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1st Quarter 2007 Executive
Summaries
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| Easing Pension Pains: Leveraging Technology Solutions and Outsourcing by Tony DeNucci, Watson Wyatt Worldwide |
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Despite demographic, legislative and economic changes, many companies—even those that are freezing or terminating pension plans—will face pension administration responsibilities. These companies can address the painful points of pension administration by reviewing their plans, determining the best service delivery model for their plan, and choosing a flexible tool that can offer better resources for retirement planning and improve administrative processes. An investment in Web-based tools can deliver significant returns by providing immediate benefits to employees and employers alike.
| Improving Employees' Benefit Decisions—A Holistic Approach by E. Scott Peterson, Hewitt Associates and Tricia Trout, Hewitt Associates |
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This article describes the market forces changing the benefits landscape and suggests how employers can overcome obstacles to integrated benefit decisions. By following those strategies, employers can help employees determine how best to allocate limited benefit dollars across competing benefit programs while providing them with more guidance on how to make increasingly complex decisions.
| The Annuity Alternative: Answering the Need in DC Plans by Bill McClain, Mercer Human Resource Consulting |
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Annuities fell out of favor within defined contribution (DC) plans due to their track record of high fees, poor investment performance and limited flexibility. In addition, administrative burdens, fiduciary concerns and limited participant understanding constrained their usage. Now, a combination of demographic and marketplace trends are causing plan sponsors to revisit the role of annuities in DC plans, thanks to promising new approaches such as third-party annuity placement services. What factors have brought annuities to the forefront, and what role might annuities play in your DC plan?
| Medicare Retiree Drug Subsidy Compliance Considerations by Ed Pudlowski, Ernst & Young LLP |
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Employers and plan sponsors have struggled with many issues associated with Medicare's retiree drug subsidy program. Recent reviews of employer methods for collecting the subsidy from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identified significant gaps that would affect the subsidy payment and create issues in case of an audit. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) has placed audits of employer retiree drug subsidy processes in its work plans for 2006 and 2007.This article discusses areas that employers must address now to avoid significant long-term financial and compliance problems in the future.
| Born Again: Cash Balance Plans Get New Lease on Life With Latest Rulings, Pension Reform 2006 Legislation by Richard J. Bottelli Jr., Milliman |
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The Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the recent court ruling in favor of IBM (Cooper v. IBM) have improved the landscape dramatically for cash balance plan sponsors. This article reviews the historical context of cash balance plans, describes the impact of recent legislative and legal changes, and discusses how companies can manage their existing cash balance plans going forward, or even unfreeze or start new ones.
| Improving the Financial Status of Elderly Women: Issues in Savings, Pension Plans and Social Security by Anna M. Rappaport, Retirement Consultant |
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The economic problems of the elderly are often problems of women. This article focuses on issues in savings, pension plans and Social Security as faced by elderly women in particular, giving special attention to how family patterns and personal decisions affect retirement security. Among other issues, the author discusses the ability to plan and manage effectively, spousal rights and health care issues. She concludes with several suggestions to improve the economic status of older women and to assure them a good economic future.
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