BPP401k.com Newsletter March 30

Banks compete for retirement savings Retirement savings in the U.S. may swell to $4 trillion over the next four years, and the nation’s largest banks are angling for a bigger share of that money. Source: Stltoday.com

Nine reasons to be optimistic about retirement When it comes to retirement in America, there are plenty of reasons to be depressed. Case in point: The results of the just released 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey which has been tracking the attitudes of Americans for more
than two decades. Source: Market Watch

Fiduciary Benchmarking of Retirement Plan Fees This is a Q&A with Tom Kmak of Fiduciary Benchmarking and David Witz of Fiduciary Risk Assessment on the significant interest in benchmarking of fees because of the recent introduction of retirement plan fee disclosure regulations and the rise in litigation related to plan fees. Source: Fiduciary Risk Assessment

Identifying Plan Fiduciaries Under ERISA Section 408(b)(2) - A Must Ask Must Tell Protocol A well crafted Fiduciary Acceptance and Acknowledgment Form that comprehensively covers fiduciary roles and responsibilities may be the most valuable engagement document in a service provider's arsenal. It is a prudent part of a due diligence process to identify fiduciaries, their roles and their liability. By having this disclosure on file, service providers have the information they need to verify fiduciary status to meet their disclosure obligations. Source: Fiduciary Risk Assessment

A Dummy's Guide to 401(k)s Bewildered? Just follow these rules. Source: Forbes

Employer Contributions Are Rebounding, but Move With Caution There is a trend towards restoring employer matching contributions, but just as the rules dictate how to suspend contributions, technical qualification requirements need to be satisfied when contributions are restored. Following the rules now can avoid future audit problems or the need to file under a voluntary correction program. Here are some tips for avoiding those problems. Source: Pensionsbenefitslaw.com

Understanding Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses As the sponsor of a retirement plan, you are helping your employees achieve a secure financial future. Sponsoring a plan, however, also means that you, or someone you appoint, will be responsible for making important decisions about the plan's management. Your decision making will include selecting plan investments or investment options and plan service providers. Many of your decisions will require you to understand and evaluate the costs to the plan. This booklet will help you better understand and evaluate your plan's fees and expenses. Source: U.S. Department of Labor.

The Impact Financial Education Has on Plan Participant Saving and Investing Behavior Increasingly, participant retirement education is being evaluated with the bottom line in mind, with companies demanding that the programs they roll out to their employees actually change behavior. It is about time for us to begin to track the statistical success of these programs, to evaluate them on the bottom line numbers and to ask the tough questions. Source: 401khelpcenter.com

Form 8955-SSA and 403(b) Plans For plan years prior to 2009, the DOL provided a limited exemption from many of the Form 5500 reporting requirements. Specifically, a 403(b) plan only needed to answer certain informational questions on the Form 5500 and did not need to complete and attach any schedule, including the Schedule SSA. For plan years beginning after 2008, the DOL has eliminated the limited exemption. Therefore, an ERISA 403(b) plan now must file a Form 5500 in the same manner as any other retirement plan, including attaching the required schedules, and if the plan is a large plan, the plan audit. The plan also will need to file a Form 8955-SSA. Source: Sungard/Relius.

Guidelines for Keeping It Simple Under 408(b)(2) Working through the technical terms of 408(b)(2) is not much different than putting together a picture puzzle. There are a lot of pieces which fit together in some very precise ways. But, in the end, the disclosures which are required are pretty straightforward and long pages of disclosure are not necessary or warranted. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Source: Businessofbenefits.com.

The High Cost of Not Knowing Retirement Plan Fees Are clients who run companies at risk because they don't understand their responsibilities as retirement plan sponsors? Here's how you can help them understand their duties. Source: AdvisorOne.

