Month: July 2014
PRC Comments to the PBGC on documentation of terminated plans (July 30, 2014)
Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, recommending documents and information that pension plan administrators should submit to the agency when plans are terminated. Such documentation could help plan participants obtain their pension benefits when they reach retirement age.
Church pension plan status rejected by U.S. District Court
In one of five major class-action lawsuits challenging church-affiliated sponsors of defined benefit plans, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the pension plan of Dignity Health is covered by ERISA.
Unemployed today, no retirement savings tomorrow
Last week, I accompanied Karen Friedman to Witness Wednesday, where she spoke about the fact that too many people who have lost their jobs and whose unemployment benefits have expired have had to dip into their 401(k) savings to pay for basic needs. She said, “If people use up their 401(k) money today…what will they […]
Why more companies want pensions off their books
Verizon has done it. General Motors has done it. And so have Ford and, recently, ketchup kingpin Heinz. These brand-name companies have all moved part of their pension obligations off their books and into annuities run by insurance companies.
Slow process seen in naming Gotbaum successor at PBGC
Joshua Gotbaum’s resignation as director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is expected to create a leadership vacuum at a critical time for an agency dealing with struggling multiemployer pension plans and corporate defined benefit sponsors stressed about premium increases.
Offering State-Sponsored IRAs to Private-Sector Workers
California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon’s “second mother,” his Aunt Francisca, spent most of her 74-plus years cleaning houses for people who had pensions through their employers or were wealthy enough to set aside money in their own retirement accounts.
PBGC Director Gotbaum to Step Down In August; Groups Praise His Efforts
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Director Joshua Gotbaum plans to step down from the post he has held the past four years.
Pension Advance Transaction Firms Use ‘Questionable’ Practices, GAO Report Says
An undercover Government Accountability Office investigator looking into firms that offer pension advances received offers with effective interest rates that mostly ranged from 27 percent to 46 percent, at times far exceeding the legal limits set by states on the interest rates assessed for various types of personal credit, the GAO said in a new […]
Practitioners Say QLAC Rules Widen Choices, But Plans May Be Reluctant to Offer Them
Recent final rules on qualifying longevity annuity contracts (QLACs)—which can help retirees ensure they have a stream of regular income through their advanced years—received praise from retirement insiders, but the new guidance doesn’t guarantee that the products will be embraced, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA in a series of interviews.
Teamsters rank and file digging in against possible pension benefit cuts
Teamsters retirees from the trucking industry currently enjoy some of the most generous pensions in America—up to $3,500 a month for 30 years of service from any unionized trucking company that contributed to multiemployer pension plans that once covered the industry like a warm fuzzy financial security blanket. But those pension plans, once thought to […]
Treasury, IRS Modify Tax Code Rules To Expand Access to Retirement Annuities
The federal government helped broaden the choices for those shopping for lifetime income options in retirement by modifying the required minimum distribution rules for various types of plans in newly released final regulations on qualifying longevity annuity contracts.
Challenge of income adequacy perplexes execs
Pension plan designers around the world are tackling the challenge of retirement income adequacy with varying degrees of success, said speakers at Pensions & Investments‘ inaugural Investment Innovation and the Global Future of Retirement conference in New York.
