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The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Oct. 27 that would block the Department of Labor from finalizing its fiduciary proposal until the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs in.By a 245-to-186 margin, the House passed the Retail Investor Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 1090), which...
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An Oct. 23 hearing by a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee became the latest stage on which House members expressed frustration over proposals related to fiduciary regulation. The Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government hearing, “Oversight of the SEC’s Division of...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has raised the per-participant flat premium rates and the variable-rate premium for single-employer plans for plan years beginning in 2016. The PBGC made the announcement on Oct. 26.The per-participant flat premium rate for plan years beginning in...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events.Live WebcastsACOPA Webcast: Actuarial 101 for Non-ActuariesTuesday, Nov. 3, 20152 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. ETSpeaker: Mary Ann Rocco, EA, MSPAAttend this webcast...
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This article originally appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of Plan Consultant. Any elevator you’re on likely is library-quiet as the dictates of unspoken social etiquette demand. But it nonetheless does afford a unique opportunity for communication and that most ideal of audiences: a captive one. An...
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This article originally appeared in the Fall 2015 issue of Plan Consultant magazine.I’m always surprised every time the U.S. Supreme Court takes another ERISA case. It is an open secret among federal judges that ERISA cases are their least favorite ones. They often are complicated, counterintuitive...
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Pension plans may not be subject to volatility in quite the same way as defined contribution plans, but nonetheless they face uncertainties and the vagaries of external factors too. That has some plans considering how to mitigate that risk. MetLife in its most recent Pension Risk Transfer Poll...
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The biggest impact of the DOL’s proposed fiduciary rule, a.k.a. the “conflict of interest rule,” is on the IRA market, ERISA attorney Fred Reish told a workshop session at the ASPPA Annual Conference Oct. 20. Reish was joined by Marcy Supovitz, incoming president of the American Retirement...
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An unsuspecting fiduciary may encounter fiduciary breaches — and face unanticipated consequences.In “Fiduciary Breach: Avoidance and Mitigation,” a webcast by Bruce Ashton that will be held from 2:00-3:40 p.m. ET on Oct. 28, Bruce Ashton, APM, Partner, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, will address...
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Concerned that prior guidance has discouraged the embrace of “economically targeted investments,” the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new interpretive bulletin.The DOL starts by broadly defining an economically targeted investment as “…any investment that is selected, in part, for its...
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Editor’s Note: This article is a follow-up to “Is There a Market for 3(16) Plan Administrator Services?” the third in a three-part series of columns by Peter Preovolos that recently appeared in ASPPA Connect.Many years ago when satellite radio started broadcasting, I thought it was the most...
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Sometimes when one walks through the woods, they can be quite thick. In fact, one can get lost in them if one is not careful. In an Oct. 21 session at the ASPPA Annual Conference, James E. Holland, Chief Research Actuary for Cheiron and former manager of the Employee Plans Division of the IRS Tax-...
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The 2015 ASPPA Annual Conference offered a great opportunity to meet other pension professionals, hear from government leaders and experts, and gain insights on critical issues and developments facing the industry. Here’s a recap of our coverage of sessions and speakers from this year’s conference...
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How do you manage client relationships and expectations? At an Oct. 20 session at the 2015 ASPPA Annual Conference, Norman Levinrad, President and Chief Actuary of Summit Benefit and Actuarial Services, offered practical tips and insights. The core of his message: It’s all about service.What does...
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As expected most of the limits were unchanged, because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment — but there were some increases.The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) highlighted the following limitations that WILL change in 2016 from...
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The Department of Labor is seeking to make it easier for states to fit within the framework of ERISA in their efforts to establish state-run retirement plans, says Phyllis C. Borzi, head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.Borzi spoke at an Oct. 20 session of the 2015 ASPPA Annual...
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The IRS will not backtrack on its recent decision to stop answering questions by email and no longer forward questions sent to IRS Customer Account Services, Commissioner of the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division Sunita Lough said at an Oct. 20 update on federal agency activity at the...
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The biggest impact of the DOL's proposed fiduciary rule, a.k.a. the "conflict of interest rule," isn't on plans or plan advisors, it's on the IRA market, ERISA attorney Fred Reish told a workshop session at the ASPPA Annual Conference Oct. 20.Reish was joined by Marcy Supovitz, incoming president...
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Choice architecture – a behavioral science application that includes things like automatic enrollment – works, but it is not the entire solution to worker savings behavior.That was one of the points made by Dr. Julie Agnew, Associate Professor of Finance and Economics at William & Mary at this...
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Current regulatory issues facing the retirement industry, its professionals and participants were highlighted in a lively Oct. 19 general session at the 2015 ASPPA Annual Conference.American Retirement Association General Counsel Craig Hoffman, who headlined the session, noted at the outset the...
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