Center for Due Diligence Shuts Down; Phil Chiricotti Retires
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In This Issue
Items of Special Interest to Service Providers
Center for Due Diligence Shuts Down; Phil Chiricotti Retires Summary: On Christmas morning, the retirement plan advisory industry was greeted with the news that the Center for Due Diligence (CFDD) was shutting down. Phil Chiricotti, President of CFDD, is retiring at the age of 71. In an email to us, he said, "It is time."
Source: 401khelpcenter.com
ERISA Issues for Solicitor's Fees Summary: Not much has been written about ERISA considerations for referring investment managers to retirement plans and the receipt of solicitor's fees for a referral. However, there are a host of legal issues and the purpose of this article is to alert people about the issues and risks.
Source: Natlawreview.com
Key 401k Supreme Court Suit Will Shake up Retirement Plan Advisers Summary: Retirement plan experts are eyeing a key U.S. Supreme Court case that could shake up the way financial advisers work with their retirement plan clients. The case in question is the famed Glenn Tibble v. Edison International suit, which was filed in 2007 and was a pioneer among lawsuits brought by employees against their employers for excessive 401k fees.
Source: Investmentnews.com (free registration may be required)
Grow Sales by Growing Relationships With Advisors Summary: TPAs and advisors are natural partners. Here are a few ideas to strengthen relationships and grow sales with advisors.
Source: Tparesources.com
Insight: Studies, Research and White Papers
Retirement Readiness: A Broader Perspective Summary: This paper creates an awareness of significant obstacles that employees face as they enter retirement. Specifically, this paper highlights debt risk in retirement, cognitive risk in retirement, and healthcare issues in retirement.
Source: Multnomahgroup.com
DC Participants Seek Certainty Summary: The desire of plan sponsors and participants to increase the certainty of reaching retirement objectives increases the focus on retirement income as the expected destination; yet neither group is fully grasping the trade-offs between the expectation for performance/return and the probability of success. PIMCO's Philip Chao discusses the DC plan design process, suggesting that plan sponsors start with setting the plan's objective and defining how to measure success.
Source: Pimco.com
Greater Protections Needed for 401k Forced Transfers and Inactive Accounts Summary: Millions of employees change jobs each year and some leave their savings in their former employers' 401k plans. If their accounts are small enough and they do not instruct the plan to do otherwise, plans can transfer their savings into an IRA without their consent. In this report, the GAO examines the implications for plan participants of being forced out of plans and into these IRAs.
Source: Gao.gov Summary: Citing results from Callan's annual DC Trends Survey, paper explores plan sponsor adoption of PPA provisions to see how they have benefited, where they have met challenges, and where they could do more. Organizes around seven takeaways to help sponsors better position their plans in 2015.
Source: Callan.com
Target-Date Funds
Six Vital Questions to Keep a Retirement Glide Path on Course Summary: Target-date funds adjust each participant's asset allocations as they move towards retirement. But does that glide path stay on course? Russell's Josh Cohen and Rod Greenshields discuss the dynamics of retirement glide paths and the need to keep asset allocation assumptions in synch with market conditions and other variables. They layout six basic questions on the effectiveness of a target-date series glide path.
Source: Russell.com
Compliance and Regulatory Related
Year-End Compliance Testing Overview Summary: The end of the calendar year is upon us, which means the plan year end for many qualified plans. It will be time for plan sponsors to collect complete employee data to enable their service providers to perform the numerous compliance tests required to retain the plans tax qualified status. This article provides a brief description of the required defined contribution plan compliance tests as well as an overview of the census data collection process.
Source: Markleyactuarial.com
Have You Had Your Retirement Plan Check-Up This Year? Summary: A retirement plan needs regular care to keep it operating properly. Your plan's care should include a regular review of your plan's basic operations. These one-page checklists from the IRS are a quick way to start your review.
Source: Irs.gov
2015 Reporting & Disclosure Calendar for Benefit Plans Summary: This detailed 27 page Reporting & Disclosure Calendar for Benefit Plans is intended to indicate general reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to pension and health and welfare benefit plans on an annual basis. It does not cover all special requirements that may apply in a particular year due to an extraordinary event (e.g. plan termination) or that may apply only to a particular class of participants (e.g. highly compensated employees or nonresident aliens).
Source: Sibson.com
IRS Announces Change to Retirement Plan Determination Letter Process Summary: The IRS has issued Announcement (Ann.) 2015-01, Changes to Employee Plans Determination Letter Processing, alerting retirement plan sponsors and administrators of procedural changes that will take effect February 1, 2015. While 2015-01 specifically addresses the application of these changes to individually designed defined contribution (DC) plans, the same changes will apply to pre-approved DC plans that seek an IRS determination letter regarding their qualified status.
Source: Ascensus.com
Video: Plans Can't Have Scrivener Errors Summary: Mistaken plan provisions are often referred to as "scrivener's errors." Such errors can occur when "extra" plan language is written into a document accidentally, or when necessary plan language is inadvertently omitted from the plan. In either case, the result can be a costly.
Source: Erisasunscreen.com
Puerto Rico Treasury Announces Key Benefit Plan Limits for 2015 Summary: Here are Puerto Rico's qualified retirement plan limits for 2015. Plan sponsors should ensure that documents and employee communications are updated to reflect the adjusted 2015 limits, and take steps to properly apply these limits in the administration of Puerto Rico qualified or dual-qualified retirement plans.
Source: Xerox.com
Understanding the New IRA Rollover Rule Summary: After a recent court decision, the IRS has changed its policies regarding IRA rollovers. The new rules may limit your ability to make certain rollovers between IRAs. This document explains the new rules.
Source: Relius.net
Marketplace News
This eNewsletter is a digest of information published by a variety of web-based sources on 401k and related issues and is published as a service to our users. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC is not the author of the material unless specifically noted. Articles are copyrighted to their publishers. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact the source site immediately. All links were tested before this eNewsletter was e-mailed to you to ensure that they are still functional, but publishers do move or delete articles. Therefore, we can't guarantee that the links provided will remain operational. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC does not endorse and disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the material. Reliance on this material should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. THIS NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE INVESTMENT, TAX, ACCOUNTING OR LEGAL ADVICE. Copyright © 2014 by 401khelpcenter.com, LLC. All rights reserved. No reproductions without prior authorization, but you are free to email this copy (in its entirety) along to colleagues or clients. This newsletter may not be posted to any website. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC
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