Category Archives: 401K

By: John Burke
Email: jburke@starboardasset.com

The 401(k) world is full of target and life cycle mutual funds which are loaded with high cost and feel good marketing material . These funds do not work in down markets as witnessed by their poor performance last year. They are just another gimmick from Wall Street and the mutual fund industry. According to a recent article in the Financial Times, target date funds geared toward 401(k) participants due to retire in 2010 lost an average of 24% in 2008.
Continue reading “Small to Medium Corporate 401(k)s are a National Disgrace” »

Fred Schneyer – 07/08/2009
A woman accused of stealing from a co-worker’s 401(k) account has been sentenced to a one-year jail term.

A Justice Department news release said a federal judge also mandated that Dana Wachter serve three years of supervised probation and pay $38,000 in restitution for the total stolen from her co-worker.

Wachter was accused of using the co-worker’s Social Security and other personal ID numbers to authorize an $18,000 payout from the co-worker’s 401(k), and then cashing the resulting check.

Wachter was sentenced in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. She was indicted in June 2008 on one count each of aggregated identity theft, mail fraud, and theft from an employee benefit covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

June 23, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – New research by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR) suggests employers have been slow to recognize the personnel management implications of the shift away from traditional pension programs, and their interest in retirement-related initiatives is still driven by their value in attracting and retaining employees.
Continue reading “Study Finds Employers not Addressing Retirement Challenges” »

By Ian Salisbury
Wall Street Journal

If the issue of revenue sharing by mutual funds in 401(k) plans hasn’t gotten your attention, consider this: It may mean you are paying far more to support your retirement plan’s back-office costs than the person sitting next to you.

“Revenue sharing,” a controversial aspect of many companies’ defined-contribution savings plans, involves using money some investors think goes toward managing mutual funds to cover the costs of services like calculating account balances and mailing out statements. Critics have long said these costs should be explicit, making it easier for employers and investors to assess each plans’ true merit.
Continue reading “Not All Pay Share of Revenue Sharing; Retirement-Plan Costs Fall Only on Some” »

Pension & Benefits Daily: All Issues

An Anheuser-Busch Cos. employee filed a proposed class action June 25 alleging the company breached its Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duties by using a risky qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) (Parsons v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., M.D. Fla., No. 3:09-cv-584-J-25MCR, lawsuit filed 6/25/09).

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by employee David K. Parsons, alleged that Anheuser-Busch had an obligation to use a less risky QDIA to hold the cash proceeds employees received after it converted the common stock in its pension plan following a stock sale to InBev N.V./S.A. last November.
Continue reading “Anheuser-Busch Employee Files Class Action Alleging Pick of Risky QDIA Was a Breach” »

By Money Management Executive
July 2, 2009

Advisors to 401(k) plans recently have revisited the wisdom of offering annuities, in light of last year’s severe market downturn. But group annuities are being criticized for subjecting investors to lockup periods of five years or longer and a variety of additional fees.
Continue reading “Group Annuities May Be Inappropriate for 401(k)s” »

By Sandra Block, USA TODAY

Your employer has canceled bagel Mondays, and the lavender hand lotion in the bathroom has disappeared.

When you report a computer problem to IT, someone shows up at your desk with a roll of duct tape.

Given the severity of the downturn, employees have learned to live with a certain amount of corporate belt-tightening. But cutbacks in matching contributions to your 401(k) plan are much harder to stomach.

More than a quarter of large companies have suspended matching contributions to their employees’ 401(k) plans or plan to do so in the near future, according to a survey by CFO Research Services and Charles Schwab.
Continue reading “401(k) has advantages even if employer cuts match” »

What’s Your Number?
By Jeff Brown
New York Times

The question came the other day from an old friend with a one-man business: “What’s your number?” It’s the latest way of asking, “how much money do I need to retire?”
I’ve been asked this many, many times in my years as a personal-finance columnist. I used to take a deep breath, then begin a discourse on pensions, Social Security, life expectancy, plans to pass assets to children, business succession, expected rates of return, inflation … Then, finding that people really wanted a simple, easy answer, I came up with one: “three million dollars.” That’s what you need to retire. No matter who you are, where you live, what your expectations. Trust me.
Continue reading “What’s Your Number? By Jeff Brown” »

Fred Schneyer – 06/08/2009

As small-business owners fret about their ability to offer a 401(k) match, investment professionals can help.

Planadviser.com
Continue reading “Small-Business Owners Worry about Keeping 401(k) Match” »

Pension & Benefits Daily: All Issues > 2009 > June > 06/03/2009 > Analysis & Perspective

To save jobs, some private and government employers have instituted voluntary and involuntary unpaid leave programs for current employees to deal with decreased profits and budget deficits. Reduced hours or unpaid leave can have an unexpected negative effect on employees’ benefits, including eligibility in pension plans, matching contributions, and health coverage.
Continue reading “Economy Driven Furloughs May Impact Pension, Health, Fringe Benefits” »