The Great Recession and 401k Plan Participant Behavior New research from Vanguard reveals that, despite the severe market downturn of 2008–2009, defined contribution plan savings continued to grow for most participants from 2005 through 2010. In fact, in 2010, average and median account balances reached their highest levels since Vanguard began tracking this data, and most metrics of participant saving and investing behavior returned to pre-recession levels. The study finds that participants' tendency to take no action on their plan accounts seems to have had a beneficial effect, in that participants did not overreact to market volatility during this period. Source: Vanguard

Who Gets Retirement Plans and Why: An Update Study finds that most workers who are likely to have the ability to save and to be focused primarily on saving for retirement are covered by an employer-provided retirement plan. of those most likely to desire to save for retirement in the current year, three-quarters had access to a pension plan through their own employer or their spouse’s employer, and 93 percent of those with access participated. Source: Investment Company Institute

Trends in the Fees and Expenses of Mutual Funds, 2010 Over the past two decades, average fees and expenses paid by mutual fund investors have fallen by more than half. In 1990, investors on average paid 200 basis points, or $2 for every $100 in assets, to invest in stock funds. Fees and expenses averaged 95 basis points for stock fund investors in 2010, a decline of 53 percent from 1990. Source: Investment Company Institute

Analysis: Pensions vs. 401k Returns New research by Towers Watson shows that defined benefit plans achieved better rates of return than defined contribution plans in 2008 by the widest margin since the early 2000s. However, in 2009, DC plans outperformed DB plans. Source: Employee Benefit News.

SunTrust Served With 401k Suit A retiree has sued SunTrust Banks, alleging that it favored investment plans operated by SunTrust or its subsidiaries that performed poorly and charged higher fees than plans offered by independent investment companies. Source: Planadviser.com.

IRS Answers Form 8955-SSA Questions To clarify some of the issues discussed in IRS's recent release of Form 8955-SSA, SunGard submitted several questions to the IRS and received responses from the IRS. The responses are not official guidance but the IRS indicated that they intend to include the questions and answers in upcoming materials posted on the IRS website. Source: Sungard/Relius.

1,176 New DB Plans and 5,098 401k Plans Approved by the IRS in Fiscal 2010 The Internal Revenue Service issued approved determination letters to 1,176 new defined benefit plans covering 483,455 participants and 6,747 defined contribution plans covering 1,069,095 participants during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011. There were 5,098 new 401k plans covering 349,492 participants included in the 6,747 defined contribution plan total, the IRS reported in the Internal Revenue Service Data Book, 2010. Source: CCH.

IRS Provides Compliance Tips for Employers With Pre-Approved Retirement Plans The IRS notes that, regardless of the type of retirement plan or pre-approved plan, the employer is responsible for making sure that the plan complies with all the legal requirements. In so doing, the employer needs to understand the service agreement and adoption agreement, pay close attention to all communication from the pre-approved sponsor and administrator, coordinate with the payroll processor, and periodically review the plan document and operations. The IRS sets out some tips for employers who have adopted pre-approved retirement plans. Source: CCH.

For more information about custom retirement plan design and how Benefit Plans Plus can help make your business more successful visit www.bpp401k.com

BPP401k.com Newsletter March 23

ERISA Compliance Guide: Tips and Traps from the Trenches Sweeping reforms introduced by the DOL over the past five years will become effective in 2011 and 2012 and are expected to present numerous and unique challenges for broker-dealers and advisers. This article provides a road map for broker-dealers to consider when developing and deploying an ERISA compliance program and emphasizes the need to address the effects of the firm's proffered strategy as it relates to implementation across all affected areas of the firm. Source: Pension-resources.com.

Two Truths and A Lie about Your 401(k) Have you ever played the game “Two Truths and a Lie?” It’s a classic get-to-know-you ice breaker that I recently played with some colleagues. The goal is to figure out which statement is actually a lie. In 2011, for those 49 years old or younger, you can put $16500 in your 401(k) account plus receive a match or profit share if your company provides one or both. This means anyone making $110000 or less a year can put in 15 percent ... Source: Forbes

401(k) Mistakes Job Hoppers Make Here’s how to keep your nest egg intact when moving on to a new job. Source: US NEWS

Retirement Coaching Gives Employees a Handle on Future Retirement looks a lot different from decades past when traditional pensions were common, Social Security was a sure thing and people had shorter life spans. Today, with more employees bearing the responsibility to prepare for a secure retirement, a growing number of employers are offering retirement coaching as part of their benefits package. Source: Society for Human Resource Management.

Small Law Firms May Want to Consider Tiered Profit Sharing 401k A tiered profit sharing 401k, also known as an advanced profit sharing plan, enables partnerships and other business types to customize profit sharing allocations in their 401k plan by group, tenure or age. This can allow the largest share of the firm's contributions to be allocated in tiers that reward partners at the highest percentage followed by descending percentages of allocations to groups comprised of attorneys, paralegals and administrative staff, etc. Source: Law.com.

