I’m pleased to announce that I am now a regular contributing author for BizBox by Slate, a special promotion by OPEN from American Express. I’m one of 5 contributors whose focus is helping business owners manage and grow their businesses. Come visit us.… Continue Reading
Every year the Internal Revenue Service releases cost of living adjustments to applicable dollar limits for retirement plans. Here is a link to a chart (pdf) that summarizes the most frequently used limits.… Continue Reading
“Joe The Plumber” has had his 15 minutes of fame, and then some. Our friends at Slate’s Bizbox blog for whom I regularly contribute went beyond the political rhetoric when they said Keep Helping Small Business. And here’s why the new administration should do more for “Joe The Plumber” and all the other small businesses … Continue Reading
See full-size image. I was certainty premature yesterday in thinking the bailout bill was going to pass when I wrote the bailout bill is like a Christmas tree – something for everyone including retirement plans. And I wasn’t alone. The stock market reacted with the largest one day drop in its history. No one knows the … Continue Reading
The bailout bill working its way through Congress now has something for everyone – including retirement plans. The legislation is being called TARP, ("Troubled Asset Relief Program"), and it’s an acronym that some retirement plans will get to know better. In addition to bailing out financial institutions, TARP also permits the Treasury to protect "the retirement security of … Continue Reading
ERISA, of course, requires adherence to a host of deadlines, and the failure to meet some of them can have serious consequences for a retirement plan sponsor. Here’s a new batch of such deadlines added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) that could affect defined benefit pension plans for 2008 calendar year plans. … Continue Reading
The funded status (or lack thereof) of public employee pension plans doesn’t get a whole lot of coverage by the mainstream media. That’s unfortunate because it’s an important public policy issue with extremely significant long-term financial implications for all of us taxpayers. But leave it to cartoonist Scott Adams to weigh in on the topic via his … Continue Reading
Just recently, I thought that it might be the dog days of summer as far as setting up a retirement plan is concerned. But it may be the “retirement plan season” is here after all – at least in the minds of our fellow bloggers at Slate magazine’s BizBox blog. Their post today is What Retirement … Continue Reading
For those of us who work with business owners, we buckle up our seat belts during the last quarter of the year. Buckle them up a little tighter in December, and tighter still at actual year end. We call it the “retirement plan season”, the time when many business owners decide to set up a … Continue Reading
Here is the link to my presentation handout (43 pages, PDF) for the August 5, 2008 Seminar, Defined Benefit Pension Plans: What’s Old is New Again and better than ever. This was a 3 hour continuing education seminar sponsored by the Lanny D. Levin Agency, Inc., a General Agent for the Guardian Life Insurance Company. … Continue Reading
July 31st, is of course, the due date (unless extended) for calendar year retirement plans required to file Form 5500 for the 2007 plan year. And, as in the past, there will be a number of plan sponsors who have to indicate on the 5500 thay they have outdated fidelity bonds or none at all. One … Continue Reading
That’s a question posed to me the other day in an email from one of this blog’s readers. It’s an interesting question, both from a historical standpoint and in the current political environment in which women’s issues are an important component. So here’s the answer for all to see. Let’s set the dial on the … Continue Reading
On Tuesday, August 5, 2008, I will be a co-presenter at the following seminar: "GUARDIAN UNIVERSITY" Tuesday, August 5, 2008 THE LANNY D. LEVIN AGENCY, Inc. DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION PLANS: WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN – And Better Than Ever! (3 hours CE credit approved for Illinois Insurance Producers) Speakers: Jerry Kalish, National Benefit Services, … Continue Reading
The late Robert King Merton, the distinguished American sociologist, published an article in the December, 1936 issue of the American Sociological Review titled The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action. It’s since been popularized as The Law of Unintended Consequences. Kinda like, say, trying to drive through a flooded road in one of the storm … Continue Reading
Retirement is not about the proverbial gold watch any more. Today, our focus is on retirement security, and the newly created National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) is adding to the dialogue. The NIRS was established in in 2007 by the Council of Institutional Investors (CII), the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA), and … Continue Reading
It was 1982, and many of today’s baby boomers were listening to the song, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” that was on The Clash’s album, Combat Rock. According to NME, Mick Jones, the lead guitar on the song, wrote it about singer Ellen Foley, who sang the backing vocals on Meatloaf’s Bat Out … Continue Reading
How many times have we all “seen” the invisible dog being walked? Maybe too many times. But you probably haven’t seen this situation very often. The case of what I call "The Employee Who Never Was". It seems that a plaintiff filed suit against the plan administrator after being denied the plan’s $2,500 monthly benefit. … Continue Reading
View larger image. Lost in the mass media focus on the Baby Boomers retiring is Generation X, the generation that follows. Depending on how they are defined, it’s the people born between 1965 and 1985 (age 23 to 43). I’ve written about them before, Not my generation that nobody seems to want. The "nobody" referred … Continue Reading
Fran Hawthorne is an accomplished journalist who over the last 20 years has specialized in finding and writing about the intersection of corporate America and timely and sometimes contentious social issues. She’s written articles for publications such as Fortune, Business Week, and Institutional Investor and has authored books on such issues as the dangers of … Continue Reading
If you’re familiar with Chicago and Boston, then you’ll know that the CTA is the Chicago Transit Authority and the MBTA (also known as the "T") is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. But I never really thought about whose retirement plan was the richest in America until I saw this story carried by the BostonHerald.com, … Continue Reading
Last week Steve Rosenberg on his insightful Boston ERISA Law Blog tells us that Legal Rights That Are Protected In Courts, May Well Be Lost In An Arbitration. Steve comments on a recent Supreme Court case that parties may not contract among themselves for judicial oversight of an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act. … Continue Reading
I’ve got that queasy feeling again in my stomach. The recent collapse of Bear Stearns gave me flashbacks to the 1990s during which we struggled with insolvency issues affecting ERISA plans. If you were around back then, you’ll remember the insurance companies that failed or were seized by insurance regulators as a result of failed … Continue Reading
Retirement plans in the U.K. and this country are a lot alike. Employers in both countries have shifted from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. Employers in both countries use a trust-based system complete with fiduciary responsibilities. And employers in both countries are understandably trying to limit their exposure to fiduciary liability. U.K. employers, … Continue Reading
This is one of those Good News/Bad News stories. The Wall Street Journal on March 27 reported that “Household Wealth Rises as Retirees Age” citing a paper posted on the Federal Reserve’s website. The Journal quotes the authors as saying that adjusted for inflation, The median’s household’s wealth declines more slowly than its remaining life … Continue Reading
