On Friday, May 15th, the US House of Representatives passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, appropriately donned the HEROES Act. This $3 trillion bill reaches just about every corner of the country – and the economy – impacted by the...

The Window Opens for Retiree Cashouts In the past, the IRS has implicitly prohibited the offer of a lump sum payment in lieu of a monthly annuity – except in the case of a plan termination – to retirees already in pay status. For plan sponsors seeking to remove risk...

The IRS has finally issued a statement that a new mortality table will be required for plan years beginning in 2018. While most plan sponsors have implemented RP-2014 for accounting purposes, the updated mortality table (first released in 2014) had not been adopted by...

Click here to see Erica's profile in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Over the past several years, many plan sponsors have implemented a “de-risking” strategy that allowed them to offer lump sums, equal to the value of future annuity payments, during a temporary “window” period to former employees, including retirees in pay status....

On Friday, August 8, 2014, President Obama signed into law the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which will come to be known to pension plan sponsors as HATFA. HATFA modifies the 2012 pension funding relief, known as MAP-21, by providing an extended...

Everyone has their own perspective on government’s role in our daily lives. Is it there to provide aid and assistance or is meant to merely provide the framework for us to govern ourselves? In the context of the US pension plan system, what started out as a framework...

In the summer issue of Confero Magazine, Erica Harper writes about the 2012 phenomenon experienced by many pension plan sponsors who watched their funded status decrease in a year with big gains in the stock market. This article explains what happened and how a...

As part of a recently-enacted law known as MAP-21 (“Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century”), defined benefit plan sponsors were promised significantly lower contribution requirements through the “stabilization” of the interest rates used for pension funding...

Plan Sponsor’s Prayers Answered – Pension Funding Legislation Brings Immediate Relief Much-anticipated and needed pension funding relief is expected to be approved by the House and Senate this week. As part of a transportation bill, the legislation intends to increase...