BPP401k.com Newsletter July 1

Cost and Compliance; How to assess your retirement plan in this recession During this recession, business owners are concerned with decreasing cash flows. As a result, many are scrutinizing their retirement plans to ensure that they’re spending wisely.

Changes to SBA 504 Loan Program Will Allow Businesses to Refinance Existing Debt, Expand, Create New Jobs Small businesses seeking to expand will be able to refinance existing loans used to purchase real estate and other fixed assets as a result of permanent changes to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 Certified Development Company loan program.

CFDD October 5-7, 2009 Advisor Conference ADAPT, SURVIVE & PROSPER The CFDD's Advisor Conference is an all business event designed to help retirement plan advisors adapt to unprecedented challenges. Distinguished by accomplished advisor attendance and rich content, the advisor-centric conference has become the industry's premier networking and educational event. To benefit from unbiased guidance, generate NEW business now, IMPROVE investment returns and LIMIT liability, register at a discount NOW!

Saving Habits Change Little, Despite the Economy Despite U.S. employees sustaining record losses in their 401(k) savings in 2008, their 401(k) saving and investing habits showed very little change, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates Located at: Hewitt Associates.

Study Illuminates 401(k) Participants' Preferences for Fee Disclosures While the national policy debate about 401(k) fee disclosure heats up, new research conducted by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies(R) sheds light on preferences among American workers for receiving information about fees and expenses associated with participating in their employers' 401(k) plans. Located at: marketwatch.com.

House Committee Approves Bill to Restrict 401(k) Advisers An influential House committee approved a comprehensive package of retirement legislation that includes a provision that would permit only independent financial advisers to counsel 401(k) participants on their investment decisions. Located at: Investment News.

Employers Are Divided Over Adequacy of 401ks Employers are evenly split between those who say their 401k plans can provide adequate retirement savings for employees and those who say they can't or are unsure, according to a Mercer survey. Located at: Workforce.com (free registration may be required).

Employers Back 401(k) as Vital Retirement Savings Tool A new study from Schwab reveals that a majority of senior finance and human resource executives in corporate America support the 401(k) as an effective savings tool for retirement. Located at: Businesswire.com.

IRS Allows Struggling Employers to Reduce or Suspend Nonelective Contributions to 401(k) Plans Under regulations proposed by the IRS, an employer undergoing a substantial business hardship can reduce or suspend 401(k) safe harbor nonelective contributions during a plan year. The rules give employers an alternative to terminating their safe harbor plans. Located at: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Study Shows 401k Participants' Continued Resilience During Volatile First Quarter of 2009 In the face of the U.S. stock market's 44% drop over the 15 months ended March 31, 2009, the 3 million participants in defined contribution plans administered by Vanguard experienced a median decline in their account balance of less than half of that for the period, according to new research from Vanguard. Located at: 401khelpcenter.com

More 401k Plan Sponsors Considering Collective Trusts Move over mutual funds. The number of collective investment trusts available to institutional investors is exploding, and the trusts are offering many 401k plan sponsors a less expensive way to provide competitive investment options to employees. Located at: Workforce.com (free registration may be required).

Scrutinizing Target-Date Funds In a joint hearing before the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators questioned the make-up of target-date funds and the disclosures related to them. Such funds have been increasingly popular with plan sponsors -- as well as employees -- but even some with the same target date have widely divergent equity allocations. Located at: Human Resource Executive Online.

Changes on the Way for Target Date Funds? Regulators are eyeing the popular retirement plan options, which recorded surprisingly poor results last year.

Borrowing From 401ks A new government report breaks from conventional wisdom and casts doubt on some long-held beliefs about the negative effects of borrowing from a 401k fund. Shifting expensive consumer debt to defined-contribution plans may make sense for some workers. Located at: Human Resource Executive Online.

Default, Framing and Spillover Effects: The Case of Lifecycle Funds in 401k Plans Important behavioral factors such as default and framing effects are increasingly being employed to optimize decision-making in a variety of settings, including individually-directed retirement plans. Yet such approaches may have unintended "spillover" effects, as this paper shows with regard to the introduction of lifecycle funds in U.S. 401k plans. Located at: Pension Research Council at The Wharton School (free registration may be required).

U.S. Retirement Market Data for 2008 ICI published its annual report on the U.S. retirement market, which shows that Americans held $14.0 trillion in retirement assets at year-end 2008, down 22 percent from year-end 2007. Located at: Investment Company Institute

Modest Retirement Income Loss from Stock Crash? The Urban Institute has modeled the impact on retirement earnings of three alternative scenarios for equity values following the big 2008 stock market crash. Under a partial recovery in equities scenario, the majority of all workers in the study, who ranged in age from 43 to 67, will see no loss in retirement income compared to a scenario in which no crash occurred. Located at: Mind Over Market Blog.

Monthly Regulatory Round-Up This monthly regulatory round-up produced by Towers Perrin is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during May 2009 that may be relevant to large plan sponsors. Located at: Towers Perrin.

Administration Explores 'R Bond' As Option for Retirement Accounts Officials in the Obama administration are moving quickly to develop the investment infrastructure behind the president's proposal for mandatory automatic enrollment in individual retirement accounts, which could be supported by the creation of Treasury-issued retirement bonds. Located at: Investment News (free registration may be required).

Summary of The Defined Contribution Plan Fee Transparency Act of 2009 This is the official summary of a bill (H.R. 2779) that would add new Section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code requiring notice to plan participants and taxes for failure to comply. Located at: American Benefits Council

ABC's Proposed Modifications to H.R. 1984 Paper from the American Benefits Council with suggested modifications to H.R. 1984, The 401k Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act Of 2009. Located at: American Benefits Council.

Austen Riggs Center Selects MassMutual for 403(b) Plan

White Horse Advisors Selected by Republic National Distributing to Provide Plan Services

Great-West to Sponsor 403(b) Prototype Plan

Diversified Investment Advisors Introduces Retirement Readiness Report

CPI Introduces Same-Day Investment of Payroll Contributions

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