Customer Service Pays Off for Plan Providers Firms offering retirement services to large and small employers are learning that attention to detail, an improved communication with the plan sponsors and, indirectly, plan participants can dramatically improve their customer retention and satisfaction rates. Source: Employee Benefit News.

An Improved Economic Forecast Brings Out the Old and the New in 401k Education Programs As the economy starts to stabilize, retirement plan experts say plan sponsors need to emphasize certain elements of their retirement education and advice programs to get workers back on track and saving for retirement. The first thing employers need to recognize is that employees are ready to hear the message again about saving for retirement. Source: Employee Benefit Adviser.

401k Account Balances as Monthly Retirement Income About a year ago, the Departments of Labor and Treasury issued a RFI about sustainable retirement income. The Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC), provided detailed and thoughtful responses to the questions. This article quotes four of the questions asked by those agencies and provides the answers given by IRIC. The purpose is not to persuade you to agree with those conclusions, but rather to encourage you to think about the questions and answers. Source: Reish & Reicher

New Puerto Rico Tax Code Means Significant Changes to Retirement Plans Employers with Puerto Rico employees should consider significant changes to the requirements for qualified retirement plans made by a new Puerto Rico tax code. Immediate action may be necessary to comply with tax and withholding requirements for plan distributions. Source: McDermott Will & Emery.

Should Target-Date Funds Be Managed Like DB Plans? Lately a variety of investment managers and financial services providers have been touting the idea that target-date funds (TDFs) should be managed like defined benefit plans. Typical recommendations include using "best in class" active managers, incorporating more specialized asset classes, or including a variety of alternative investments within TDFs. This commentary discusses the implications and challenges of adopting complex "DBization" strategies within a TDF for both defined contribution plan sponsors and participants. Source: Vanguard Research and Commentary

Are Target-Date Funds a Bad Idea? The most common complaint about TDFs is generally expressed as follows, "No fund based solely on years-to-retirement can be the best investment strategy for every participant with the same number of years to retirement." This article is written to give needed perspective to this issue. Source: Target Date Analytics

A Review of the 410kWire Influencers Summit Outlines the top trends the author found and expands on a few including: Improving Plan Outcomes, Advisor Is Ascendent, Leveraging Mobile and Social Technology and Disruption: From Where? Source: Retiremap Blog.

ERISA Compliance: An Actionable Approach for Investment Advisers Most RIAs have an advantage over traditional broker-dealers, as they have already been working on a level fee and transparent contractual basis. However, these new regulations are going to require RIAs to amend existing contracts, adjust work flow processes and enhance their value proposition in order to differentiate and compete in this new environment. This article sets forth some foundational questions and action items for firms to consider when seeking to identify and implement the necessary organizational and/or operational changes that may be required to comply with the new regulations. Source: Pension-resources.com

EBRI Releases Their 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey In a sign that Americans are recognizing the realities they face about their chances for a comfortable retirement, the 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) finds workers are more pessimistic than at any time in the two decades the RCS has been conducted: More than a quarter (27 percent) of workers now say they are "not at all confident" about retirement, up 5 percentage points from the level measured just one year ago. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

The 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey This 40 page report find that instead of making fundamental adjustments to their spending and saving patterns in response to the decline in confidence, workers continue to change their expectations about how they will transition from work to retirement in what has been called an age of "the new normal." Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute

Trends and Insights: Focusing on the Fiduciary Agenda Summary of Grant Thornton's 7th annual Retirement Plan Survey. Trends and insights: Focusing on the fiduciary agenda, seeks to gain a general assessment of the level of understanding of investments, fees and administrative practices related to retirement plans. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Grant Thornton's 7th Annual Retirement Plan Survey This is a 24 page report on the results of Grant Thornton's 7th annual Retirement Plan Survey. Covers investments, employer/employee contributions, enhancing plan participation, maintaining compliance, 403(b) plans, and defined benefit plans. Source: Grant Thornton LLP

A Look at 2010 Defined Contribution Investors Study examines retirement investors in private and public sector employer Defined Contribution plans, looking at recent account experience, loan and hardship withdrawal patterns and investor demographics. Source: ING Institute for Retirement Research

Plan Sponsor Survey: Structuring DC Plan Automatic Features to Pump Up Retirement Savings The two facts combine to create a contribution gap that is looming as large today as the participation gap just a few years ago. Plan sponsors need now to devise strategies as effective in raising contribution levels as automatic enrollment has been in raising participation rates. Source: Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association

Investments in DC Plans: Results and Analysis From the 2010 Survey of DC Plan Sponsors To better understand how plan sponsors are helping employees manage today's investment challenges, Towers Watson's 2010 Survey of DC Plan Sponsors asked employers about investment menus, communications regarding investment and other issues. This article reviews the results of the survey. Source: Towers Watson.

