| | Benefit Briefs | | Small Businesses Increasing Retirement Savings Efforts | | The smallest of employers are gaining enough
confidence in the economic growth of their businesses to increase efforts to
help employees save for retirement. Fidelity Investments latest Small Business
Retirement Savings Analysis reveals increases in average balances and
contributions in small businesses’ retirement benefits plans for the third consecutive
year. According to the analysis, average balances in Simplified Employee
Pension Plans (SEP-IRAs) increased by 92% to $84,410 from 2008 to 2013. Average
balances in Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE-IRAs) increased
100.8% to $36,235. In addition to contributing to their own retirement, small
business owners are contributing more to employees’ accounts, Brian Hogan,
director of small business retirement products at Fidelity in Smithfield, Rhode
Island, tells PLANSPONSOR. | | | Buyer's Market | | MullinTBG Introduces Plan Sponsor Reporting Center | | MullinTBG, a provider of non-qualified executive
benefits, has created a Plan Sponsor Reporting Center. The solution will offer
plan sponsors more options, flexibility and convenience for accessing the plan-
and participant-related information they need, the company says. Plan sponsors
can run 22 new standard reports for balances, elections, transactions and
enrollment, as well as customize, save and schedule a variety of reports to run
on-demand. | | Invesco PowerShares Capital Management has
launched the PowerShares Variable Rate Preferred Portfolio (VRP). The aim of
this portfolio will be to provide income-seeking investors with efficient
exposure to a portfolio of variable-rate preferred securities. “We see strong
demand for variable-rate preferred securities that offer the potential for high
income and less interest rate risk than fixed-rate preferred securities in this
current market rate environment,” says Dan Draper, Invesco PowerShares managing
director of global exchange-traded funds (ETFs). | | USRP Acquires CPI Common Remitter Business | | U.S. Retirement Partners (USRP), through its
U.S. Employee Benefits Services Group (USEBSG) division, has acquired the
Common Remitter Services business of CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. Plan
administration for 403(b) and 457(b) services will be transitioned to The OMNI
Group, a member of USEBSG. This acquisition will add more than 1,000 new school
districts to The OMNI Group. | | Envestnet, Inc. has enhanced the capabilities of
its Impact Investing Solutions platform, through which retirement plan clients
can develop socially responsible investing (SRI) programs. This new impact
investing program provides financial advisers and institutions with access to a
comprehensive set of model portfolios, specialist advice and digital SRI
portfolio-building tools. | | UBS Offers Equtiy Comp. Participants Education and Advice | | UBS Wealth Management Americas launched an
online portal that provides education about equity awards and access to
financial planning advice for equity compensation plan participants. The
Knowledge Center is a portal for corporate employees in the United States and
other countries throughout the world who participate in equity compensation
plans. The center contains a broad range of materials tailored to individual
needs. The information is personalized to each participant by award type,
experience with awards, level of financial knowledge, life stage and financial
concerns. | | | Economic Events | | The U.S.
Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction
spending during March was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $942.5
billion, 0.2% above the revised February estimate of $940.8 billion. The March figure
is 8.4% above the March 2013 estimate of $869.2 billion. During the first three
months of this year, construction spending amounted to $196.6 billion, 8.3% above
the $181.6 billion for the same period in 2013.
In the week
ending April 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for
unemployment insurance was 344,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s
revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 329,000
to 330,000. The four-week moving average was 320,000, an increase of 3,000 from
the previous week’s revised average.
The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage is 4.29%, down from 4.33% one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The
average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.38%, down from
3.39%.
| | | Market Mirror | | Yesterday, the Dow slipped 21.97 points
(0.13%) to 16,558.87, the NASDAQ increased 12.90 points (0.31%) to 4,127.45,
and the S&P 500 decreased by 0.27 (0.01%) to 1,883.68. The Russell 2000
decreased by 0.89 (0.08%) to 1,125.97, and the Wilshire 5000 was up 16.70
points (0.08%) at 19,976.54.
On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares traded,
with 1.3 advancing issues for every declining issue. On the NASDAQ, 2.7 billion
shares changed hands, with a slight lead for decliners.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note was up 9/32,
bringing its yield down to 2.615%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond
increased 1 0/32, decreasing its yield to 3.407%.
| | | Rules & Regulators | | Meeting Expectations of the DOL | | There are four main fiduciary duties the
Department of Labor (DOL) expects from plan sponsors. According to Jennifer Del
Nero, assistant regional director for the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA) in Atlanta, they are: Act solely in the interests of the
participants and their beneficiaries, be prudent, pay only reasonable and
necessary expenses for the plan, and follow the terms of the plan. Del Nero
explained to attendees of the Retirement & Benefits Management Seminar,
hosted by the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business, and
co-sponsored by PLANSPONSOR, that expenses are reasonable only if they are
necessary for the operation of the plan, and are not excessive for the service
received. “The main thing to remember about ensuring reasonable expenses is
document, document, document,” she said. | | | Financial Sense | | Retiree Health Benefit Changes Affect Company Reporting | | As companies make changes to retiree health care
benefits offerings, they should consider the related accounting implications. An
Insights report from PwC’s Human Resources Services says companies are likely
to continue to shift away from employer-sponsored plans or move to private
exchanges for retiree benefits, similar to the shift over the last decade from
defined benefit pension arrangements to defined contribution plans. Many
employers that shift benefits from traditional employer-sponsored group health
plans to the private exchanges will continue to provide some sort of subsidy to
their retirees, often a fixed annual amount in a retiree health reimbursement
account (HRA). PwC
says some judgment may be required in assessing whether this is more akin to a
plan amendment or to an actuarial gain/loss. | | | The World at Large | | The Pensions Regulator and Institute of
Chartered Accountants for England & Wales have published a set of standards
for master trust governance, effective immediately. Last October the bodies published
for consultation 43 master trust “control objectives” which it has pared down
to 38. The rules are voluntary, although the regulator has already recommended
employers do not use master trusts which do not agree to abide by them. | | | Small Talk | | ON
THIS DATE: In
1885, the magazine “Good
Housekeeping” was first published. In 1933,
the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster was born when a sighting made local
news. In 1939, New York Yankees
first baseman Lou Gehrig benched himself for poor play and ended his streak of
consecutive games played at 2,130. “The Iron Horse” was suffering at
the time from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as “Lou
Gehrig’s Disease.” In 1972, after
nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
J. Edgar Hoover died, leaving the agency without the administrator who had been
largely responsible for its existence and structure. In 2011, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11,
2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, was killed by U.S. forces during
a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan.
