Newsdash Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy from PLANSPONSOR
December 11th, 2015
Benefits & Administration
Spending of Retired Singles Versus Couples
Findings from a new research paper, “Couples’ and Singles’ Savings After Retirement,” by Mariacristina De Nardi, Eric French and John Bailey Jones, suggest singles “live less long than people who are part of a couple, but are more likely to end up in a nursing home in any given year.” For that reason, the researchers suggest, a single should expect to have higher medical spending than a member of a couple.Read more >
What Sponsors Are Asking of Advisers
Data from RFP assistance provider InHub reveals why plan sponsors search for new plan advisers and what they ask for in the RFP process.Read more >
MOST READ ARTICLES
Benefits
Social Security’s New Anti-Fraud Measures Begin Amid Mixed Messages from Agency
Deals and People
Financial Finesse Appoints New President
Opinions
Don’t Forget Decumulation: 3 Key Pillars for an Effective Retirement Income Solution
Products, Deals and People
Investment Product and Services Launches
Partners Group introduces private markets funds for the defined contribution market; Allianz Global Investors launches dynamic target-date collective investment trust series; and more.Read more >
Economic Events

In the week ending December 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 282,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 269,000, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average was 270,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 269,250.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.95%, up from 3.93% one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.19%, up from 3.16%.
Sponsored message from BlackRock
A New Framework for DC: Getting participants’ future in focus
A new holistic framework for understanding risk across an entire DC plan.Read more >
Market Mirror

Energy stock, beaten down all week, helped push major U.S. stock market indices higher on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The Dow gained 82.45 points (0.47%) to finish at 17,574.75, the NASDAQ closed 22.31 points (0.44%) higher at 5,045.17, and the S&P 500 was up 4.61 points (0.23%) at 2,052.23. The Russell 2000 increased 3.15 points (0.27%) to 1,149.02, and the Wilshire 5000 added 48.84 points (0.23%) to close at 21,071.59.

On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares traded, with a nearly even split between advancers and decliners. On the NASDAQ, 2.7 billion shares changed hands, with a slight lead for advancers.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 6/32, bringing its yield up to 2.233%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond was up 2/32, bringing its yield down to 2.967%.
From the Magazine
Don’t Get Tripped Up by Gifts from Service Providers
Gifts from service providers are problems for plan committee members. By gifts, we mean things like meals, free attendance at conferences, trips, golf outings and tangible items. This is an issue the Department of Labor (DOL) reviews in its investigations, though the DOL investigator will disregard reasonably priced, non-cash items that are worth less than $250 annually—a dollar limit specified, along with other requirements, in the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Enforcement Manual.Read more >
Investing
Providers Respond to Call for Lifetime Income
The preponderance of new lifetime income products is very much a positive development given anticipated demand for lifetime income options in the years ahead, according to the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), especially options hardwired directly into employer sponsored defined contribution (DC) plans. This has been a particular area of strong provider focus, IRI finds, but regulatory challenges remain and plan sponsors are still somewhat wary of the amount of fiduciary liability that might come along with in-plan lifetime income.Read more >
A Shift in DB Investing Strategies Expected in 2016
Market and regulatory factors will lead defined benefit plan sponsors to pursue more active strategies and different asset classes in 2016.Read more >
Small Talk

ON THIS DATE: In 1719, the first recorded sighting of the aurora borealis took place in New England. In 1769, Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds. In 1816, Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th American state. In 1844, Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic. In 1872, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback became America’s first black governor when he took office as acting governor of Louisiana. In 1930, the Bank of the United States in New York failed. In 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries. In 1946, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the U.N. General Assembly. The fund provides relief to children in countries devastated by war. In 1951, Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) announced his retirement from major league baseball. In 1981, Muhammad Ali fought his last fight, and lost to Trevor Berbick. In 1987, Charlie Chaplin’s trademark cane and bowler hat were sold at Christie’s for £82,500. In 2001, U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft announced the first federal indictment directly related to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Zacarias Moussaoui was charged with six conspiracy charges. Moussaoui was in custody at the time of the attacks. In 2013, Standard & Poors announced that Facebook would join its S&P 500 index “after the close of trading on December 20.”

 

And now it’s time for FRIDAY FILES!
A monkey at a zoo gets a kick out of a “magic” trick.Read more >
Quite a few things you were taught in history class are not entirely accurate.Read more >

In Barefoot Bay, Florida, residents reported to authorities that they saw two men dressed in black lurking behind homes. Deputies began searching the area and were later joined by more deputies, K-9 units and a sheriff’s helicopter. According to the Brevard County Reporter, investigators say one man called his girlfriend during that time to tell her he and the other suspect were being chased and lying low. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong place to hide. His body was found floating in a pond 10 days later, deceased from an alligator attack.

In Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a man breaking into a taxi company apparently didn’t think before getting dressed beforehand. He wore a sweatshirt with his first name on it, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. While having the suspect’s first name, in general, might not be very helpful to police, the fact that the man used to work at the taxi company helped speed along the investigation.
You don’t have to view all 11 minutes to know this family went all out for its Christmas light show.Read more >

In Coachella, California, a FedEx driver was removing a package from the rear of his truck when a 19-year-old man jumped into the driver’s seat. He demanded the keys, and the driver turned them over. The man started the vehicle, but was not successful in driving away, because he could not figure out how to drive it, according to The Smoking G.un. Oh, and the would-be thief was nak.ed.

In Ocean Springs, Mississippi, an 18-wheeler veered out of its lane on Interstate 10 and hit the side of an overpass. The truck caught fire, according to the Sun Herald out of Gulfport. The interesting, and ironic, point of the story: the truck was hauling fire extinguishers.

In the Voronezh region of Russia, a couple mailed documents notifying banks to which they owed a large amount of loans that they had died. They moved and were living in debt-free bliss until the birth of their second child, according to the Pravda Report. After the baby was born, the couple filed for the parent capital, which is provided to families at the birth of second and consecutive children. That is when the fake documents were discovered and they were criminally charged.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
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 >

Editorial: Alison Cooke Mintzer alison.mintzer@strategic-i.com

Advertising: advertise@strategic-i.com

Subscribe to NEWSDash, click here .

To unsubscribe, click here.

BrightScope / CIO / FWW / Investor Economics / LiquidMetrix / Market Metrics / Matrix Solutions / PLANADVISER / Plan For Life / PLANSPONSOR / Simfund