PLANSPONSOR Magazine
COVER
Portrait of a Retiree: Frank Langley
Retired marketing executive and US Postal Service processing supervisor
Portrait of Retiree
Portrait of Retiree
Portrait of a Retiree: Frank Langley
Retired marketing executive and US Postal Service processing supervisor
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
It’s good to be the president
Even a single term in the White House can make you an...
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And now, out come the knives
The MASTERS/PRIM merger is expected to save Massachusetts millions of dollars a...
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GM loses a round
An appeals court ruling says the auto giant must stop charging retirees for health benefits. The decision could cost GM hundreds of millions of dollars
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Untangling the rules
The IRS tries to make it easier for non-qualified plan sponsors to figure out how much pay FICA taxes they have to pay.
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Ron Martin, College of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Fund
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology's fledgling pension fund can handle a few growing pains
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Trading on the Front
Investor suspicions about traditional markets have helped alternative market systems flourish. But a new system, OptiMark, promises to go further, reducing trading to a low-cost technical process focused...
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Scientific revolution
How recent advances in supercomputing, plus a unique new algorithm, made OptiMark possible.
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Real Estates information age
Leery of the next market downturn, investors are demanding more and better information from real estate managers. Our roundtable participants discussed what plan sponsors want, and how they...
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Energy Project Finance
Steady, predictable cash flows start to attract pension investment.
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“Down the American corporate food chain”
Taking shareholder activism to small companies
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Opting in
Two UK employers allow switching from cash balance to defined benefit plans
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LEGISLATION & REGULATION
What gridlock? Minimum wage bill contains grab-bag of goodies for pension sponsors
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Pension Simplification and Much More
Many of the pension simplification provisions in HR 3448 previously appeared in the budget tax hill that President Clinton vetoed last year.
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Investigation clears PBGC of violating rules on hiring practices
An investigation into charges of improper hiring practices at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, filed by an employee in March, clears the agency of any wrongdoing.
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The numbers game:
SEC lets money managers use more historical data in prospectuses
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Procedures and paperwork
How to survive the DoL's stepped-up audit program for 401(k) plans
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When employees disappear
New guidance on how to manage missing plan participants' assets
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Multinational pensions
New products are being developed for multinationals' globe-trotting execs
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Lessons from the Operating Engineers
How to increase savings among the neediest workers
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Trouble on the canals
A dispute over pension contributions nearly shuts down one of Venice's best-known institutions-the musicians who perform in its gondolas
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Report card for state funds
Unfunded liabilities continue to fall at state retirement plans, thanks in part to heavier equity investment. But more improvement may be needed.
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Virginia’s Retirement Tiff
A confidential information request for a defined contribution plan study provokes a dust-up between the state and the Virginia Retirement System.
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Last holdout?
A constitutional challenge threatens to make West Virginia the last state that still bars its employee pension funds from investing in equities.
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Nicholas Maiale, Pennsylvania SERS
Nicholas Maiale rejects the label "aggressive"
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Fidelity shapes its world
The world's biggest mutual fund company has been instrumental in creating the defined contribution plan as we know it. Here's how-and what the future holds for Fidelity and...
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Developing new markets
As the US retirement market matures, Fidelity is looking for new audiences in places like Japan. Step one: education.
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Rating the providers
A Plan Sponsor survey of 401(k) sponsors shows that they like the hand their providers have dealt them in education, communication, and recordkeeping services. But one area investment...
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Non-profit pension plans under pressure
The IRS is ending lax enforcement of 403(b) plan rules-one more headache for a group of plan sponsors already suffering from low participation rates and overly conservative investment...
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Promised land, or paperwork hell?
Now that nonprofit employers can offer 401(k)s as well as 403(b)s, is a big switch imminent? Do not count on it.
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Building blocks
Plans assemble risk management systems to more closely scrutinize their portfolios
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Back to fundamentals
Using valuation measures to decide which global equity markets to buy
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Oklahoma instituting rigorous controls after scandals
After a series of scandals, Oklahoma's investment pools are tightening trading and execution practices
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Three-year plan
How Mead's push to centralize benefits led to total benefits outsourcing
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PBGC agenda topper for next year
Securing higher insurance guarantees for multiemployer plans
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MEWAs and phony unions
New tools for the battle against multiemployer health plan fraud?
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UK plans race to comply with Pensions Act regulations
All is change these days for employers that sponsor UK pension plans
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Options Shine–Technology Disappoints
Vendors' internet capabilities in particular need work