Hello ACOPA –
It has been a tiring first three months of 2019, work-wise. January Madness did not stop with March as we dealt with March 15 deadlines. The April 15 deadline is fast approaching with a new burst of stress. Summer can’t arrive soon enough as it brings on vacation time, summer concerts and actuarial conferences.
One of those actuarial conferences is for my favorite extracurricular activity, the EA-2L Exam Writers Committee meeting. It is a great group of people (half of which are from ACOPA) putting their heads together to write and review the questions for the annual May exam. Valerie Lopez, Vice President and Chief Actuary of Actuarial Systems Corporation (ASC), shares her experiences in her inaugural year as co-chair in an article you can find here.
My actuarial buddy in college was Craig Rosenthal, who went on to become a partner at Mercer. At age 5, Craig moved out of the same Setauket, Long Island neighborhood that I would coincidentally move into a few months after he left. I grew up with the same friends he had made before moving. It always impressed me that Craig would go on to testify at a Ways & Means Committee meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives.
And so my new hero is Martella Turner-Joseph, who testified at a March 27 Capitol Hill hearing on behalf of the American Retirement Association. Martella pushed Congress to enact legislation to broaden workers’ access to retirement plans. I hope to be as well-spoken as she is one day (or even for just one day). You can read more about her testimony and follow links to a video of the hearing and her transcript
here.
Next up is an update on the status of ACOPA’s response to the actions of the Academy. This article is brought to us by our esteemed ACOPA President, John Markley. This is probably more than John expected to have on his plate during his tenure. Luckily, ACOPA has such competent and talented leadership to tackle these issues. You can find John’s article
here.
Our next article is ripped from the headlines, much like an episode of “Law and Order.” Daniel Jock, consulting Actuary at Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. follows up on a recent Google Group post on 401(h) plans,
here.
He has incorporated responses from other ACOPA members to his original paper. And while Dan calls his article a primer, we really appreciate the lengths of his commitment to get us an up-to-date article – not to mention the length of his article!
And lastly, the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) – an ACOPA sister organization within the American Retirement Association – just launched a new education program and credential. You can learn more about the new Certified Plan Sponsor Professional (CPSP™) credential
here.
Alright folks, I have EA-2L questions to write, clients waiting to meet their April 15 deadline, and a nap with my name on it. Be well!
