| | Benefit Briefs | | Sponsors See Need for Holistic Health and Retirement Benefits | | As increasing health care costs compete with
retirement savings, employers see a demand for a holistic health and retirement
benefits plan in the near-term. “As we focus on improving retirement outcomes,
changing health costs and the regulatory environment are causing health and
retirement to be more and more linked,” Shelby George, benefits solutions
practice leader at Manning & Napier, in Rochester, New York, tells
PLANSPONSOR. George explains that a holistic health and retirement benefits
plan for plan sponsors looks different depending on employers’ goals for their
plans. “We’re talking about a consultative approach driven by employers’
objectives for their benefit plans, not a one-size-fits-all turnkey approach,”
she says. “The onus is on those of us in the industry to create awareness and
tools for approaching benefits in a holistic way.”Read more > | | Similar to private sector employers, government
employers are dealing with new health care reform rules and mitigating the
costs of providing health care benefits to employees. A survey from the
nonprofit research firm Cobalt Community Research of 1,536 municipalities,
school districts, state governments, and other public sector employers from
across the United States rates their collective knowledge of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) at 4.5 out of 10. However, employers
offering coverage to active employees have frequently responded to the ACA with
compliance reviews to see how the ACA applies to their plans (64%); by testing
plans to see if they meet minimum value and affordability standards (66%); and
by calculating ACA costs (54%). Nearly half are developing new strategies for
part-time and seasonal employees because of the 30-hour per week requirement.Read more > | | A Proper Study Can Help Improve Retirement Plan Outcomes | | What is the next phase of plan-design changes
that a plan sponsor should think about implementing? Conducting a plan-design
optimization study can help you answer that question.Read more > | | | Industry Voices | | Industry Voice: Unbundling the Target-Date Fund | | There have been many articles that have detailed
the vast differences between the various off-the-shelf target-date strategies
for the defined contribution mid-market. These are usually offered in the form
of mutual funds or collective trust funds and are available almost universally
across most open architecture platform providers. Large market plans have
generally moved towards the custom target-date strategies which usually combine
some sort of a model portfolio with a custom “glide path” bolted on to reflect
the demographics of the participant base. This custom model “unbundles” the
packaged target strategies and thus the pseudonym “custom.” In the mid-market
space, we are left to choose from the fifty plus (and counting) mutual fund
flavors what the most appropriate one is for our plan demographics. Let’s
unbundle these strategies to identify the perfect target-date fund for your
plan.Read more > | | | Economic Events | | THE ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: Wednesday,
the Census Bureau will report about retail sales for September and business
inventories for August, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics will reveal the
producer price index for September. Thursday,
the Labor Department will issue its initial claims report. Friday, the Census Bureau will report about housing starts for
September. | | | Market Mirror | | Friday, the Dow was down 115.15 points
(0.69%) at 16,544.10, the NASDAQ plummeted 102.10 points (2.33%) to 4,276.24,
and the S&P 500 fell 22.08 points (1.15%) to 1,906.13. The Russell 2000
tumbled 14.67 points (1.37%) to 1,053.32, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 259.25
points (1.28%) lower at 19,975.65.
On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares changed
hands, with 3.6 declining issues for every advancing issue. On the NASDAQ, 2.7
billion shares traded, with a 2.7 to 1 ratio of decliners to advancers.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note
was up 9/32, with its yield down to 2.283%. The price of the 30-year Treasury
bond increased 21/32, decreasing its yield to 3.016%.
WEEK’S
WORTH: For the week ending October 10, the Dow decreased
2.74%, the NASDAQ tumbled 4.45%, and the S&P 500 closed 3.14% lower. The
Russell 2000 plummeted 4.65%, and the Wilshire 5000 lost 3.57%.
| | | Rules & Regulators | | Company Used Insurance as Excuse to Fire Older Workers | | Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Atchison
Transportation Services has settled an age discrimination charge by the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the agency, the
company’s operations manager told William Thomas, who was a motor coach driver
for Atchison, that he had thought Thomas was “only 70,” but because
Thomas was actually 75, the company had to let him go. The complaint alleged
that the operations manager further stated that the company’s insurance policy
had a clause that did not allow drivers to drive after they reached the age of
75.Read more > | | | Financial Sense | | Prepare for a New Financial Era, Gross Says | | “There is a new financial era. Accept it and
modify your behavior accordingly, so that your future is safe, secure, and you
look forward to a brighter tomorrow,” says Bill Gross. In his first investment
outlook letter as portfolio manager of the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund
and related strategies at Janus Capital Group, Gross briefly addressed his
departure from PIMCO, the company he co-founded. “Had there been a reasonable
way to continue there, I would have stayed to my last breath.”Read more > | | | The World at Large | | UK Pensions minister Steve Webb wants to make
“auto escalation” of employee retirement plan contributions the central plank
of the next five years’ pensions policy, if he remains in government.Read more > | | | Small Talk | | ON THIS DATE: In
1775, the Continental Congress
authorized construction and administration of the first American naval
force—the precursor of the United States Navy. In 1792, the cornerstone was laid for a presidential residence in the
newly designated capital city of Washington. In 1845, a majority of the citizens of the independent Republic of
Texas approved a proposed constitution, that when accepted by the Congress, would
make Texas the 28th American state. In 1998,
the National Basketball Association (NBA) canceled regular season games, due to
work stoppage, for first time in its 51-year history. In 2010, near Copiapó, Chile, 33 miners were trapped underground in
San José Mine. The miners were rescued after 69 days underground. | | SURVEY SAYS: Workplace Chats Not Related to Work | | Last week, I asked NewsDash readers, “Which
“water-cooler” topics, not related to work, are dominating conversations in
your workplace right now?” Of the things going on in the world, Ebola (49%) was
the top topic responding readers said they and their coworkers are talking
about. This was followed by professional or college football (41.2%), and major
league baseball (27.5%) rounded out the top three. The Middle East conflicts
(15.7%), the upcoming elections (11.8%), the movie/book “Gone Girl” (11.8%), TV shows (13.7%) children’s sports
activities (13.7%), office gossip/politics (11.8%), and Halloween
plans/costumes (11.8%) are all also hot topics of conversation right now. One
“other” response was “increase costs of benefits which results in a decrease of
disposable income.” Zombies and grandchildren were topics also mentioned in
responding readers’ verbatim comments about workplace conversations not related
to work. A couple of respondents mentioned how such chatter is necessary to
break up a work day—“thank goodness we have SOMETHING else to talk
about…”—while one reader seemed perturbed with the work interruption. Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who
said: “Are you kidding. Here, when HR approaches the water-cooler they still
scatter or hush. I can, however, guarantee one thing – it’s definitely not
about planning for retirement.” A big thank you to everyone who participated in
our survey!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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