Newsdash Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy from PLANSPONSOR
February 17th, 2015
Benefits & Administration
Providing Health Care to a Constantly Changing Workforce
Entertainment Partners (EP), a provider of management resources to production companies in film and television, found a private health care exchange is a way to meet employer health care benefit requirements for a complicated workforce environment.Read more >
Helping Participants Consider Longevity
Jan Holman, director of adviser education at Thornburg Investment Management, says no retirement discussion is complete without pulling in longevity. “Retirement is an event, but it’s not the whole thing,” Holman tells PLANSPONSOR. She says the industry needs to look at retirement more holistically. As people live longer—and some will live into their 90s and older—their approach to life, as well as to portfolio allocations, will likely change. “These are the things plan sponsors need to help their employees become aware of,” she says.Read more >
Managing Risks for DC Retirement Plans
Defined contribution (DC) retirement plan sponsors are subject to risks which ultimately put a company’s reputation at risk, experts at Sibson Consulting note. Risks include vendor-management risk, financial risk, administration and compliance risk, and plan design risk, authors of a Sibson Perspectives article point out. Rick Reed, vice president and defined contribution practice leader with Sibson Consulting, says all the risks are interrelated and none is more important than another.Read more >
Economic Events
THE ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: Tomorrow, the Census Bureau will report about housing starts for January, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics will reveal the producer price index (PPI) for January. Thursday, the Labor Department will issue its initial claims report.
Sponsored message from SEI
Is your plan lineup designed to help participants succeed?
SEI’s DC Trends Research Series investigates the actions plan sponsors are taking in terms of simplifying the menus of their defined contribution plans.Read more >
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Market Mirror

Friday, the Dow was up 46.97 points (0.26%) at 18,019.35, the NASDAQ climbed 36.22 points (0.75%) to 4,893.84, and the S&P 500 increased 8.51 points (0.41%) to 2,096.99. The Russell 2000 gained 6.86 points (0.56%) to finish at 1,223.13, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 98.58 points (0.45%) higher at 22,120.81.

On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares traded, and on the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares changed hands, with 1.7 advancing issues for every declining issue on both exchanges.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 15/32, bringing its yield up to 2.037%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 14/32, increasing its yield to 2.645%.

WEEK’S WORTH: For the week ending February 13, the Dow was up 1.09%, the NASDAQ climbed 3.15%, and the S&P 500 gained 2.03%. The Russell 2000 increased 1.47%, and the Wilshire 5000 finished 1.91% higher.

Compliance
Restaurant Accused of Refusing to Hire Older Workers
Seasons 52, a national restaurant chain and one of the Darden restaurant brands, is facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The lawsuit accuses the business of refusing to hire older workers because of their age. In at least one case where a hire was not made, the applicant was told that the restaurant chain “wasn’t looking for old white guys.” Read more >
Investing
The BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe finds corporate plans recorded the highest median return (+2.36%) in Q4 2014, followed by Taft-Hartley plans (+1.56%). Senior Consultant for BNY Mellon’s global risk solutions group John Houser says, “Corporate funds outpaced other plan types with a return of +8.56%, getting a boost from their relative over-weighting of U.S. equity holdings.”Read more >
Small Talk
ON THIS DATE: In 1801, after one tie vote in the Electoral College and 35 indecisive ballot votes in the House of Representatives, Vice President Thomas Jefferson was elected the third president of the United States over his running mate, Aaron Burr. In 1933, Newsweek was first published. In 1965, comedienne Joan Rivers made her first guest appearance on “The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson” on NBC-TV. In 1972, the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle came off the assembly line, breaking a world car production record held for more than four decades by the Ford Motor Company’s iconic Model T, which was in production from 1908 to 1927. In 1996, in the final game of a six-game match, world chess champion Garry Kasparov triumphed over Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing computer, and won the match, 4-2.
SURVEY SAYS: Celebrating Valentine’s Day
Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, “Do you have plans to celebrate Valentine’s Day?” More than two-thirds (67.7%) of responding readers said they did have plans to celebrate Valentine’s Day, while 26% did not, and slightly more than 6% weren’t sure. The majority (62.9%) of readers who responded planned to spend Valentine’s with their spouse or partner, and 4.8% indicated they would spend celebrate Valentine’s with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Nearly 2% planned to spend it with their parents, 3.2% with children and 9.7% indicated they would spend Valentine’s with several family members. As far as gifts, half (50.9%) of responding readers said they would give their valentines a card, 15.1% planned on giving candy, and 5.7% were going to give flowers. Stuffed animals and clothes each were selected by nearly 2% of readers. For the commenter who said, “Gosh, I wish this survey was a week earlier so it could provide inspiration. All it’s doing for me now is heightening my level of stress,” hopefully this will help reduce your stress next year. Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who said: “This is Birthday Month! My husband knows to put all efforts into my birthday (which falls the week before V-Day) and none into the silly holiday.” You can read more to see why. Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey!Read more >
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Sorry, not this week.
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 >

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

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