| Benefits & Administration | A new research report suggests public school
teachers would not choose a DC retirement plan over a DB retirement plan
without powerful incentives. The National Institute for Retirement Security
(NIRS) examined the retirement benefit elections of teachers in two states when
new teachers had a choice between a DB plan or a plan that combines a defined
contribution DC individual account with a DB pension.Read more > | Feasibility of HSAs As Retirement Savings Strategy | Recent reports have claimed health savings
accounts (HSAs) can be a useful additional tool for retirement saving. But, how
feasible is it that employees can accumulate savings in HSAs to use in retirement,
and should employers consider offering them?Read more > | Ongoing fiduciary responsibility and spending
money on former employees are two reasons to consider amending a plan to
include automated rollovers, according to Millennium Trust. Retirement plan
sponsors should consider several factors when deciding to include a provision
for rollovers, says Terry Dunne, senior vice president and managing director of
the rollover solutions group at Millennium Trust.Read more > | | Products, Deals & People | John Hancock Acquires New York Life RPS | Manulife Financial Corporation announced that
its U.S. Division, John Hancock Financial, and New York Life have entered into
an agreement under which John Hancock will acquire New York Life’s Retirement
Plan Services (RPS) business. Peter Gordon, SVP and president of John Hancock
RPS, told PLANSPONSOR that the deal reflects two companies viewing the same
business in two ways. “We are very interested in retirement plans and wealth
management, so we want to expand our RPS business as a way to fulfill our
strategic goals. New York Life has concluded they want to focus on their core
insurance and wealth management business.”Read more > | | From the Magazine | Saxon Angle: Missing Participants | Issues involving so-called “missing”
participants will not go away anytime in the near future. On August 14, the
Department of Labor (DOL) released Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2014-01,
which provides additional guidance to plan fiduciaries of terminated defined
contribution (DC) plans with regard to missing participants. Plan fiduciaries
often find themselves in a quandary because they are required by the Internal
Revenue Code (IRC) to seek affirmative direction regarding the distribution of
a terminating plan’s participant accounts, yet they may be unable to locate
some of the participants from whom such direction is sought. The DOL issued the
new FAB in order to update and supersede earlier guidance.Read more > |
|
|
|
| Economic Events | Last week the Census Bureau reported new
orders for manufactured durable goods in November decreased $1.7 billion or 0.7%
to $242.3 billion. This decrease, down three of the last four months, followed
a 0.3% October increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.4%.
Excluding defense, new orders decreased 0.1%. Transportation equipment, also
down three of the last four months, led the decrease, $0.9 billion or 1.2% to
$75.5 billion.
Privately-owned housing starts in
November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,028,000. This is 1.6%
below the revised October estimate of 1,045,000 and 7.0% below the November
2013 rate of 1,105,000. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate
of 677,000; this is 5.4% below the revised October figure of 716,000. The
November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 340,000.
In the week ending December 20, the
advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment
insurance was 280,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised
level of 289,000, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average
was 290,250, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of
298,750.
THE
ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: Friday,
the Census Bureau will report about construction spending for November.
| | Market Mirror | Friday, the
Dow was up 23.50 points (0.13%) at 18,053.71, the NASDAQ climbed 33.39 points
(0.70%) to 4,806.86, and the S&P 500 increased 6.89 points (0.33%) to
2,088.77. The Russell 2000 gained 8.42 points (0.70%) to finish at 1,215.21,
and the Wilshire 5000 closed 81.20 points (0.37%) higher at 21,949.03.
On the NYSE,
3.2 billion shares traded, and on the NASDAQ 2.8 billion shares changed hands,
with advancing issues outnumbering declining issues 2 to 1 on both exchanges.
The yields
for the 10-year Treasury note and 30-year Treasury bond were 2.253% and 2.820%,
respectively.
WEEK’S
WORTH: For the week ending December 26, the Dow gained
1.40%, the NASDAQ was up 0.87%, and the S&P 500 increased 0.88%. The
Russell 2000 climbed 1.61%, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 1.02% higher.
| | Compliance | Bill Aims to Encourage Retirement Plan Offerings | U.S. Representative Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin) has
introduced the Small Businesses Add Value for Employees (SAVE) Act of 2014. The bill would establish
automatic deferral IRAs, modify the current automatic enrollment safe harbor
and encourage multiple employer pension plans for employers that do not share a
common interest, among other provisions.Read more > | | Investing | A TDF Glidepath Checklist | Russell Investments published a short white
paper looking at key questions that can help plan sponsors make sure their
target-date funds (TDFs) remain on course and serve participants’ best interest.
In the article, Josh Cohen, managing director of defined contribution, and Rod
Greenshields, consulting director, argue that TDFs have become so popular
because they don’t require much ongoing input from participants. However, the
funds do need to be regularly updated by providers, Russell says, and sponsors
have an ongoing fiduciary duty to make sure the products gel with participant
needs. Otherwise, TDF models can drift out of touch with participant behavior
or prevailing market conditions.Read more > | Given relatively expensive domestic equity
market valuations and historically low developed market interest rates,
institutional investors are increasingly looking for return outside the United
States, according to an analysis from Cerulli Associates.Read more > | | Small Talk | ON THIS DATE: In
1808, future President Andrew
Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1845, six months after the congress of the Republic of Texas accepted
U.S. annexation of the territory, Texas is admitted into the United States as the
28th state. In 1851, the first
American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was organized, in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1890, the U.S. Seventh Cavalry
massacred more than 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South
Dakota. This was the last major conflict between Indians and U.S. troops. | SURVEY SAYS REWIND: In
2005, we asked NewsDash readers to pick the most significant trend or
development that impacted the industry that year.Read more > | 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.,
2014.
All
rights reserved. No reproduction without
prior authorization.
|
|