Employer in Stock Drop Suit Awarded $50k in Costs A federal judge in Illinois has awarded the employer in a stock-drop case $50,000 in costs nearly a year after ruling against the employee filing the case. Source: Plansponsor.com.

Certain Investment Options and Practices That May Restrict Withdrawals Not Widely Understood 401k plan sponsors are responsible for offering an array of appropriate investment options, and participants are responsible for directing their investments among those options. While participants expect to be able to switch investment options or withdraw money from their accounts, during the recent economic downturn, some 401k plan sponsors and participants found that they were restricted from doing so. GAO was asked to (1) identify some of the specific investments and practices that prevented plan sponsors and participants from accessing their 401k plan assets and (2) determine any changes the DOL could make to assist sponsors in understanding the challenges posed by the investments and practices that restricted withdrawals. Source: Government Accountability Office.

ASPPA Clarifies Position on Proposed Definition of Fiduciary Regulation Brian Graff clarifies that ASPPA strongly supports the DOL's efforts to update the Definition of Fiduciary regulation and by doing so, provide plan fiduciaries with the necessary information to understand what type of recommendations they are receiving. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

DCPIC Position on Participant Rollovers from Qualified Retirement Plans Current and proposed regulations however can prevent the advisor to a retirement plan from also providing advice to individual participants if that advisor receives compensation from that advice. The Defined Contribution Plan Investment Council urges regulators to review applicable regulations with the ultimate goal to exempt from prohibited transaction status the provision of advice to participants by that plan's advisor(s) at the time of a distributable event. Source: Defined Contribution Plan Investment Council

For more information about custom retirement plan design and how Benefit Plans Plus can help make your business more successful visit www.bpp401k.com

BPP401k.com Newsletter March 16

Why You Shouldn’t Hire Your Payroll Company To Run Your 401(k) Plan The top payroll providers offer services as third party administrators (TPAs) for 401(k) Plans. While it may be a natural segue from providing payroll, there are many reasons why you should avoid using them as your 401(k) plan’s TPA. Source: The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Retirement Readiness: The Next Key Metric for Advisors? Being financially prepared for retirement consistently ranks at or near the top of investors' lists of priorities regardless of their age, ethnicity, income level or gender. But shortsightedness and ignorance on the part of investors is often to blame for this woeful preparation, advisors and their clients are also to blame. Source: Financial-Planning.com.

Best Practices for Evaluating Employee Retirement Preparedness The first step in evaluating your employees' retirement preparedness is to examine your retirement plan data. All retirement benefits managers should review numbers on a quarterly basis, with a formal retirement preparedness analysis presented to the investment committee on an annual basis. This article covers the key retirement plan metrics that retirement benefits managers should benchmark in their quarterly and annual plan reviews. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Plan Distributions: Should I Stay or Should I Go? Both plan sponsors and participants are likely to be well-served if plan assets are retained in the plan beyond retirement or separation from service. Participants benefit from fiduciary oversight of an ERISA plan and lower expenses. Plan sponsors looking to act in the collective best interests of participants should opt for portfolios with professional, independent oversight with fee transparency. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Conerly on the Economy for March 2011 "Conerly on the Economy" displays charts of the most important economic indicators, with Bill's comments on the charts and the outlook. Bill Conerly connects the dots between the economy and business decisions, helping corporate executives and small business owners make more profitable decisions. Source: Conerly Consulting

The Value Of A Good TPA When it comes to retirement plan administration, too often retirement plan sponsors pick a third party administration (TPA) firm on price. This is a mistake because good TPA firms can provide a value in plan design and minimizing a plan sponsor’s liability that outweighs any savings by hiring a low cost TPA. Plan sponsors should be concerned on fees, but quality of plan administration is a more important criteria in choosing a TPA. Source: The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Simplify 401k Enrollment to Boost Participation Don't be surprised when employee's eyes glaze over after you hand them a nice looking folder from the plan provider and an SPD. And don't be shocked when the enrollment form is not completed by the stated deadline. Make it easy for employees and boost participation. Source: Allbusiness.com.

