Actuarial - misc (BenefitsLink.com)Headlines re Actuarial - misc, gathered by BenefitsLink.comPension Turbulence for Airline Employees- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "It's not just the airline industry. Across the United States, companies feeling the squeeze from low-cost foreign competition, new technology, rising oil prices, recession and changing consumer patterns -- ranging from Rust Belt steel, textile and auto parts makers to white-collar insurance giants -- have found that when they need to save money, their 'legacy' defined benefit pension plans are one of the most convenient places to cut. This article is adapted from 'Pension...http://www.newsday.com/business/custom/retirement/ny-bzcov0405,0,426909.story Guidance Overview Final PBGC Regulations for Calculating the Variable-Rate Premium also Revise Filing Deadlines- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "In addition to having to pay a flat-rate, per-capita premium to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC),1 sponsors of single employer pension plans must pay a variable-rate premium (VRP), which depends on the value of their unfunded vested benefits. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA'06) changed the funding rules on which the VRP is based and eliminated the full-funding limit exemption from the VRP." (The Segal Group, Inc.)http://www.sibson.com/publications/compliancealert/040708.html Guidance Overview PBGC Issues Final 'Variable-Rate Premium' Regulations to Implement PPA Changes Effective for Plan Years after 2007- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The PPA did not change the variable-rate premium (VRP) rate: it continues to be $9.00 for each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) of unfunded vested benefits (UVB). However, the PPA repealed the 'full-funding exemption' and made certain other changes designed to conform the VRP to the new funding rules. These latter changes are the primary focus of the regulations." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)http://benefitslink.com/articles/guests/washbull080407.html The Role of Actuarial Audits in Performing Due Diligence (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 3 pages. Excerpt: "This article discusses actuarial audits as a due diligence tool for plan trustees. High quality actuarial work can do much to ensure the long-term soundness of a pension plan. Similarly, low quality actuarial work, left undiscovered, can undermine a plan's financial security in a fairly short time." (Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company)http://www.grsnet.com/news/pdf_research/RoleofActuarial%20Audits.pdf Opinion PAPO = Pension Actuary Pecking Order- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "Pension actuaries are a little like doctors, less about 5 years of advanced pre-training and fewer malpractice worries since we've sufficiently complicated simple concepts to dissuade even trial lawyers from wading through our rationales. We've had this regulatory lattice since ERISA in 1974 with changes periodically when either the government needs money or a spate of plans fail." (John Bury via nj.com)http://blog.nj.com/njv_johnbury/2008/04/papo_pension_actuary_pecking_o.html Guidance Overview Analysis of PBGC's Final Rule Implementing Variable-Rate Premium Changes (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 9 pages. Excerpt: "PBGC premium rules continue to undergo significant change, with dollar consequences that are on the rise for many plans. Understanding not only the PPA statutory changes slated to go into effect starting with the 2008 plan year, but also PBGC's final rule implementing these and other changes to its regulations, will greatly help the practitioner in providing affected clients with the advice they need." (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. via Keightley & Ashner.http://www.keightleyashner.com/publications/BNA-040408.pdf Guidance Overview Calculating Lump Sums After PPA- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "In our view, retaining the traditional approach to determining actuarial equivalence is perfectly defensible. To suggest that a result is wrong because it produces an answer 0.05% different from another approach is to impute a false level of precision to these calculations generally. All approaches require some kind of judgment about within-year mortality." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)http://www.jpmorgan.com/cm/Satellite?c=JPM_Content_C&cid=1159340775476&pagename=jp... Guidance Overview 'Issueman' Tackles the New VEBAs: There is Much to Say- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Benefits attorney Steven J. Sacher encounters his cynical old friend Issueman on a bench in D.C.; in this amusing and insightful 6-page account and transcript of their conversation, Issueman has a great deal to say and ask about the legal aspects of VEBAs for retiree healthcare liabilities. An excellent overview. (Reprinted from the BNA Pension & Benefits Reporter)http://www.jonesday.com/services/services_pubs.aspx?AdvancedServices=04e62b2d-ec53-4c31-9c... Opinion Letter to FASB on Proposed Staff Position on Disclosure of Retirement and Other Post-Retirement Benefits (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 5 pages. Excerpt: "As the chief investment officers for 110 major private-sector retirement plans, CIEBA members recognize the desirability of increased transparency and comparability in the financial statements of public companies. However, we posit that the proposals contained in this FSB will not lead to a meaningful increase in transparency and may reduce comparability." (Committee on Investment of Employee Benefit Plan Assets)http://www.afponline.org/pub/pdf/CIEBA_Comment_Letter.pdf John W. Livick v. The Gillette Company; The Gillette Company Retirement Plan- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "The Question: Does the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) require that a plan pay benefits beyond those provided in the plan document when a company representative and an online benefit calculator provided a mistaken benefits estimate" (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)http://www.plansponsor.com/magazine_type3/?RECORD_ID=41755 |