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Retirement Income
Student loans can be a help in earning a college degree. That’s a good thing, since that degree can help that former student pay off the loan and try to come closer to a day when he or she can start saving for retirement in earnest. Recently released research includes data on what student debt can...
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Increased longevity is good news! But for pension plans it’s another story. For them, it creates more stress — it spells greater drain and heightens the likelihood that plans will pay benefits for a longer period.The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of the Chief Actuary late in 2015...
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The Obama administration’s final budget wasn’t a complete retread of its prior retirement plan proposals, but there wasn’t much good news for employer-sponsored retirement plans.Small business owners and small business retirement plans were once again targeted by a proposal that would limit the...
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Though specific policy details remain elusive on many key issues in the 2016 presidential campaign, the tax reform proposal of a leading candidate could undermine the 401(k).Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), after his surprisingly strong third place finish (just behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz) in the...
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Is a pension plan you serve considering de-risking? If so, your clients may be well-served if you make sure they are aware that de-risking means more than addressing problems the plan itself may be having — it means that participants may have some decisions to make as a result.In a recent Wall...
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Do you sometimes feel like you have spent your precious time performing tests that no longer seem relevant or meet an arbitrary deadline? Have you ever come across a nonsensical rule that continually trips up you or your staff and you think to yourself: “it would be so much easier if…”?We all know...
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made suggestions in a recent paper for ways to bolster the private-sector retirement system.The keys to strengthening the system, says the Chamber, is to strengthen the current retirement structure, address the demographic changes and retirement needs of an evolving...
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The funded status of the pension plans the Standard & Poors (S&P) 500 and 1500 companies sponsor improved in 2015, but since the ball dropped at Times Square things are different. According to the ratings company, their funding level took a hit in January.The funding level fell by 3% for...
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The Winter 2016 issue of Plan Consultant magazine is now available on ASPPA Net.The Winter issue, mailed to all ASPPA members in January, marks the start of ASPPA’s 50th anniversary year with a cover story that recaps ASPPA’s first half century and offers insights into the birth and development of...
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Generation X — long overlooked as a generational “middle child” between Boomers and Millennials — is waking up to the realities of retirement savings, according to a new report.With the eldest members of Gen X turning 50, it’s little wonder that retirement finances are grabbing a larger share of...
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The latest issue of Employee Plans News, a periodic IRS newsletter with retirement plan information for retirement plan practitioners, highlights recent developments concerning the IRS Employee Plans Determination Letter Program, as well as links to recent guidance and updated forms and...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) has filed suit against the International Association of Machinists National Pension Fund (IAMNPF) and its board of trustees for multiple violations of ERISA. The DOL seeks a court order requiring the defendants to restore any losses the fund suffered due to the alleged...
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Work for decades. Save for decades. Then after those decades and the end of the retirement party, the spending begins. That’s the way it works, at least in common parlance. But some analysts at Vanguard beg to differ.In “Retirement Income: Perceptions vs. Reality,” Anna Madamba, Ph.D. of the...
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When an employee retires, that’s the end of the connection between the ex-employee and the former employer’s plan. Right? Not necessarily, say researchers at PIMCO.In “Turning Defined Contribution Assets into a Lifetime Paycheck: How to Evaluate Investment Choices for Retirees,” Stacy Schaus and...
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The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Jan. 28 on “Helping Americans Prepare for Retirement: Increasing Access, Participation and Coverage in Retirement Savings Plans.” Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) noted in his opening remarks that the hearing would allow the full committee to hear more...
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Tomato, tomahto. Split an atom, terminate a pension plan. A recent blog post suggests they may not be as different as they seem.In “The Big Bang Theory and Pension Plan Terminations,” a recent post in Retirement Town Hall, Javier Sanabria argues that both will gradually go away if left alone — but...
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Not quite two years ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) should be opened to private sector workers. Now legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate that would take a step in that direction.The American Savings Act, introduced by Sen. Jeff...
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Current retirement savings policies continue to be under the wonk microscope in Washington D.C., and was the primary subject of an event at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress last week. The event featured the work of Christian Weller, a Professor of Public Policy at the University of...
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Pension plans should reduce surplus volatility as they work toward becoming better funded — at least, that is one school of thought. But there could be a fly in the ointment, argues Tony Gould, global head of pensions solutions and advisory at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in New York City.In a...
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The IRS has issued a proposed rule on the determination of whether the normal retirement age under a governmental pension plan under Internal Revenue Code Section 414(d) satisfies the requirements of Code Section 401(a) and whether the payment of definitely determinable benefits that begin at the...
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