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A year ago, President Obama touted the voluntary MyRA in his State of the Union Address — but the White House has a lot more to say about retirement this year — and it’s a lot less voluntary.According to a White House fact sheet, the administration is touting a series of retirement tax reform...
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Concern for — and plans for action about — retirement plans is widespread among employers. Aon Hewitt studied 250 employers with six million employees, and in 2015 Hot Topics in Retirement found that employer-provided retirement plans remain central to retirement readiness, and that employers know...
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With President Obama poised to deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 20, a powerful coalition of retirement, union and so-called consumer protection groups have again interjected themselves into the debate over retirement plans.The coalition’s website, Saveourretirement.com, intends to...
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Reports of hacks, identity theft and more highlight the importance of making sure information about plan participants and beneficiaries is secure. In fact, it’s more than a good idea — it’s part of a fiduciary’s duty.The 401(k) HelpCenter suggests questions to ask to make sure participants’ and...
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Funding levels of pension plans sponsored by the S&P 1500 fell by 9 percentage points in 2014, from 88% to 79%. According to Mercer, the plans’ collective deficits more than doubled last year, reaching $504 billion at year-end.The plans had been doing well in 2014, Mercer said, having benefited...
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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has outlined the conditions for determining the existence of a partial plan termination, ruling on the fifth appeal of what it called a “seemingly interminable class action suit.”The ruling came in a case filed just two months short of 19 years ago, in which...
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Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) is arguing that the Land of Lincoln has “police powers” that allow it to change a contract in extraordinary circumstances, including changes to the state’s public pensions contained in a 2013 pension overhaul.Madigan is appealing a lower court ruling that...
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House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) unveiled a set of tax proposals Jan. 12 that are said to be designed, at least in part, to redistribute current tax breaks for the wealthy to middle-class workers.While the “action plan” includes proposals that could draw bipartisan...
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Available through February 24, 2016 Speaker: Lawrence C. Starr, CPC, QPFC, FLMI, CLU®, CEBS, ChFC®, EA, President, Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. Access the presentation outline here!Case study examples will illustrate effective use of the coverage testing...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 12 issued a draft of the 2015 premium filing form and instructions. It provides information for plans paying premiums for plan years beginning in 2015, including instructions for all the particular forms of data that must be reported.The...
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Update (9/11/15): The CE guidelines have been updated for the 2015/16 credentialing period. You may view them here.The deadline for earning and reporting your 2013-2014 Continuing Education (CE) credits has been extended to Feb. 28, 2015.If you still need to earn CE credits for this cycle, visit...
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A regulation that would allow for a “window” period for giving out the annual notice required in most 401(k) plans appears to be heading for a spring 2015 publication date — and that could be good news for your plan sponsor clients.A new addition to the November 2014 DOL guidance plan was a project...
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Available through February 12, 2016Speaker: Charles D. Lockwood, J.D., LL.M, ASC Institute, LLC Access the presentation outline here!This advanced webcast will begin with a brief review of the cross-testing/new comparability rules. Case studies and other real-...
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In one of the first acts of the new Republican-controlled Congress, the House of Representatives adopted a rule change Jan. 6 that directs Congress’ legislative analysts — the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office — to incorporate the economic effects of major legislation...
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Editor's Note: This article was published in the fall 2014 issue of Plan Consultant magazine.Dr. Zhivago” had been at the local movie theater for three weeks. Driving to the theater cost 32 cents per gallon of gas, and “California Dreaming” by the Mamas and Papas played on AM radio. The miniskirt...
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Despite media attention surrounding the Millennial Generation’s relatively poor economic outcomes during the Great Recession, a new analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve finds that they have fared better on many measures than both current older adults and earlier young adults. According to...
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It was not a good year for pension funding.The estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies decreased from 88% as of Dec. 31, 2013 to 79% as of Dec. 31, 2014, according to Mercer. Towers Watson examined pension plan data for the 411 Fortune 1000 companies...
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In the process of enforcing the law, the Pension and Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) needs to keep in mind that its mission is to preserve and protect defined benefit plans. That is one of the underlying themes in the first annual report of the PBGC participant and plan sponsor advocate....
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All disbursements from a retirement plan scheduled to be made at the same time are treated as a single distribution even if they are sent to multiple destinations. That new rule becomes mandatory as 2015 dawns, the IRS has reminded taxpayers in the Dec. 23 issue of its e-newsletter, Employee Plans...
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Retiring Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) signature piece of retirement legislation, the USA Retirement Funds Act, has found a champion to carry it into the next Congress.Harkin, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions (HELP) Committee, might have been pleased to see that...
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