May 26, 2010 — The number of large U.S. companies that are replacing defined benefit (DB) programs with account-based retirement plans for new salaried employees continues to be on the upswing. —
Continue reading “Fortune 100 Companies Continue Shift away from Pension Plans” »
By Brian O’Connell
Increasingly, economists and stock market pundits are sounding the alarm over an imminent bear market.
* Economist Nouriel Roubini predicts that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will fall by 20%.
* Reuter’s financial blogger Felix Salmon offers a similar warning, telling investors that unless you're a large institution, get out of the stock market right now. “Stocks are dangerous things to own,” writes Salmon. "We are entering an era of massive volatility. You, as an individual investor, just simply don't have the risk appetite to be able to deal with that kind of volatility."
This 2010 Guide to ERISA Reporting and Disclosure was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Human Resource Services practice to help plan sponsors, plan administrators, plan trustees, attorneys and accountants comply with the reporting and disclosure requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)and the Internal Revenue Code. The Guide is useful in:
* Identifying forms to be filed and distributed annually
* Developing controls for compliance, including an internal calendar for reporting and disclosure
* Determining and coordinating reporting and disclosure items for actuaries, attorneys and accountants to prepare
* Identifying special reporting and disclosure requirements for plan installation, amendment, termination, etc.
* Evaluating administrative considerations in establishing a new or supplemental plan
* Advising on responsibility for compliance with the reporting and disclosure rules
Daisy Maxey, On Tuesday May 11, 2010, 11:03 pm EDT
The Employee Benefits Security Administration hopes to move forward with a regulation on investment advice for individual account plans, such as 401(k)s, within the next few months, said , assistant secretary of labor for the Labor Department agency.
Continue reading “Regulation Forthcoming On 401(k) Investment Advice” »
May 10, 2010 — Sixty-eight percent of employers reported that their company allows 401(k) participants to contribute 25% or more of their earnings, according to a survey by BLR. —
Continue reading “Companies Allow Higher 401(k) Contributions” »
Arnerich Massena & Associates, Inc.
April 2010
Contributors:
Tony Arnerich; Howard Biggs; Vincent Galindo; Jacob O’Shaughnessy, CFA; Jillian Perkins
https://www.am-a.com/company/research/wp_participantchoice.pdf
“In our last analysis, we found that between 1995 and 2006, DB [defined benefit] plans outperformed DC [defined contribution] plans by an average of 1 percentage point per year. Earlier studies also found that, over time, DB plans attained higher returns than 401(k) plans. In this year’s analysis, the results remain in line with past analyses; DB plans outperform DC plans by roughly an average of 1 percentage point a year.”
– “Defined Benefit vs. 401(k) Investment Returns: The 2006-2008 Update” Insider, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2009
As we watch assets in defined benefit plans decline relative to assets in defined contribution plans, it has become clear that American workers’ retirement security rests squarely on the shoulders of the employer-sponsored, participant-directed retirement savings plan. All parties in the retirement plan industry, from recordkeepers to advisers to plan sponsors, are cognizant of this and have enthusiastically worked to create a system that will result in retirement security for participants. Over the past decade, retirement plans have been the beneficiary of a variety of “improvements,” including bells and whistles of all sorts. Participants have been inundated with a growing spectrum of investment choices, reams of materials meant to educate and inform their investment choices, and advice to further guide their investment strategy.
So why is it that participant-directed accounts continue to underperform defined benefit accounts, regardless of the number and quality of investment options offered?
Continue reading “Conservation of Choice: Simplifying Investment Options to Better Serve Participants” »
by joeplemon on April 12, 2010
From its high in October 2007 through its low in March 2009, the S & P Index fell nearly 57%. Many 401(k)s likewise plummeted drastically, forcing many to delay or scale back their retirements and bringing on the chorus of “failed experiment” in describing the 401(k) strategy. But is it?
Continue reading “New Study on 401(k): Failed Experiment or Solid Plan?” »
By Brett Owens
Retirement kiss
of death:”I’m from the guvmint”
And I’m here to help!”
Last week our local “Casey Research Phyle” got together at a local restaurant to banter about the usual talk you’d expect to overhear at such a place – like government confiscation of retirement plans, expatriation, wiring money to Central America, and our favorite shorting techniques – you know, the usual.
Continue reading “Why Your 401K and IRA Savings Could Soon Be a Prime Government Target” »
March 11, 2010 — The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained consent judgments providing for restitution of more than $12 million by plan officials and service providers involved with the employee stock ownership plan sponsored by The Employee Ownership Holding Co. of Stockton, California, and Fife, Washington. —
Continue reading “DoL Recovers More than $12M for Calif. Company ESOP Participants” »
Feb 02, 2010 — A recent survey conducted by ING’s U.S. Retirement Services indicates those employed in the higher education community are growing more nervous about their ability to retire comfortably, yet few are acting on their concerns. —
Continue reading “Higher Ed Employees not Acting on Retirement Concerns” »