Take Control of Your DC Plan: Designing Successful Target-Date Strategies The industry has overwhelmingly gravitated toward target-date strategies, which are geared toward the participant's expected time horizon to retirement rather than risk tolerance, and adjust their asset allocations automatically over time to become more conservative as the targeted retirement date approaches. While many mutual fund providers have stepped up with pre-packaged target-date funds, plan sponsors are increasingly deciding to create their own custom target-date strategies as a mix of their core investment options. Source: NAGDCA.

A New Plan Design Feature - The "In-Plan" Roth Conversion Effective September 28, 2010, section 2112 of the "Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010" (H.R. 5297) added a new design feature to 401k and 403(b) plans to permit a conversion of certain non-Roth amounts that are eligible for rollover to be converted to Roth amounts and remain in a tax-advantaged plan. Source: Groom Law Group (PDF File).

Getting a Handle on 403(b) In California it is illegal for 403(b) participants to have the fiduciary protection afforded 401k participants. As a result, according to The Los Angeles Times the average investment fee charged to participating teachers in California is 211 basis points and teachers choose from among thousands of available investments, regardless of their fees or performance. Source: Profit Sharing/401k Council of America.

New Guidance on 403(b) Plan Terminations Plan sponsors wanting to terminate their 403(b) plans have struggled with a lack of clear guidance on certain key issues since 2007 when IRS regulations specifically authorized 403(b) plan terminations. Some of the termination requirements set out in those regulations – especially those related to distribution of plan assets – have raised difficult questions for some 403(b) plans. A recent revenue ruling from the IRS answers some of these questions. Source: Poyner Spruill LLP.

At ASPPA 401k Summit, Opportunity and 'Exemption' Dominate Discussion An uncertain regulatory environment means opportunity for advisors to enter the 401k market, especially those looking for new products and a way to diversify their revenue streams, said Brian Graff, CEO of the ASPPA, in an interview with AdvisorOne from the 401k Summit. Source: AdvisorOne.

WEBINAR: SEC's Study on Fiduciary Standards This is the recording of the SPARK Institute webinar on what the SEC's study on fiduciary standards means for brokers and investment advisers serving retirement plans. Source: SPARK Institute.

2011 Hot Topics in Retirement: A Changing Horizon The survey results show that employers are continuing to assess the most effective way to deliver retirement benefits to their employees and keep up with the evolving retirement landscape. Responses from more than 210 employers with plans that cover more than 6 million employees provided us a preview of the changes we can expect in the retirement landscape during 2011. Forty-six page report. Source: Aon Hewitt (PDF File).

5th Annual DC Consulting Support and Trends Survey Released by PIMCO Investment consultants, expecting lower capital market returns and more volatility, support broader asset diversification and custom target-date strategies for defined contribution plans, according to the 5th Annual Defined Contribution Consulting Support and Trends Survey released by PIMCO. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

DB Versus DC Plan Investment Returns: The 2008-2009 Update Towers Watson has been comparing investment rates of return in defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans for more than 10 years. This analysis updates their prior studies with investment returns for 2008 for a large set of plans and provides a snapshot of year-end returns for 2009 based on a small set of plan sponsors. Source: Towers Watson.

Sen. Harkin Envisions New Retirement Scheme to Supplant 401ks Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, would like to create a new private retirement system that is based on professionally managed pools of retirement funds. He doubts that Americans on their own can cobble together nest eggs big enough to finance their post-work needs. Source: Investmentnews.com.

Benefits Issues to Watch in 112th Congress The 112th Congress convened on January 5. The House and Senate remained focused on health care reform in the early weeks of the new session. While health care reform will likely remain high on the legislative agenda through the 2011-2012 legislative term, other issues that would affect benefit and compensation programs will likely come under discussion as the session progresses. Source: Towers Watson.

