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ASEA Monthly

Oh, the pesky RMD! Rather than delving into the basic rules, I’d like to discuss some controversial issues that have recently been brought to my attention.Calculating a Term Certain AnnuityRecently, there was a long discussion on the ACOPA listserv about how to calculate the RMD for a traditional... READ MORE
In April 2016, Judy Miller, Karen Smith and I went to Guanajuato, Mexico to attend a couple of actuarial inter-societal meetings.First, there was a meeting of the Council of U.S. Presidents (CUSP) meeting. CUSP used to be a committee of the American Academy of Actuaries and is currently an informal... READ MORE
A few weeks ago, when Treasury withdrew the “reasonable classification” proposal, and the final fiduciary rule came out with modifications that addressed all but one item in our comment letter, I felt a tremendous sense of relief, and went off to the North American Actuarial Council (NAAC) meeting... READ MORE
There is a perception that actuaries are a boring, nerdy bunch. But I know some of you have pretty cool hobbies, and there’s nothing people with hobbies enjoy more than talking about their hobbies (as anyone who I have corralled to talk about motorcycles knows full well). For example, Valerie Lopez... READ MORE
Yay, another busy season behind us! Like the calendar pages flapping by in an old movie to show the passage of time, one pension deadline after another marks our lives as pension professionals. I don’t know about all of you, but I love the period from now until late August, when we will start to... READ MORE
Yay, another busy season behind us! Like the calendar pages flapping by in an old movie to show the passage of time, one pension deadline after another marks our lives as pension professionals. I don’t know about all of you, but I love the period from now until late August, when we will start to... READ MORE
By now you know that the “reasonable classification” proposal was stripped from the closed plans proposed regulation on April 14.  A huge “Thank You” to all of you who helped us get to this point. As of this writing, we had more than 1,000 practitioners and nearly 900 plan sponsors who had written... READ MORE
Welcome to the first of a regular Q&A series for the ACOPA e-news. In this feature I will be interviewing well-known people in the pension industry. My first victim, er… interviewee, is Carol Zimmerman. Carol, as many of you know, is an actuary with the IRS. Q: Carol, thanks for doing this... READ MORE
When did we first realize that the IRS read IRC §412(d)(2) to mean something other than what it appears to mean? Concern arose with the §430 and §436 regulations published in October 2009, but it really came to the fore in 2011, when the Gray Book question on the subject was asked, and answered.The... READ MORE
Earlier this year, ACOPA members voted and approved the revised Joint Discipline Council (JDC) agreement with the other U.S.-based actuarial organizations. So, now we are working on getting the American Retirement Association (ARA) discipline procedures amended to reflect the new JDC agreement.... READ MORE
Hi there. March 14 and another submission deadline is looming. What was I thinking when I chose the 15th of each month as a submission date for the monthly content for our e-news? You’d think that after 35 years in this business I’d have realized what a bad choice that was!  In our February edition... READ MORE
For the last several weeks, the community of pension professionals has been focused on the potential impact of proposed changes to the general test under Code Section 401(a)(4). The proposed changes would require that in order for a rate group to meet the general test using the Average Benefits... READ MORE
Last month I promised an update on the proposed IRS regulation on “Nondiscrimination Relief for Closed Defined Benefit Plans and Additional Changes to the Retirement Plan Nondiscrimination Requirements.” In a nutshell, a rate group would not have access to the average benefits/nondiscriminatory... READ MORE
We work in an industry that seems have an infinite amount of rules and regulations. Unless you’ve written the regulations yourself, or have been in the retirement industry since the beginning of time, odds are that you will run into a situation where you need a colleague’s advice. Prior to the... READ MORE
As actuaries we deal with data on a daily basis. Most of the time we tend to only think of data as demographic (participant information) or financial (plan assets, contributions and distributions). However, data also includes the plan documents that we rely on to determine who is covered by the... READ MORE
The American Retirement Association Annual Business Meeting will be held on Sunday, Apr. 17, 2016, during the 2016 NAPA 401(k) SUMMIT in Nashville. The Annual Business Meeting will include an address by American Retirement Association’s 2016 President, Marcy L. Supovitz, CPC, QPA, QKA, CPFA. All... READ MORE
This has been a challenging month for me so far. My dad died on Feb. 3, so as you can imagine I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff since then,  taking care of his affairs and helping my mom. My dad was 86 when he died. He was an accountant and tax preparer, and the main thing that his life always... READ MORE
By now you have heard that the proposed IRS regulation on “Nondiscrimination Relief for Closed Defined Benefit Plans and Additional Changes to the Retirement Plan Nondiscrimination Requirements” is more about the “Additional Changes” than “Closed Defined Benefit Plans.” The IRS had made it clear in... READ MORE
As we are all aware, the issue of compensation for self-employed (SE) persons at times results in circular calculations. In general, compensation for such persons is their net income from self-employment, less the deduction for one half of the self-employment tax, less the deductions for employer... READ MORE
The LA Advanced Pension Conference took place on January 21-22 at the Hilton Universal City Hotel in Los Angeles. Actuaries, administrators and other retirement professionals from around the country gathered to enhance their skills, learn new topics and collaborate with peers. Day 1The first day... READ MORE

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