Technical Competence
Is the Form 5500 worth filling out and filing in the first place? Not everyone is convinced, reports Benefitspro. But file they must, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has come to the rescue, offering suggestions in its recent report, “Private Pensions:Targeted Revisions Could Improve...
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Is Washington obsessed with rollovers? ASPPA Executive Director and CEO Brian Graff thinks so. “There’s no one who doesn’t care about this issue. There is an obsession with the rollover issue in DC,” said Graff in the July 22 webinar, “Washington Update: Rollovers, Rollovers, Rollovers — it’s All...
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California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Board members are required to receive 24 hours of financial training every two years under a law just enacted. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on July 18 signed into law AB1163, a measure Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) introduced to enhance...
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Suppose a 62 year-old who is drawing a reduced Social Security benefit understands that he can earn up to $15,480 before beginning to lose Social Security benefits. He calculates that he will be about $3,000 above the $15,480 from substitute teaching income; can he contribute the $3,000 to his 403(...
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Detroit may well be the poster child for municipal pension irresponsibility (though if there were an award for that, it would be extremely competitive). But give credit where it’s due: the Motor City has also been a model for how to dig out of the public pension hole. Kevyn Orr, the city’s...
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Are graft and fraud the next big thing for state pension plans? An industry segment already beset by massive underfunding, bankruptcy court proceedings and other litigation, politics and pension envy doesn’t need any more bad news. But that may be exactly what it gets. The former chief executive...
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On July 9, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) signed into law a measure that makes it illegal to transfer or assign public pension benefits. The Show-Me State is the first to enact such legislation. The new law arose, at least in part, in response to the practice of third parties providing a cash...
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The IRS on July 11 announced that it is withdrawing a proposal it made in 1981 for an amendment to regulations governing IRA rollovers. The proposed amendment to Treas. Reg. § 1.408-4(b)(4)(ii) would have applied the rollover limitation on an IRA-by-IRA basis. This withdrawal affects individuals...
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When the IRS writes its essay about how it spent its summer vacation, it will report about how it rolled out a new compliance initiative project focusing on whether non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements are operating in accordance with Internal Revenue Code Section 409A. So says Linda...
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Defined benefit plans, DC plans and 403(b) annuity arrangements, take note: July 31 is right around the corner. That’s the day by which most plans must file the dreaded and onerous Form 5500. The clock is ticking on filing the form that reports on 2013. The form must be filed by the end of the...
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NTSA is always busy working on your behalf and that of those whom you serve. Following is a look at what’s been going on in selected states, as well as NTSA’s assessment and what action we are taking. Pennsylvania Both the House of Representatives and Senate are in recess until Sept. 15. Before...
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An agent working with a public school superintendent to include retirement benefits in his individual contract reviews the wording the district plans to use. She sees that they have given the superintendent a choice of medical insurance OR an employer contribution to the 403(b) plan. In Tech Talk,...
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Forty-two states and the District of Columbia allow charter schools. They tend to treat their benefits packages in the same way as a typical for-profit employer and not in the way a traditional K-12 school does. In MarketBeat, Diane D. Capone of Lincoln Investment writes that it is important to...
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The Treasury Department issued a rule July 1 that essentially allows employees to convert part of their IRA or 401(k) balances into a longevity annuity. Under the rule, an IRA or 401(k) can allow participants to use $125,000 or up to 25 percent of their IRA or 401(k) — whichever is less — to buy a...
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An agent with a product provider insists that an employee can take distribution from his 457(b) plan and roll it over into the same employer’s 403(b) plan; he is under 70 ½ and actively employed with that employer. The agent says there is new guidance making this permissible. In Tech Talk, Ellie...
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Controversy persists in the Tar Heel State over the way information is disclosed — or not disclosed — about how state pension funds are invested and the deals behind those investments. Both houses of the state legislatures are considering bills that would affect such disclosures. Senate Bill 878...
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Cash and securities holdings of the 100 largest public employee pension systems in the United States — which account for 89.4 percent of domestic public pension financial activity — grew during the first quarter of 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions....
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The federal government, a purveyor of regulations and legislation, has set before the 403(b) community a veritable blue plate special — and one with a long shelf life to boot. NTSA President Susan Diehl of PenServ Services, Inc., outlined what’s on that plate at NTSA’s 403(b) Summit in Washington,...
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Relying on the traditional methods for determining a client’s tolerance for risk can be risky in itself, according to Michael Kitces, speaking at the 2014 NTSA 403(b) Summit in Washington, D.C., on June 24. Kitces is a partner and director of research at the Pinnacle Advisory Group. Putting a...
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The watchword of the day is patience. And detailed preparation. Speaking to a packed room at a June 23 general session of the NTSA 403(b) Summit in Washington, D.C., Kristi Cook, head of an eponymous law firm, and Ellie Lowder, of TSA Consulting, outlined the challenges facing the 403(b) industry...
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