ASPPA Net Staff
By ASPPA Net Staff 3/2/2016
ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events.Live WebcastsASPPA Webcast: Roth Conversions: Understanding the Rules and When They Make SenseWednesday, March 16, 20162:00-3:40 p.m. ETSpeaker: William C...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 3/2/2016
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on March 1 received a proposal from the Department of Labor (DOL) to revise the Form 5500. The proposal is part of a long-term strategic effort the DOL is undertaking with the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to modernize and improve...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 3/2/2016
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been looking into replacement rates — and it’s got some suggestions for the Department of Labor (DOL).The GAO report, prepared at the request of Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 3/1/2016
Having a defined benefit plan is just the beginning, as any employer that offers one knows. There are many considerations that flow from that — and how assets are invested is one of them. After all, that does have a direct impact on the financial health of the plan and its ability to provide...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/29/2016
On Jan. 29, the IRS released proposed regulations that are expected to significantly affect the design and economics of defined contribution plans that test for nondiscrimination on the basis of equivalent benefit accrual rates. These plans are often referred to as “new comparability” or “cross-...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/26/2016
Many factors have mitigated the ability of employees to retire secure in the knowledge that they have sufficient financial resources in store. A recent report offers ideas on how a plan and an employer can help employees better prepare to finance their retirement.In “Are Your Employees Retirement-...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/26/2016
Pension funds have been confronted with a series of challenges of late, but new research suggests they aren’t taking things lying down.Based on responses from 400 pension professionals in 20 countries over two months, State Street Corporation found that pension funds will look to “own” five...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/26/2016
Many factors influence costs to employers that provide employees with access to a defined benefit plan. In the February 2016 edition of the Beyond the Numbers, a blog by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the BLS looks at how those costs fluctuate by industry, occupation,...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/26/2016
In an era when defined contribution plans are increasingly the employer-provided retirement plan norm, it may seem counterintuitive to offer a defined benefit plan. Nonetheless, says recent research, that is exactly what many employers are doing. And those that do need to make sure their DB plans...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/25/2016
On Feb. 23, 2016, the American Retirement Association (ARA) filed a comment letter with the IRS suggesting enhancements that can be made to the IRS pre-approved plan program for plans subject to Internal Revenue Code Sections 401(a) or 403(b). The letter also requests a meeting to discuss the ARA...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/25/2016
If you thought things were going to be quiet between now and the anticipated publication of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule next month — well, you’d be wrong.Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has now weighed in on the issue, claiming that “the bureaucrats bullied it through.”...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/24/2016
On Feb. 22, 2016, the American Retirement Association (ARA) filed a comment letter with the IRS regarding the new compliance questions to be added to the Form 5500, potentially for the 2016 plan year reports.In the letter, the ARA requested a meeting with the IRS to collaborate on how to make the...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/24/2016
A staff report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs sharply criticizes the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal and what it described as a “flawed process” in handing down that rule.
The report, “The Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule: How a Flawed...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/23/2016
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will proceed with its work on investment advice standards rules and oversight of advisors. SEC Chair Mary Jo White made that announcement on Feb. 19 at the Practising Law Institute conference in Washington, D.C.According to Investment News, White said...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/23/2016
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will proceed with its work on investment advice standards rules and oversight of advisors. SEC Chair Mary Jo White made that announcement on Feb. 19 at the Practising Law Institute conference in Washington, D.C.According to Investment News, White said...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/23/2016
There has been a massive shift in the types of retirement plans offered by the Fortune 500 since 1998 — unless you’re talking about hybrid plans. A new report by Willis Towers Watson notes that approximately 90% of Fortune 500 employers that sponsored traditional DB plans in 1998 have changed the...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/19/2016
Financial factors can certainly influence retirement decisions, but what role, if any, do nonfinancial considerations play?A paper summarizing the work of other researchers published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College notes that if financial considerations drove retirement...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/19/2016
Safe harbor 401(k) plans are extremely popular with both plan sponsors and participants. A lingering concern that has hung over these plans, however, has been what types of changes could be made once the plan year has begun. The IRS asked for comments on this topic almost nine years ago and ASPPA...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/19/2016
Healthy individuals may want to consider saving more for their retirement. A new study sheds fresh light on the connection between health and expenses during retirement.The Empower Institute, according to Benefitspro, says in a recent study that health can be a factor affecting retirement and...
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By ASPPA Net Staff 2/19/2016
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has made some corrections to the calculations of replacement rates — the ratio of Social Security recipients’ benefits to their past earnings — that it had released in December. CBO Director Keith Hall made the announcement in a Feb. 10 CBO blog post.It is,...
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