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| MFP Strategies, recognized as one of the Top 100 retirement plan adviser teams in the nation by sister publication PLANADVISER in 2013, has announced a product for fiduciaries, sponsors and participants. The PlanQuest solution is composed of a team of retirement plan specialists working with clients to customize and deliver consulting services that address their needs and plan goals.Read more > | |
| Benefits and human resources (HR) consulting firm The Segal Group announced the addition of Stephen Murphy as a consultant in its West Region. Bringing more than 20 years of experience in health benefits, Murphy works with clients in public sector health, as well as higher education.Read more > | |
| Ask the Experts | |
| Ask the Experts – 403(b)(1) Annuities Hardships | |
| “Can employer contributions to 403(b)(1) fixed/variable annuities be withdrawn for financial hardship? I reviewed the 403(b) regulations in this regard, but could not find a reference to hardship.”Read more > | |
| Economic Events | |
| The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in March, declined in April. The Index now stands at 95.2 (1985=100), down from 101.4 in March. The Present Situation Index decreased from 109.5 last month to 106.8 in April. The Expectations Index declined from 96.0 last month to 87.5 in April. | |
| Market Mirror | |
Tuesday, the Dow closed 72.17 points (0.40%) higher at 18,110.14, the NASDAQ slipped 4.82 points (0.10%) to 5,055.42, and the S&P 500 increased 5.31 points (0.25%) to 2,114.23. The Russell 2000 gained 6.66 points (0.53%) to finish at 1,259.36, and the Wilshire 5000 was up 51.19 points (0.23%) at 22,367.19.
On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares traded, with 1.7 advancing issues for every declining issue. On the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares changed hands, with a 1.5 to 1 ratio of advancers to decliners.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 21/32, bringing its yield up to 1.995%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 20/32, increasing its yield to 2.696%. | |
| Compliance | |
| Top Hat Retirement Plan ‘Traps for the Unwary’ | |
| Top hat plans—or nonqualified retirement plans for certain executives—escape most requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), notes James E. Earle, partner at K&L Gates. There are no funding, minimum participation, minimum vesting or ERISA fiduciary duty requirements. However, top hat plans are subject to ERISA claims procedures and reporting and disclosure requirements. At the 44th Annual Retirement & Benefits Management Seminar, hosted by the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, and co-sponsored by PLANSPONSOR, Earle shared some “traps for the unwary” that top hat retirement plan sponsors need to avoid.Read more > | |
| Investing | |
| Conservative Investments Still Have a Place in Plans | |
| When retirement plan sponsors consider investment choices for their lineups, they need to consider conservative options, to enable participants to diversify their risk, experts say. “We believe conservative options have a place in retirement plans, even as the QDIA [qualified default investment alternative], for a number of reasons—the most important being that participants really struggle with seeing negative returns on their statements,” says Tim McCabe, senior vice president and national sales director, retirement, at Stadion Money Management in Watkinsville, Georgia. If a plan uses a conservative, balanced fund as the QDIA, participants stay invested, McCabe says.Read more > | |
| Small Talk | |
| Analysis Reveals Changing Workforce Demographics | |
| There are more and more college graduates every year, and every year that pool adds more female and minority members to the workforce. That much makes sense. Interestingly, however, many Millennials (22- to 34-year-olds) find themselves holding the same jobs after graduation as they might have occupied right out of high school. More than half (51%) of the class of 2014 now hold jobs that do not require a college degree, such as bicycle repairers, hosts and hostesses, cooks and fast food workers, cashiers and even dishwashers. On the other hand, 8.3 million people joined the age 55 and older work force.Read more > | |
| ON THIS DATE: In 1813, rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel. In 1852, the first edition of Peter Roget’s Thesaurus was published. In 1854, by an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, Ashmun Institute, the first college founded solely for African American students, was officially chartered. In 1945, the Nazi death camp, Dachau, was liberated. In 1968, “Hair” premiered on Broadway. In 1974, President Richard Nixon announced to the public that he would release transcripts of 46 taped White House conversations in response to a Watergate trial subpoena. In 1990, the destruction of the Berlin Wall began. In 1992, a jury in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley acquitted four police officers who had been charged with using excessive force in arresting black motorist Rodney King a year earlier. The announcement of the verdict prompted widespread rioting throughout much of Los Angeles. In 2004, the National World War II Memorial opened in Washington, D.C. | |
| WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.” —Peter Drucker, management consultant, educator and author | |
| Share the good news with a friend! Pass the Dash along – and tell your friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > | |
News from PLANSPONSOR.com
Copyright © Asset International, Inc., 2015. All rights reserved. No reproduction without prior authorization. |
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Editorial: Alison Cooke Mintzer alison.mintzer@strategic-i.com
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