| Plan Sponsor of the Year Finalists | More Plan Sponsor of the Year Finalists Announced | Each year, the editors of PLANSPONSOR recognize a
number of plan sponsors that demonstrate leadership in providing a more secure
retirement for workers. Today, PLANSPONSOR is pleased to announce the finalists
for the 2015 PLANSPONSOR Plan Sponsor of the Year award in the Corporate 401(k)
$250 Million to $1 Billion category and the Corporate 401(k) > $1 Billion
category. Read more > | | Benefits & Administration | Retirement Plan Rollover Basics | Departing retirement plan participants may wish
to roll over their plan assets to another qualified plan or individual
retirement account (IRA) to avoid paying taxes and to continue saving for
retirement. There are certain guidelines that must be adhered to when rolling
over retirement plan assets to an IRA or another qualified plan. Read more > | Defined contribution (DC) salary deferral rates
are climbing strongly, with 32% of participants increasing their deferral rate
in the past year, according to a Market Strategies International study. Market
Strategies International notes this increase is 11% greater than the number of
DC plan participants who expressed the intention to increase their 2014
contributions in a 2013 survey taken by the firm. The increase is driven by the
younger generations, the firm says, given that Generations X and Y have a
preference for automatic plan enrollment features. Read more > | | Sponsored message from Financial Engines | PLANSPONSOR
interviews Christopher Jones, chief investment officer (CIO) at Financial
Engines. Read more > | | Products, Deals & People | As the new national sales manager of Guardian
Retirement Solutions, Jim Lake will oversee all aspects of the firm’s
retirement plans distribution. In addition to overseeing annuity distribution,
Lake also assumes responsibility for the retirement plans wholesaling team, the
retirement plans sales desk and 401(k) key account management. Read more > |
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| Economic Events | New orders for manufactured durable
goods in December decreased $8.1 billion or 3.4% to $230.5 billion, the U.S.
Census Bureau announced. This decrease, down four of the last five months,
followed a 2.1% November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders
decreased 0.8%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 3.2%. Transportation equipment, also down four of
the last five months, led the decrease, $6.8 billion or 9.2% to $66.7 billion.
Sales of new single-family houses in
December 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000, according
to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 11.6% above the revised
November rate of 431,000 and is 8.8% above the December 2013 estimate of
442,000.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence
Index, which had increased in December, rose sharply in January. The Index now
stands at 102.9 (1985=100), up from 93.1 in December. The Present Situation
Index rose to 112.6 from 99.9, while the Expectations Index increased to 96.4
from 88.5 in December. Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The
Conference Board, said: “Consumer confidence rose sharply in January, and is
now at its highest level since August 2007 (Index, 105.6).”
| | Market Mirror | U.S. stock indices closed
lower after disappointing outlooks from companies like Caterpillar and
Microsoft. The Dow fell 291.49 points (1.65%) to 17,387.21, while the NASDAQ
dropped 90.27 points (1.89%) to 4,681.50, and the S&P 500 lost 27.51 points
(1.34%) to finish at 2,029.58. The Russell 2000 was down 6.08 points (0.51%) at
1,194.66, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 250.26 points (1.15%) lower at
21,435.56.
On the NYSE, 3.2 billion
shares changed hands, with 1.3 declining issues for every advancing issue. On
the NASDAQ, 2.7 billion shares traded, with a 1.6 to 1 ratio of decliners to
advancers.
The price of the 10-year
Treasury note was up 4/32, decreasing its yield to 1.815%. The price of the
30-year Treasury bond increased 14/32, bringing its yield down to 2.391%.
| | Compliance | Council Supports Keeping Participants in Plans | The 2014 ERISA Advisory Council examined recent
movement of participant assets out of defined contribution (DC) and defined
benefit (DB) plans—either as plan distributions or rollovers into retirement
accounts not covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA),
such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) or other savings vehicles. The council’s report
provides ideas for plan administrators and plan participants, including
communication strategies and plan design options to facilitate lifetime retirement
plan participation. Read more > | Senator Hatch Discusses Retirement Reform | In a recent speech before the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said his goal in directing the Senate’s
Finance Committee over the next two years will be to “strike away at Obamacare”
while addressing entitlement programs and pension reform. Hatch’s speech approached
retirement issues from a few different angles. Read more > | | From the Magazine | Asset Class Focus: Target-Risk Funds | In the late 1980s and early ’90s, investment providers
envisioned a world where plan participants would be keen to learn the ins and
outs of investing, then construct and manage their own retirement portfolios.
After a few years, however, plan sponsors recognized that investors were not
nearly as engaged as the fund companies had hoped, and retirement participants’
investments were far from optimal. Thus, in the mid-1990s, fund companies
devised target-risk funds. Read more > | | Small Talk | ON
THIS DATE: In 1878,
the first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson nominated
Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Brandeis became the first Jewish judge on
the Supreme Court. In 1985, American
recording artists gathered to record “We Are the World,” which went on to
sell more than 7 million copies and raise more than $60 million for African
famine relief. In 1986, the space
shuttle Challenger lifted off from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school
social studies teacher from New Hampshire, was on her way to becoming the first
ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. Seventy-three seconds later, the
shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. There were no survivors.
In 1997, Clive Davis received a star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1999,
Ford Motor Company announced the purchase of Sweden’s Volvo AB for $6.45
billion. | WEDNESDAY
WISDOM: “You
always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.” —Sammy
Davis Jr., American entertainer | 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
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