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Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. Selecting and Monitoring Pension Consultants: Tips for Plan FiduciariesThursday, January 27, 2011I recently read a great article at 401khelpcenter.com. Please see below. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans administer and manage their plans prudently and in the interest of the plan's participants and beneficiaries. In carrying out these responsibilities, plan fiduciaries often rely heavily on pension consultants and other professionals for help. Findings included in a report by the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released in May 2005, however, raise serious questions concerning whether some pension consultants are fully disclosing potential conflicts of interest that may affect the objectivity of the advice they are providing to their pension plan clients. Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act), an investment adviser providing consulting services has a fiduciary duty to provide disinterested advice and disclose any material conflicts of interest to their clients. In this context, SEC staff examined the practices of advisers that provide pension consulting services to plan sponsors and trustees. ... To read the rest of the article, please go to this 401khelpcenter.com article link. Integrity Financial Corporation’s flagship 401k client is the Association of Washington Business (AWB) in Olympia. AWB is Washington state’s premier advocate for the business community and is recognized as The State’s Chamber of Commerce. This plan has a BrightScope Rating of 76, placing it in the top 15% of all plans in its peer group. www.brightscope.com Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. 401(k) Fee Litigation June 2010Monday, June 28, 2010I recently read a great article at Groom.com contributed by 401khelpcenter.com. Please see below. Over the past several years, more than two dozen lawsuits have been filed relating to 401(k) plan fees and, more specifically, "revenue sharing" arrangements with plan service providers. Initially, the lawsuits were brought by plan participants against plan sponsors and alleged that, by allowing plan service providers to receive revenue sharing payments, the plan sponsors caused the participants to pay excessive fees, in breach of the sponsors' fiduciary duties to the participants. The focus of these lawsuits against the plan sponsors has evolved over time to include broader challenges to, among other things, the plan sponsors' selection of actively managed mutual funds as plan investment options. In addition to the lawsuits against plan sponsors, lawsuits have been brought against 401(k) plan service providers. These cases typically are based on allegations that the service providers are "functional fiduciaries" under ERISA. The plaintiffs claim that, in negotiating for and receiving revenue sharing, the service providers breached fiduciary duties and engaged in "prohibited transactions" under ERISA. Some of the lawsuits similarly challenge the use of actively managed mutual funds as investment options. To read the rest of the article, please go to this Groom.com article link. Integrity Financial Corporation’s flagship 401k client is the Association of Washington Business (AWB) in Olympia. AWB is Washington state’s premier advocate for the business community and is recognized as The State’s Chamber of Commerce. This plan has a BrightScope Rating of 76, placing it in the top 15% of all plans in its peer group. www.brightscope.com Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. DB Plans Outperform DC PlansMonday, June 21, 2010I recently read a great article at ebn.Benefitnews.com written by Kathleen Koster. Please see below. Defined benefit plans fared slightly better than defined contribution plans as the economy began its decline two years ago, underscoring the importance of rebalancing 401(k) accounts. According to new analysis by Towers Watson, DB plans outperformed 401(k) plans by roughly 1 percentage point in 2008, even though both types of plans lost value. In addition, some DB plans actually reported small positive returns in 2008, though most DB plans incurred losses. On the other side of the spectrum, all DC plans in the study had losses of at least 10%, and a few had severe losses greater than 40%, more than any DB plan in the study. The 2008 results are based on a survey of 79 employers that sponsor one DB plan and one 401(k) plan. Also noted in the study, DB plans had median investment returns of -25.27% in 2008, while DC plans had median returns of -26.20%. A broader analysis of more than 2,000 plan sponsors shows that DB plans had a median return average of 7.71% while DC plans had a median return of 6.78% in 2007. To read the rest of the article, please go to this Employee Benefit News link. Integrity Financial Corporation’s flagship 401k client is the Association of Washington Business (AWB) in Olympia. AWB is Washington state’s premier advocate for the business community and is recognized as The State’s Chamber of Commerce. This plan has a BrightScope Rating of 76, placing it in the top 15% of all plans in its peer group. www.brightscope.com Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. 2010 Compliance CalendarThursday, May 20, 2010I recently read a great article at plansponsor.com written by PlanSponsor Staff. Please see below. JUN 30 / ADP/ACP refunds for EACA plans due to HCEs to avoid 10%-excise tax on employer. JUL 29 / Summary of Material Modifications due to participants (due no later than 210 days after the end of the plan year in which the plan change is adopted). AUG 2 / Form 5330 to report excise taxes related to employee benefit plans due to IRS. Note: The deadline is usually July 31, which falls on Saturday in 2010. AUG 2 / Form 5500 due to IRS for plans with December 31 plan year end (due seven months after year end). Note: The deadline is usually July 31, which falls on Saturday in 2010. AUG 2 / Form 5558 Application for Extension of Time To File Certain Employee Plan Returns is due (used to apply for extension of time to file Forms 5500 and 5330). Note: The deadline is usually July 31, which falls on Saturday in 2010. AUG 2 / Annual Benefit Statement for Non-Participant-Directed DC Plans: Good Faith Compliance for non-participant- directed DC plans and ERISA 403(b) plans. Note: The deadline is usually July 31, which falls on Saturday in 2010. To read the rest of the article, please go to the plansponsor.com link. Integrity Financial Corporation’s flagship 401k client is the Association of Washington Business (AWB) in Olympia. AWB is Washington state’s premier advocate for the business community and is recognized as The State’s Chamber of Commerce. This plan has a BrightScope Rating of 76, placing it in the top 15% of all plans in its peer group. www.brightscope.com Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. Financial Literacy - Why It Matters to You and Your EmployeesWednesday, May 19, 2010I recently read a great article written by Ellen Lovejoy of Lovejoy Associates via 401khelpcenter.com. Please see below. It may come as no surprise to you that your employees are anxious about financial issues such as spiraling healthcare costs, the rising price of energy, high-interest credit cards, and the current mortgage and credit crisis. You have good reason to be concerned. Consider these stunning statistics: 74% of American workers have difficulty affording gasoline, 65% are experiencing problems affording heat and electricity, 50% are unsuccessfully grappling with increased grocery bills, 32% have no retirement plan other than Social Security, and finally 62% of the self-described “working class” portray their incomes as falling behind the cost of living. Pew Research Center 2007 and 2008. .. To read more, please visit the Lovejoy/401khelpcenter article link. Integrity Financial Corporation’s flagship 401k client is the Association of Washington Business (AWB) in Olympia. AWB is Washington state’s premier advocate for the business community and is recognized as The State’s Chamber of Commerce. This plan has a BrightScope Rating of 76, placing it in the top 15% of all plans in its peer group. www.brightscope.com Integrity Financial Corporation helps business owners and individuals build a financial legacy through well designed executive compensation and retirement plans. Our clients can expect to receive personalized service and expertise, built on a foundation of trust. Call us at 425-454-1254 for the Seattle or Bellevue area, or at 1-800-794-401k. Please visit our website at www.ifclegacy.com to have an independent fiduciary 401k advisor at Integrity Financial Corporation analyze and evaluate your company's 401k plan. |
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