are other states, according to [ a paper by] Chuck Boyer of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.... He asks two questions: [1] how are state governments' borrowing costs affected by unfunded pension obligations? and [2] do states with political constraints face higher borrowing costs?"
The Brookings Institution

ERISA Advisory Council to Meet August 14-16

"[T]he 192nd meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held on August 14-16, 2018.... The purpose of the open meeting is for Advisory Council members to hear testimony from invited witnesses and to receive an update from [EBSA]. The EBSA update is scheduled for the morning of August 16, subject to change." Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

Otherwise Excludible Component of Cross-Tested Plan: Effect of Profit Sharing Contribution to Owner's Account

Plan requires minimum of age 21 & and 12 months of service for an allocation of the profit sharing contribution, but only 3 months of service for eligibility for 401k deferrals and a safe harbor matching contribution. If the owner gets a profit sharing contribution, does that eliminate the SH/TH exemption for the OE component plan (so the OE employees will need to get the Top Heavy minimum if the Safe Harbor is less than 3% of pay)? BenefitsLink Message Boards

Only Assets Left Are Forfeitures; How Many Participants to Report on Form 5500?

If a terminating plan has only a forfeiture balance as of the end of the plan year and no active participants, how would you record the participant count? Ordinarily I would not count the forfeiture account as a participant but am wondering if a participant count of zero would raise a red flag. BenefitsLink Message Boards

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OneDigital Health and Benefits Acquires Beneflex Insurance Services OneDigital Health and Benefits

Capital Advisors Family Office S.A. is the First Latin American Investment Advisor Certified for Investment Advisor Fiduciary Excellence Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

AHIP Adds Four Health Insurance Providers to Its Membership America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP]

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