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Archives for: October 2007
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report, State and Local Government Retiree Benefits: Current Status of Benefit Structures, Protections, and Fiscal Outlook for Funding Future Costs, that provides an overview of state and local government retiree benefits, including "the types of benefits provided and how they are structured, how retiree benefits are protected and managed, and the fiscal outlook for retiree benefits and what governments are doing to ensure they can meet their future commitments."
Using a model that stimulates the fiscal outlook for the state and local sector, the GAO obtained data from various organizations and conducted site visits to three states that illustrate a range of benefit structures, protections and fiscal outlooks. The report estimates that future pension costs (currently about nine percent of employee pay) would require an increase in annual government contribution rates of less than a half percent. Estimated future retiree health care costs (currently about two percent of employee pay) would more than double by the year 2050 if they continue to be funded on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Read the highlights and full report at the U.S. Government Accountability Office website.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued final regulations concerning Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (QDIA), allowing two individually-based options and one group-based option. Stable value funds were excluded as a long-term QDIA, however admitted as a short-term capital preservation option for administrative convenience.
On October 22, 2007, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended additional compliance relief from Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) with publication of Notice 2007-86. Specifically, January 1, 2009, is now the new effective date for compliance with the final regulations for nonqualified deferred compensation plans. The transition relief scheduled to expire on December 31, 2007, is now extended to December 31, 2008. This supersedes prior operational and documentary compliance deadlines set by the IRS, including Notice 2007-78 released in September 2007.
Members of United Benefit Advisors (UBA), an alliance of the nation’s premier independent benefit advisory firms, are raising a lot of eyebrows through their efforts to make a real difference in their employees’ and clients’ lives.
Most recently, UBA Member Firm Cowden Associates, Pittsburgh, PA, was selected as one of the 15 Top Small Workplaces nationwide by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces. They were also named among the 50 Best Places to Work in Western Pennsylvania 2007 by the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Other UBA Members recognized across the U.S. include: The Rippinger Financial Group, selected among the top 30 Best Places to Work in Illinois by the Harrisburgh, PA-based Best Companies Group; Dale Alexander, Alexander and Company, Woodstock, GA, named 2007 Employee Benefit Advisor of the year by Employee Benefit Adviser magazine; and Rob Nielsen, Mesirow Financial, Bannockburn, IL, featured as the cover story and lead article on leadership and accountability in Employee Benefit Adviser magazine.
The IRS, Social Security Administration and Medicare have all updated their limits for 2008. These updates are listed on our Annual IRS Limits page.
Health Care being the number one domestic issue on the minds of voters, The Kaiser Family Foundation's health08.org has released a tool to compare the health care proposals of the US presidential candidates. The 2008 Presidential Candidate Health Care Proposals: Side-by-Side Summary reports candidate's positions in four overall categories: access to health care coverage, cost containment, improving the quality of care and financing. The candidates' summaries were prepared by Foundation staff with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives.
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| Jere Cowden accepts Top Small Workplaces Award from Kelly Spors of the Wall Street Journal and Kenneth Lehman of Winning Workplaces |
The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces today named Cowden Associates, Inc. one of North America’s Top Small Workplaces. The rankings recognize small businesses that have built workplace environments that encourage collegiality and professional growth and provide an atmosphere and benefits that make their employees want to stay.
"This recognition is about our commitment to employees," said Jere Cowden, president and CEO of Cowden Associates. "It’s about career development opportunities for our people, innovativeness and encouraging a fun and productive work environment, which translates into low turnover and continuity of service that our clients value and appreciate."