|
| Benefits & Administration |
| Recession Shifted Retirement Expectations |
| Americans’ retirement expectations were damaged significantly by the “Great Recession,” as seen in a nearly 23% drop in workers retiring early or close to their expected date. Before the start of the recession, circa September 2008, 72.4% of workers retired either before or within one year of their expected retirement. However, that number has dropped to 49.6% after September 2008, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).Read more > |
| Saving Public DBs a Matter of Pension Fund Math |
| Defined benefit (DB) plans are the primary vehicle for ensuring retirement income security for public workers, and Callan Associates believes these plans are viable and necessary in this sector. In a paper published by the Callan Investment Institute, Callan Associates Chairman and CEO Ron Peyton and Senior Vice President and Consultant in the Capital Markets Research group Karen Harris say defined benefit plans are proven to be extremely cost-effective and reliable in delivering basic retirement income security—when the rules of DB finance are followed.Read more > |
|
| Products, Deals & People |
| Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System is issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for a Tactical Asset Allocation Strategy investment.Read more > |
| Prudential Touts Benefits of Guaranteed Income in QDIA |
| The availability of in-plan lifetime income improves participant satisfaction, confidence and outcomes due to better long-term investing behaviors, according to a white paper from Prudential. The research suggests plan design—most notably the makeup of a plan’s qualified default investment alternative (QDIA), along with the adoption of automatic enrollment and deferral escalation—play a pivotal role in unlocking the full potential of lifetime income solutions. The paper’s authors say the time is right to build a smarter QDIA that begins the process of building a lifetime income stream from the first day of participation in the retirement plan.Read more > |
| Fortune 1000 companies reported an estimated $285 billion in retiree medical obligations for 2013, according to calculations based on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosures. Towers Watson’s proprietary Longitude Solution is a turnkey retiree medical exit solution that leverages a customized group annuity, issued by a highly rated insurance company, that transfers the obligation to pay retiree health benefits from the corporate sponsor to the insurer.Read more > |
|
| From the Magazine |
| The Bottom Line: Snail Mail or Email? |
| Do regulations for delivering plan information need to be updated? Disclosures to retirement plan participants required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) initially hinged on paper and the U.S. Postal Service. However, in the last two decades, technology has transformed communication, allowing for more efficient disbursement of retirement plan disclosures.Read more > |
|
| Sponsored message from Vanguard |
| Portfolio
Construction Trends on the Mind of Investors
What portfolio construction issues and themes are on the
minds of investors recently? In this brief video, Joe Davis, Vanguard’s chief
economist and head of Vanguard Investment Strategy Group, and Catherine Gordon,
an Investment Strategy Group principal, discuss emerging trends in client
conversations, including the outlook on equity markets and fixed-income tactics.
Read more > |
|
| Economic Events |
| The Producer Price Index (PPI) for final
demand rose 0.2% in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Final
demand prices declined 0.1% in September and were unchanged in August. In October,
the index for final demand services advanced 0.5%, and prices for final demand
goods moved down 0.4%. |
|
| Market Mirror |
| Tuesday, the
Dow increased 40.07 points (0.23%) to 17,687.82, the NASDAQ climbed 31.44
points (0.67%) to 4,702.44, and the S&P 500 was up 10.48 points (0.51%) at
2,051.80. The Russell 2000 closed 6.05 points (0.52%) higher at 1,170.28, and
the Wilshire 5000 gained 110.68 points (0.52%) to finish at 21,572.59.
On the NYSE,
3.2 billion shares changed hands, and on the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares traded,
with 1.5 advancing issues for every declining issue on both exchanges.
The price of
the 10-year Treasury note was up 6/32, decreasing its yield to 2.321%. The
price of the 30-year Treasury bond increased 13/32, bringing its yield down to
3.045%.
|
|
| Ask the Experts |
| Ask the Experts – Missing Spouses as Beneficiaries |
| “One of our new employees told us she does not wish to
name her spouse as beneficiary of her retirement plan benefit. When we informed
her of the spousal consent requirements for the qualified pre-retirement
survivor annuity, she explained that she would be happy to obtain the consent
of her spouse, but that she has not seen him in more than 10 years and knows nothing of his whereabouts,
even though they are technically married. Is there any recourse for her, or is
she ‘stuck’ with naming the spouse as beneficiary?”Read more > |
|
| Small Talk |
| Chances are that the driver hitting something or someone in a busy parking lot this holiday season is a man, according to CarInsurance.com’s new survey. CarInsurance.com found men are also more likely than women to keep people waiting for parking spaces and to confront others over parking spaces.Read more > |
| ON
THIS DATE: In 1831,
future U.S. President James A. Garfield was born to an impoverished family near
Cleveland. In 1863, at the
dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the
American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg
Address. In 1895, the “paper
pencil” was patented by Frederick E. Blaisdell. In 1998, the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Bill Clinton began.
In 2001, U.S. President George W.
Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in American history. In 2002, the U.S. government completed its
takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide. In 2007, the Amazon Kindle was first released. |
| WEDNESDAY
WISDOM: “Tell
me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” —Benjamin
Franklin |
| 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.
|
