Digest
Miscommunication Happens! Correcting it Through EPCRS - Summary: Miscommunications can happen to even the best intentioned clients and frequently result in a failure that adversely impacts the tax-qualified status of the plan, known as a "qualification failure." When they do, the Internal Revenue Service's consolidated correction program for defects occurring in tax-deferred retirement programs, the EPCRS program, can be used to resolve these issues.
Located at: Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen. Click on headline for full article.
Divorce Can Put Dent in Retirement Savings - Summary: Getting your retirement nest egg through a divorce takes more time, patience and short-term cash than many people can muster during such a traumatic period.
Located at: Chicago Tribune (free registration may be required). Click on headline for full article.
The Value of an Independent Fiduciary - Summary: There is a special fiduciary science behind achieving optimal results in a retirement plan. Skilled Independent Fiduciaries know how to reduce risk to plan sponsors, increase benefits to plan participants, and improve the security of future retirees.
Located at: Greenspring Wealth Management (PDF File). Click on headline for full article.
ERISA Fiduciaries Could Have Disclosure Mandate - Summary: Federal regulators have contended that fiduciaries may still be legally required to disclose plan fees such as revenue sharing even if such a mandate is not explicit in federal benefits law.
Located at: Plansponsor.com (free registration may be required). Click on headline for full article.
Collective Funds Next Trend in Plan Investments - Summary: A white paper presented by AST Capital Trust with contributions from Hewitt Associates claims the grip is easing on mutual funds’ reign as king of 401k plans investments.
Located at: Planadviser.com. Click on headline for full article.
Vote on 401k Fee Disclosure Likely - Summary: Although Congress is expected to pass only few regulations this year focused on 401k retirement plans, fee disclosure is a priority that will likely see House votes this summer.
Located at: Investment News (free registration may be required). Click on headline for full article.
Mapping Out a Strategy for Target-Date Funds - Summary: More employers with 401k plans are "mapping" their workers into target-date funds. As a result, target-date fund assets have jumped from about $15 billion in 2002 to about $183 billion as of December 2007.
Located at: Employee Benefit News (free registration may be required), March 2008. Click on headline for full article.
Few 401k Plan Sponsors Buying Fiduciary Insurance - Summary: Following the Supreme Court decision allowing individual 401k participants to sue employers, lawyers are recommending that advisors require plan sponsors to have fiduciary insurance. Advisors, however, are leery of jacking up prices; customers 'think you’re a shoe salesman.'
Located at: Workforce.com (free registration may be required). Click on headline for full article.
Commentary
There's No Such Thing as a Bullet-proof 401k Plan - Summary: It's not about the structure, it's about process. Specifically, "procedural prudence," a concept that has been part of the fiduciary world long before ERISA.
Located at: Retirement Plan Blog. Click on headline for full article.
401k as a Safety Net - Summary: The commentator says, "while there is reason for concern if this simply becomes just one more way of fueling (no pun intended) our nation's apparently insatiable desire for "stuff," there's little point in having a retirement savings account if you and your family get thrown out of your home 20 years before then."
Located at: Planadviser.com. Click on headline for full article.
A 401k Debit Card is Dumb - Summary: This seems like a new way to sacrifice your future. A 401k is not just another savings account to use for shopping, vacations or other wants. Outside of Social Security, this is what many of us will be living on in our old age. Borrowing this money today -- and paying to do so -- means you will have less money in retirement.
Located at: Baltimore Sun. Click on headline for full article.
Research
When Should Married Men Claim Social Security Benefits? - Summary: If married men delayed claiming Social Security benefits, retirement income security would significantly improve. This brief focuses on the potential gains from delayed claiming and the factors that may influence claiming behavior. It then considers possible policy responses.
Located at: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Click on headline for full article.
DOL and IRS Items
IRS Issues Guidance on 2008 Law Changes - Summary: Of interest to defined contribution practitioners, Notice 2008-30 discusses distributions of gap period income for 402(g) corrections, rollovers of pretax plan accounts to Roth IRAs, and qualified optional survivor annuities.
Located at: Sungard/Relius. Click on headline for full article.
Agenda for DOL Rescheduled Section 408(b)(2) Hearing - Summary: This is the agenda for the public hearing on the DOLs proposed amendments to Section 408(b)(2) regulation on fee disclosure to be held Monday, March 31, 2008. This agenda indicates the order of presentation of oral comments and testimony. In the absence of special circumstances, each presenter will be allotted ten minutes in which to complete his or her presentation.
Located at: U.S. Department of Labor (PDF File). Click on headline for full article.
Written Testimony Submitted to DOL for Section 408(b)(2) Hearing - Summary: This page provides all the written testimony submitted to the DOL on their proposed amendments to Section 408(b)(2) regulation on fee disclosure.
Located at: U.S. Department of Labor. Click on headline for full article.
Headline News
Company Must Restore $1.5 million to 401k Plan
Labor Department Obtains Court Order Appointing Independent Fiduciary for Abandoned Plan
