| | Benefit Briefs | | Financial Wellness Helps with Retirement Plan Goals | | Success in financial wellness and retirement
depends on each person’s goals and ideas, so employers should provide tools to
help them reach these goals or their idea of what retirement should be like,
according to Jason Boultbee, Global Wealth and Investment Management, director
of Institutional Client Relationship Management at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch. He told attendees of the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) 2014
Annual Conference that within their financial wellness program, plan sponsors
should minimize industry jargon, recognize financial wellness is unique to each
person, and make wellness opportunities frequent and accessible. “Wellness is a
journey, not a point-in-time event,” he said.Read more > | | Using Trends to Improve Your Plan | | Plan sponsors can use data about industry trends
to make improvements to their retirement plans. For example, Michael Kozemchak,
managing director at Institutional Investment Consulting (IIC), told attendees
at the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) 2014 Annual Conference, lessons
from well-known fee litigation are guiding plan sponsors regarding what to do
about fees. One of Kozemchak’s clients, Karen Hollis, director of compensation
and benefits at CGB Enterprises and Zen-Noh Grain Corporation, shared how the
fee litigation trend and other trends help the firms improve their plans.Read more > | | Health Care Not Biggest Cost for Baby Boomers | | A new report from the Employee Benefit Research
Institute (EBRI) asks: “Does Household Expenditure Change With Age for Older
Americans?” EBRI tracked the latest available data, through 2011, for its
analysis and found that housing-related costs topped the list as the largest spending
category for those between 50 and 64 years old. Maintaining their home is the
biggest expense for these Americans and consistently takes up 40% to 45% of
their household budget as they age, even as the actual dollar amount spent on
their home decreases over time.Read more > | | | Industry Voices | | Barry’s Pickings: Small-Plan Fiduciaries | | Still on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulatory
agenda is the redefinition of “fiduciary” for purposes of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In this project, the DOL wants to
“reduce harmful conflicts of interest by amending the regulatory definition of
the term ‘fiduciary.’” Two major areas of focus are: 1) conflicts that persons
who advise a sponsor on fund menu construction may have that may influence
which funds get included in the menu, and 2) conflicts that persons who advise
participants receiving distributions may have. I believe there is important
work to be done on these issues, if the DOL can figure out how to define
“conflict” in a way that doesn’t ban everyone in the financial services
industry from providing services to plans. But pretty much everyone agrees that
a significant piece of the problem the DOL is trying to solve—probably the most
significant piece—exists in the small-plan market.Read more > | | | Economic Events | | On a
seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
decreased 0.2% in August after rising 0.1% in July, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged
in August after rising 0.1% in July.
Real average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in August,
seasonally adjusted. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% and the CPI-U fell 0.2%.
Real average weekly earnings rose 0.4% over the month.
| | | Market Mirror | | Wednesday, the Dow ticked up 24.88
points (0.15%) to 17,156.85, the NASDAQ gained 9.43 points (0.21%) to finish at
4,562.19, and the S&P 500 increased 2.59 points (0.13%) to 2,001.57. The
Russell 2000 was up 2.92 points (0.25%) at 1,153.89, and the Wilshire 5000
closed 31.95 points (0.15%) higher at 21,160.72.
On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares traded,
with a slight lead for decliners. On the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares changed
hands, with 1.3 advancing issues for every declining issue.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note fell 8/32,
increasing its yield to 2.622%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond
decreased 6/32, bringing its yield up to 3.371%.
| | | Rules & Regulators | | Health System Settles Cash Balance Plan Suit | | A Madison, Wisconsin-based hospital has agreed
to settle a lawsuit brought by cash balance plan participants rather than face
a large class action suit. Under the settlement agreement, Meriter Health
Services will pay $82 million to settle all claims in the lawsuit. Meriter had
tried to have the class certification of the plaintiffs reversed, arguing that
because so many subclasses make claims, the class action does not satisfy the requirement
of Rule 23(b)(2) that the defendant have “acted … on grounds that apply
generally to the class.” There are more than 4,000 participants in 10
subclasses in the lawsuit.Read more > | | | Small Talk | | ON THIS DATE: In
1793, U.S. President George
Washington laid the actual cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. In 1851, the first issue of “The New
York Times” was published. In 1927,
Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System made its debut with its network
broadcast over 16 radio stations. The name was later changed to CBS. In 1947, the United States Air Force was
established as a separate military branch by the National Security Act. In 2003, Robert Duvall received a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame. | | SURVEY SAYS: Information Security | | There have been many news reports lately about
hackers obtaining personal information from store systems or from the “Cloud.”
So, this week, I asked NewsDash readers, what activities do you do online via
your computer/laptop or mobile phone, and have you been the victim of a data
breach? Nearly 93% of responding readers indicated they shop online or via
their mobile phone, while 87.5% said they book travel this way, and 84% perform
banking transactions this way. Nearly 79% pay bills online or via their mobile
phone, 75% perform retirement account transactions, and nearly 70% post or send
photos. Forty-eight percent check medical records or communicate with their
doctors online or via mobile phones, and 23% admitted to using public WiFi
hotspots for work. Nearly 45% of responding readers have been the victim of a
data breach, 39% have not, and 16% are unsure if they have. Seventy-nine
percent of respondents admitted they have their passwords for different site or
applications written down somewhere, while 21% do not. Among those who entered
verbatim comments, some shared how they were a victim of a breach, expressed
concern about information security and data breaches, and offered ideas for
keeping track of all the many passwords we are expected remember. Editor’s Choice goes to the reader who
said: “Can’t do anything without a user ID and password these days. To make
them different or to consistently change them is arduous at best. Considering
cash based consumerism all over again—but will I be able to give up the
points?” Thank you to everyone who responded to 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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