Financial Education in 'Living Color' Employees may have equal access to 401k plans, but participation is anything but equal. The recent release of Ariel Investments' and Hewitt Associates' study confirms what individual client studies have shown for years - that ethnicity is the number one predictor of 401k behavior. Source: Employee Benefit News
Participant Understanding Greatest Challenge for DC Sponsors Sponsors of 401k plans are concerned that employees don't understand their retirement plans, yet many of those same organizations are not increasing efforts to improve member understanding and education over the next year or two. Source: Employee Benefit News
Painting a Realistic Retirement Picture Proposal to require plan sponsors to project participants' 401k account balances into lifetime income comes with a minefield of potential problems. Source: Employee Benefit News
How You Can Lose Money in a Money Fund: Fees If you invest in a money fund, you probably think you won't lose money. But if your money fund is in a variable annuity, you probably lost anywhere from 1% to 3% the past 12 months — not because the funds' investments were bad, but because of additional fees the variable annuity charges. After fees, some money fund accounts in 401k plans may have lost money the past 12 months for the same reason. Source: AARP
Managing Fiduciary Responsibility As a plan sponsor, how much do you know about the fiduciary responsibility associated with your retirement plan? This overview is intended to help you get started with the management of your fiduciary responsibility. Source: Invesco
A Fiduciary's Guide to Target Retirement Date Funds Despite all the controversy, target retirement date funds can be an effective investment tool when used properly. Plan fiduciaries need to be aware of the various issues involved. This paper is designed to provide a basic overview of these funds, some of their pros and cons, and various considerations in this area. Source: Conrad Siegel
DOL Updates Guidance for Certain 403(b) Plans Employers sponsoring 403(b) plans should review the DOLs FABs 2009-02 and 2010-01 (this document provides an overview) to ensure compliance for the plan year 2009 Form 5500 filing. Early preparation is advised as plan year 2009 is the initial year for electronic filing under the DOLs EFAST2 protocol. Source: Milliman
DOL Provides Guidance on Reporting Obligations of 403(b) Plan Sponsors Employers should revisit their plans to determine whether they are subject to the new Form 5500 reporting requirements, which include new audit and reporting obligations. Source: McDermott Will & Emery
Form 5500 Transitional Relief - New Guidance Issued Employers sponsoring ERISA-covered 403(b) plans are subject to significantly expanded Form 5500 reporting beginning with the 2009 plan year, as well as a potential audit requirement. Source: Ice Miller LLP
Towers Perrin Retirement Legislative Tracking Chart Thousands of bills are introduced in Congress but only a select few are summarized on this chart. This selection represents Towers Perrin's best judgment on the likelihood of enactment and the relevance of the issue for employers. Source: Towers Perrin
Forcing Terminated Participants out of Company Stock not ERISA Violation A federal court has ruled that a sponsor of an employee stock ownership plan did not breach its fiduciary duties by amending the plan to force terminated employees out of company stock investments. Source: Planadviser.com
The Impact of New Required 5500 Reporting Requirements This comprehensive report was prepared to help facilitate the correct completion of the new requirements for Form 5500 Schedule C to ensure accurate expense information can be captured and reported in a consistent and reliable manner. Provides a definition and commentary on each code. Source: Fiduciary Risk Assessment LLP
Summary of DOLs Invest. Advice Regulations This summary was prepared by the law firm of Davis & Harman, LLP. It reviews the following issues: Existing Exemptions and Programs, Fee-Leveling Exemption, Computer Model Exemption, New Computer Model Rule, Generally Accepted Investment Theories and Effects on SunAmerica. Source: American Benefits Council
Department of Labor "Reproposes" PPA Participant Invest. Advice Regulation As the trend toward self-directed accounts emerged, DOL issued guidance elucidating circumstances in which investment support for participants would not raise a prohibited transaction concern. Source: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP |
