Technical Competence
Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler recently presented the legislature with recommendations for increasing Oregonians’ retirement savings, access to a retirement plan and ability to enroll in one. The recommendations are the work of the state’s Retirement Security Task Force, which the legislature...
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Suppose you’re trying to research the attrition rate that TPAs have experienced as a result of fees that are passed on to participants. In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us whether there is a benchmark rate prevalent in the industry.
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The DOL has issued numerous fee disclosure rules, including regs under ERISA Section 408(b)(2), to help fiduciaries determine what a “reasonable” fee is. In this week’s MarketBeat. Kimberley Flett and Jeannine Souders discuss what those regulations require of service providers.
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Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the Secure Annuities for Employee (SAFE) Retirement Act (S. 1270) last year to reform the public and private pension systems and, amid recent retirement reform hearings on Capitol Hill, his public pension reform idea is now getting noteworthy support...
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Public pensions at all levels became healthier in 2013, according to recent studies. Wilshire Consulting’s examinations of state, county and city pension plan funding show that their funding ratio improved last year.Wilshire’s “2014 Report on State Retirement Systems: Funding Levels and Asset...
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The states may serve as laboratories and “try novel social and economic experiments,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, and a recent NTSA webcast addressed how they do that regarding retirement systems. In “Public Pensions in Flux? A Review of State Retirement System and Alternatives...
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Washington has been training its eye on fees and transparency for years now. But so is the industry. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) is the latest organization to convene a group trying to make sure broker-dealers are giving investors fee disclosures they can...
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What are the limits of an employer’s direct pre-tax contributions to an employee’s 403(b) contribution? Is that a limit on the match percentage? In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder answers these questions, as well as whether an employer can exclude certain classes of employees from the match.
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It’s only September, but the end of the 2014 plan year is fast approaching. That means more than compiling data for information reporting and preparing for the 2015 plan year — it also means providing notices to defined contribution plan participants before New Year’s Eve. Prudential outlines the...
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The Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2014-01 to help plan fiduciaries find missing participants and beneficiaries in terminated defined contribution plans. In this week’s MarketBeat, Linda Segal Blinn, J.D. discusses DOL Field Assistance Bulletin 2014-01, which applies...
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The Garden State is the latest state whose credit rating has suffered due to a pension funding shortfall. Credit agencies have downgraded their ratings of New Jersey debt due to the state’s worsening pension funding ratio.CIO.com reports that Fitch has downgraded New Jersey’s municipal bonds from A...
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The California Controller’s office soon will make information about the state’s approximately 130 public pension systems available on a new website. California Controller John Chiang on Sept. 8 unveiled the site, which provides a wide range of data on city and county finances. The new site...
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The California Controller’s office soon will make information about the state’s approximately 130 public pension systems available on a new website. California Controller John Chiang on Sept. 8 unveiled the site, which provides a wide range of data on city and county finances. The new site...
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The Rhode Island Democratic primary is being touted as more than a way to choose the party’s 2014 gubernatorial candidate — in a sense, reforming the state’s pension system is on the ballot as well. Rhode Island Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who is running for governor, implemented the reform in 2011....
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Can a public safety officer who retired at age 50 take withdrawals from his individual retirement account without a 10% penalty tax? He has been told that the 10% penalty tax is waived for public safe officers at age 50 or over. In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us whether this is...
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The degree of fiduciary responsibility for non-ERISA plans, such as those sponsored by public education and religious organizations, continue to generate many questions from plan sponsors and the advisors that serve them. In this week’s MarketBeat, Mike Webb argues that this is understandable, and...
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The Land of Lincoln has earned a dubious distinction, according to a new report by Moody’s: It is without peer in how its state pension liability compares to its revenue. Moody’s says that Illinois’ pension debt amounts to a whopping 318% of its revenue in 2012. Its three-year average for the...
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The Federal Reserve’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) shows mixed results concerning 403(b) plans. The SCF finds that overall, while retirement plan participation remained relatively flat over the past three years, the median and average value of those retirement plan accounts rose “...
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Prospects for state and local employees’ financial security in retirement are better than that of their private-sector counterparts, according to a new paper from the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA). Nonetheless, the paper argues, steps still...
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Suppose an employer provides 100% vesting in its 403(b) plan. There is a 60-day wait for the employer match (100%, up to 4%), and an employee needs to work 20 hours per week to qualify for the match. The employer has no highly compensated employees. What type of plan setup could the employer...
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