Retirement Plans Impacted by New Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code The revised code contains new rules governing retirement plans intended to be qualified in Puerto Rico, many of which track similar provisions in the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Section 1081.01 is generally effective January 1, 2011, although some provisions will be effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012. This three page article reviews the most significant changes. Source: McConnell Valdés LLC (PDF File).

A Q&A With Phyllis Borzi, the DOL Power broker Aiming to Remake the Retirement Market In this Q&A, Borzi said that part of what she's doing is pushing through many regulations that were started under Campbell. He took issue with that, saying by e-mail; "I have great respect for Assistant Secretary Borzi, but she and I disagree on a great many policy issues. While she did complete the final regulations on fee disclosures in a manner largely consistent with the efforts of the Bush Administration, she generally has charted a radically different policy direction on most other initiatives." Source: RIABiz.

SEC's Rominger Mulling Timeline for 12(b)-1 Fee Rule Eileen Rominger, the new director of the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission, is still sorting through her agenda and hasn't yet decided how to proceed with rule making on 12(b)-1 fees. Source: Investmentnews.com.

DOL Fiduciary Regulation Reform Proposal Brings Out Fans, Foes Last week, nearly 200 organizations from across the defined benefit and defined contribution industries lined up to voice their praise or disdain for the proposal at a hearing held by the Employee Benefits Security Administration. Whether a new fiduciary regulation is needed to provide clarity and protection to retirement plans and participants or would be an onerous, costly and unnecessary regime that will curtail advice and wreck financial markets is what Department of Labor policy makers now must decide. Source: Pensions & Investments.

DOL Calls GAO Target-Date Fund Recommendations Vague The Department of Labor rejected three GAO recommendations for target-date funds as default investments for defined contributions plans, saying some of them were too vague, but left the door open to include the three proposals in its future guidance. Source: Pensions & Investments.

The Swan Song of Schedule SSA to Form 5500 Plan administrators of 401k, pension and other retirement plans subject to ERISA section 203's vesting requirements have long been required to file Schedule SSA (identifying separated participants having deferred vested benefits) with their Form 5500s in order to satisfy their reporting obligations under Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 6057(a). Source: Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (PDF File).

For more information about custom retirement plan design and how Benefit Plans Plus can help make your business more successful visit www.bpp401k.com

BPP401k.com Newsletter March 9

Ten Marketing Strategies for New Advisors Times are tough, but these real-world strategies can help get a new—or struggling—practice off the ground. Source: Advisor One

Five Rules for 401(k) Savers Are you bewildered by all the choices in your retirement plan? Frightened that you won’t have enough to retire on? Follow these simple rules. Source: Forbes

Linking 401k Participation to Open Enrollment When employers present employees with an easy, one-click option to enroll in or make a contribution change to their 401k plan during the annual health benefits process, the result is significant increases in 401k participation. Source: Employee Benefit News.

Five Reasons Your Business Is Not Too Small for a 401k There are a lot of amazing benefits to working for a small business. But what is commonly missing is, well, the employee benefits. In fact, it's estimated that only about 15-20 percent of businesses with less than 50 employees have a retirement plan. Why the resistance? Source: Forbes.

Seven Conflicts of Interest in Your 401k Plan Employer-sponsored 401k plans are riddled with conflicts of interest, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week. Here are seven conflicts of interest that could hinder your retirement savings efforts. Source: U.S. News & World Report.

Managing Disclosure Requirements, One Step at a Time Fee disclosure regulations coming in 2011 and 2012 may seem daunting, but they also abound in opportunities. James Delaplane, Partner at Davis & Harman LLP, discussed the two types of disclosure requirements on a Webcast hosted by the Principal Financial Group. Source: Planadviser.com.

401k Fee Disclosure for the "You Never Told Me" Employees For employees who believe their 401k is free—bad news. These "you never told me" employees could blame their employer for allowing fees to be taken out of their accounts without telling them. Despite past omissions, starting now to be clear and forthright about fund and plan fees can promote trust and encourage employees to use their employer-provided plan to save for their retirement needs. Source: Society for Human Resource Management.

Target-Date Fund Adoption in 2010 Use of target-date funds in defined contribution (DC) plans continues to grow rapidly, particularly as a qualified default investment alternative. At year-end 2010, 79% of plans offered a target-date fund and 48% of participants used them when offered. Twenty percent of all Vanguard participants are invested in a single target-date fund. Source: Vanguard (PDF File).

