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| Webcast Event |
| Now is the time to redefine success in a defined
contribution (DC) retirement program—aligning the objectives of plan sponsors
and participants—to drive better outcomes. Accumulation is a key component of
successful planning, but the conversation needs to then shift to emphasize
income distribution. Join us for a webcast in which we’ll explore ways to use
an objectives-based approach to redefine success in your plan, revamp your
investment menu to help participants make effective decisions as they invest
for the future, and move away from a focus on accumulation to support results
that will meet their future income needs.Read more > |
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| Benefits & Administration |
| A federal judge last week approved the city of
Detroit’s plan to get out of bankruptcy. Under the plan, retirees covered by
the city’s general pension fund will see benefits decrease by 4.5%, while
police and fire system retirees will see smaller cuts.Read more > |
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| Products, Deals & People |
| Transamerica App Lets Savers See Blind Spots |
| Augmented reality technology via a mobile
application (app) from Transamerica Retirement Solutions can help drive up
retirement savings. Plan participants can use the app to enroll in the plan,
increase contributions or assess their financial outlook for retirement.Read more > |
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| Special Request from the GAO |
| If you are a defined contribution (DC) plan
fiduciary who has considered adopting or has adopted a qualified default investment
alternative (QDIA) for your plan, please consider answering a short
questionnaire sponsored by PLANSPONSOR and the U.S. Government Accountability
Office(GAO). Please note: GAO is not auditing or analyzing the policies or
practices of any individual plan sponsor. All responses provided in this
questionnaire will remain confidential. GAO will not attribute any provided
information to any individual or company. GAO will accept responses to this
questionnaire through December 19.Read more > |
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| From the Magazine |
| Selecting and Benchmarking Advisers and Consultants |
| As with any relationship, it can be hard for
plan sponsors to get what they want from a retirement plan adviser unless they
define what that means at the start, says Dan Peluse, director of corporate
retirement plan services for Wintrust Wealth Management in Chicago.Read more > |
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| Market Mirror |
| Good company
earnings reports are keeping major U.S. stock indices moving in a positive
direction. Yesterday, the Dow was up 39.81 points (0.23%) at 17,613.74, the
NASDAQ climbed 19.08 points (0.41%) to 4,651.62, and the S&P 500 closed
6.34 points (0.31%) higher at 2,038.26. The Russell 2000 gained 6.25 points
(0.53%) to finish at 1,179.57, and the Wilshire 5000 increased 65.38 points
(0.31%) to 21,447.21.
On the NYSE,
3.2 billion shares changed hands, with 1.3 advancing issues for every declining
issue. On the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares traded, with a 1.6 to 1 ratio of
advancers to decliners.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased
17/32, bringing its yield up to 2.361%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond
fell 1 8/32, increasing its yield to 3.092%.
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| Compliance |
| Guidance for MEP Form 5500 Changes Issued |
| The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration (EBSA) published an interim final rule to implement
Form 5500 annual reporting changes for multiple employer plans (MEPs). The
Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act, enacted on
April 7, established additional annual reporting requirements for MEPs for plan
years beginning after December 31, 2013.Read more > |
| Regulators Warn About Certain Health Plan Designs |
| Federal employee benefit regulators have become
aware of certain group health plan benefit designs that lack coverage for
in-patient hospitalization services being promoted to employers. The Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of the Treasury announced
they believe plans that fail to provide substantial coverage for in-patient
hospitalization services or for physician services (or both) do not provide the
minimum value (MV) intended by the minimum value requirement in the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and they will shortly propose
regulations to that effect.Read more > |
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| Investing |
| Alternative assets skyrocketed over six years,
from $83 billion at the end of 2008, to $304 billion in mid-2014, according to
Strategic Insight. In the “Alternatives Industry Analysis 2014,” Strategic
Insight, an Asset International company, reports that registered alternative
assets surpassed 2% of all mutual fund and exchange-traded product assets last
year. Strategic Insight projects continued growth for the next five years, at
an average annual clip of almost 20%. The report contends that the biggest
single driver of demand for alternatives is volatility management and,
therefore, capital protection for retirees.Read more > |
| Equities contributed to negative returns in the
third quarter for the U.S. Master Trust Universe, says BNY Mellon. The median
return of the BNY Mellon U.S. Master Trust Universe was -0.83% for the third
quarter of 2014, ending four straight quarters of positive results. However,
for the twelve months ending September 30, the median plan returned 10.16%.Read more > |
| Hedge Fund Growth to Persist Says Fitch |
| Two large U.S. public pension plans, California
Pension Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) and San Francisco Employees’
Retirement System (SFERS), recently made decisions to pull back from hedge fund
investments. In addition, hedge fund growth has slowed over the past several
years. However, Fitch Ratings says the withdrawals are not representative of
broader sector trends, and it predicts hedge fund assets under management (AUM)
to increase from the 2013 year-end level of $2.6 trillion, attributing the
growth to market appreciation and inflows outpacing redemptions.Read more > |
| The Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service
(TUCS) shows performance was down for all plan types in the third quarter. The
median performance for all plan types was -0.84% in Q3, as measured by Wilshire
TUCS. “In a quarter where the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index and Barclays
U.S. Aggregate Index returns were up slightly at 0.08% and 0.17%, respectively,
it is surprising to see that performance for all plan types was in the red,”
says Robert J. Waid, managing director at Wilshire Associates.Read more > |
| In an effort to diversify their portfolios,
institutions are making sizable investments in real assets and are planning to
increase their level of activity next year, according to a Greenwich Associates
report. “Data from Real Assets: An Increasingly Central Role in Institutional
Portfolios” reveals that a majority of institutions active in real assets have
target allocations in the realm of 10% of total portfolio assets.Read more > |
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| Small Talk |
| ON
THIS DATE: In 1620,
the Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower when they
landed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The compact called for
“just and equal laws.” In 1851,
the telescope was patented by Alvan Clark. In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state of the United States. In 1918, at the 11th hour on the 11th day
of the 11th month, Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a
railroad car outside Compiégne, France, ending World War I. In 1921, exactly three years after the end
of World War I, the Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in
Virginia during an Armistice Day ceremony presided over by President Warren G.
Harding. In 1940, the Jeep made its
debut. In 1942, Congress approved
lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37. In 1978, Donna Summer’s “MacArthur
Park” reached the top of the Billboard
Hot 100, giving the Queen of Disco her first No. 1 pop hit.
TUESDAY
TRIVIA: The polymer known as “rubber” got its name when
people in Britain figured out it could be used to erase or “rub out”
mistakes made with a pencil.
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| TRIVIAL PURSUITS: John
Quincy Adams was the first U.S. president to have one of these. What is it?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
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2014.
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