And now it’s time for FRIDAY FILES!
| | If you fall asleep at work, you could mess up
your “do”. | | Somewhere
in the UK, a couple has passed up naming their baby the winning suggestion by
Reddit users. The dad had set up a website and asked all 2.89 million Reddit
users to name the newborn, according to Huffington Post UK. The winning first
and middle name were Cthulhu All-Spark, but the couple has decided to go with
Amelia Savannah Joy as first and middle names. However, the new mom recognized
the winning entry in a Facebook post that said: “All bow down to the great
and powerful Cthulhu.”
In Shanghai, China, a man
named Xiang who quit his job at a man named Bing’s company three years ago and
had a labor dispute has exacted revenge on Bing. Before leaving, Xiang claimed
he was owed 3,000 RMB in wages, but Bing insisted he had already paid Xiang
off. According to the Shanghaiist, Xiang continued to claim he never got his
money. So recently, he ordered 1,130 baby ducks from a farmer named Chen, and
asked Chen to send all the ducks to his boss’s place. When Chen asked Xiang for
the duck payment, Xiang forwarded him on to Bing since Bing hadn’t paid his
3,000 RMB wage yet. For the sake of the ducks, Chen called the police to act as
an intermediary. Finally, they reached an agreement with the police’s help:
Bing had to compensate for all the fees of transporting the ducks and the loss
of a few ducks. Police suggested Xiang and Bing go to the relevant authority to
settle their wage dispute.
| | Maybe this reporter should have chosen a
different place on the boat to interview the mayor. | | In Foristell, Missouri,
police spotted a swerving truck and proceeded to pull it over, thinking it was
a dru.nk driver. However, they found the dru.nk was in the passenger’s seat—and
he had his 13-year-old son driving him home after he had too much to drink at
the son’s baseball game, according to St. Louis’ FOX News station.
In Anchorage, Alaska, an
Anchorage airport police training failed when a rental car with a small
quantity of explosives attached to it went missing because the rental company
inadvertently allowed the car to be rented out, authorities said. The Anchorage
Daily News says it took a few hours for police to track down the car and
recover the explosives, which had been placed on the vehicle for a routine K-9
training. The driver of the rental was never in danger, said Jesse Davis, chief
of Airport Police and Fire at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, but
the episode was a lesson in accountability for authorities who were supposed to
keep track of the vehicle. “It was embarrassing for the officer,”
Davis said.
In New York, New York, a
former police officer is facing two years of prison for fraudulently claiming
disability. He claimed he was unable to perform his police duties because of a
work-related injury from June 2010 until March 2012, filing for disability
while continuing to collect his $90,000 annual salary, according to court
documents. Reuters reports the officer claimed he hurt his right arm in an
on-the-job injury that caused excruciating pain and loss of mobility. However,
he was caught and filmed performing as the lead singer of a heavy metal band
“Cousin Sleaze,” slashing the air with his well-toned right arm while
gripping a microphone.
| | In Pensacola,
Florida, two anglers who had hoped to avoid publicity after catching a
giant mako shark from the beach might have succeeded had they not stopped for
gas on the way home. The enormous shark was spilling from the bed of their
pickup truck. GrindTV reports that a passerby sent a photo of the shark to the
Pensacola News-Journal. The newspaper tracked down one of the anglers and, a
day later, reported that the catch could set a world record for shore-based
fishing. The shark, reeled in with heavy tackle after an hour-long struggle,
weighed 805 pounds and measured 11 feet. The anglers explained that they kept
the shark because it had become so weary during the fight, they did not think
it could swim back to sea. | | In Bohemia, Czech Republic, police received an emergency call from parents saying
a man was wedged in a climbing frame at a playground, said a fire brigade
spokesman. “When our men arrived only his head and shoulders were sticking out.
He had fallen asleep in the meantime and had sobered up a bit – and was rather
embarrassed,” he added, according to the Metro. The man said he had been
abandoned by his friends who were with him when he got stuck. Firefighters dislodged
him.
In Deerfield Beach, Florida,
a family hid a man’s birthday cake on a washing machine in the laundry closet in
their apartment. They lit the candles and closed the door, ready to surprise
him. However, when they opened the door, they were met with a barrage of water
from the sprinkler that had gone off. The apartment below was flooded from the
incident, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
In South
Brunswick, New Jersey, a 40-year-old woman who received her driver’s
license just weeks ago led police on a chase for more than a mile. The woman
went through a stop sign, nearly caused a collision and drove at night with her
headlights off, police said, according to nj.com. She was arrested at her home.
She told police she didn’t know she had to stop for police and just wanted to
get home.
Have a great weekend,
everyone!
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