Shifting Strategies for Target-Date Funds Target-Date fund managers are not saying so outright, but they have apparently learned a lesson from the 2008 market collapse and the furious reaction of many 401k investors. Now, the fund managers are de-emphasizing stocks and adding investments that are more diversified, less likely to make sharp moves and more likely to provide a steady income. Those changes could mean fewer heart-stopping plunges in account values - and fewer angry investors - after the next bad market. Source: New York Times.

Fiduciary Duty and Timeliness of 401k Participant Deposits Making timely participant deposits is an important part of the plan sponsor's fiduciary responsibility. But how do plan sponsors demonstrate that they have met their fiduciary responsibility? And what are the rules? Source: WithumSmith+Brown (PDF File).

Retirement Account Balances Factsheet The retirement savings of American households took a big hit when the stock market crashed in 2008. Recently, however, a good portion of these losses has been reversed. This fact sheet follows trends in retirement account balances since the beginning of 2005. Source: Urban Institute (PDF File).

How Can Customized Information Change Financial Plans? Many workers nearing retirement experienced a dramatic decrease in their retirement assets when the stock market crashed in 2008. To measure the response of older workers to this downturn, the CRR fielded the CRR 2009 Retirement Survey on a nationally representative sample of 45-59-year-old labor force participants with relatively high pre-downturn assets. This paper is the final in a series of four based on the Survey. Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (PDF File).

401k Plans: Improved Regulation Could Better Protect Participants from Conflicts of Interest Recent volatility in financial markets highlights the need for prudent investment decisions if 401k plans are to provide an adequate source of retirement income. While plan sponsors and participants may receive help in assessing their investment choices, concerns have been raised about the impartiality of the advice provided. GAO was asked to describe circumstances where service providers may have conflicts of interest in providing assistance related to the selection of investment options for (1) plan sponsors and (2) plan participants, and (3) steps the Department of Labor (Labor) has taken to address conflicts of interest related to the selection of investment options. Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Survey of Defined Benefit Plan Sponsors, 2010 Survey looks at how defined benefit plan sponsors are managing their plans in the current economic, market, and regulatory environments? Among the key findings: Managing pension risks and plan costs, rather than focusing on return enhancement, are key objectives for plan sponsors. Also, the "derisking" trend continues, with many sponsors managing risk on two fronts: plan design and investment strategy. Source: Vanguard (PDF File).

Plan Sponsors Fine-Tune Their Pension Risk Management Focus As economic conditions begin to stabilize, plan sponsors of the largest U.S. defined benefit pension plans are reprioritizing the risks facing their plans by focusing on a smaller number of risks and paying greater attention to them, according to the 2011 MetLife U.S. Pension Risk Behavior Index. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

DC/401k Survey Reveals Widening Gender Gap in Retirement Confidence Among women, confidence in investment decisions and the stock market is much lower vs. men and the gap is widening, pointing to a significant opportunity for retirement plan advisors and providers to do even more to help educate participants regarding their investments. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Survey: More Americans Plan to Work Longer to Address Retirement Concerns According to an international study conducted by Aviva in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific markets, 57 percent of Americans expect to work past their normal retirement date – the highest percentage among people in any of the 10 countries surveyed. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Four Red Flags in the SEC's Fiduciary Report Author writes, "Of all of the regulatory items on the SEC's present agenda, I submit that none is more important to the economic security of both individual American investors, and America itself, than the swift and proper application of the fiduciary standard of conduct. All it takes is courage for the SEC Commissioners to proceed forward and, without delay, to apply the bona fide fiduciary standard of conduct to all financial and advisory activities." Source: RIABiz.com.

The Retirement Crisis: Is the 401k to Blame? Baby Boomers are waking up to the fact that many of them don't have enough money saved for retirement. So what's the cause of this retirement mess? A popular scapegoat is the 401k plan. But the 401k has little to do with it. Source: CBS MoneyWatch.

Target-Dates Should Look Beyond One Date Since research by Vanguard and other industry sources shows that only a minority of participants begin to draw down their accumulated savings in the early years of retirement, our view is that retirees still need the potential for significant growth in their portfolios—and exposure to stocks offers that. Source: Vanguard.

For more information about custom retirement plan design and how Benefit Plans Plus can help make your business more successful visit www.bpp401k.com