Action Items Newsletters
Action Items is a newsletter for clients and advisors which is published on a quarterly basis. If you would like to sign up to receive future issues, please send your request to: Yariel Chiong at 310 212 2600 ext 204 or Yariel.Chiong@acibenefits.com
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As the final season of the hit TV show “24” winds down, we can rest in the thought that the scenarios that were skillfully written, produced, and acted were pure fiction. On the other hand, the volcano (that no one can seem to spell or pronounce) continues to cost Europe lots of money... |
May 2010 |
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Action Items: What’s it all about, Ruby My COO, Colette Laurent…very French, asked me to write this article about something I was passionate about. I am passionate about my family, my photography and my work. So work it is. We will leave my other passions to different venues. |
February 2010 |
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Action Items: Is the 401(k) Plan Sinking? An article in Time Magazine’s October 19, 2009 edition entitled “Why It’s Time to Retire the 401(k)” contends that 401(k) plans are “a lousy idea, a financial flop” and “a rotten repository for our retirement reserves.” |
October 2009 |
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Action Items: So What's Up? And What's Next? For one thing the Markets are up in a remarkable recovery from March lows: 39% on the DJIA and 43% on the S&P 500. I am an actuary not an investment advisor but it appears that staying invested may have been the right thing to do...at least up through the date of this article... |
August 2009 |
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Action Items: What is the Purpose of your Plan? What is the purpose of your Plan? This is a simple question which often does not have such a simple answer. Some retirement plans have been around for a long time and are essentially on automatic pilot. And oh yes, the economic environment has well, been a challenge. ... |
May 2009 |
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Action Items: Seven Thoughts on Retirement Plans during our Recession The world is changing. As owners and managers of businesses we must assure that our businesses survive. Unfortunately in many businesses that has meant layoffs. It is painful to those who are laid off and it is chal-lenging to the business both in terms of loss of talent and having to do more with less... |
February 2009 |
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Action Items: State of the Economy Coping with the Unknown... |
October 2008 |
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Action Items: Chaos- Or just a lot of change happening at once? These are interesting times... |
April 2008 |
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Action Items: Pension Protection Act of 2006 The PPA, signed into law by President Bsh on August 17th, implements the most significant changes to US Pesion Laws since 1974. |
December 2006 |
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Action Items: The Interest Rate Dilemma Those of you with Defined Benefit Plans with over 100 participants may recall that depending on your funded status, you may be subject to what the IRS calls an Additional Funding Charge... |
August 2006 |
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Action Items: State of Retirement Plans In 1963 The Studebaker Corporation, which made those funny looking cars, went bankrupt in the United States and opened up in Canada to produce different types of products... |
May 2006 |
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Action Items: If You Haven’t Heard Yet, Here are the 2006 Retirement Plan Limits On October 14, the Internal Revenue Service announced the cost-of-liv-ing adjustments that will be applied to the dollar limits in all tax-qualified retirement plans in 2006. |
December 2005 |
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Action Items: Pat Byrnes To Receive the 2005 EIDSON Award. What is the Eidson Award? This award was created in 1995 in memory of American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) founder Harry T. Eidson, FSPA, CPC. |
October 2005 |
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Action Items: Misconduct by Mutual Funds: What’s a Retirement Plan Fiduciary to Do? What began as a molehill—a handful of fund companies facilitating late trading and allowing market timing has become a full-scale mountain,... |
July 2005 |
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Action Items: 2005 Los Angeles Benefits Conference (LABC) Update The 2005 Los Angeles Benefits Conference was held January 26th through 28th... |
March 2005 |
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Action Items: Retirement Plans in 2005: A Look Into the Crystal Ball To the extent that the retirement plan world is ever really exciting, the year 2005... |
December 2004 |
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Action Items: End of Year Planning As the end of the year approaches, you may wish to review your goals and expectations ... |
September 2004 |
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Action Items: Are Social Security and Medicare both lost causes? Greenspan warns of Social Security cutbacks & Medicare trustees cite enormous shortfall. |
July 2004 | |
Action Items: Fiduciary Liability 101: How do I limit my fiduciary liablity? In the last issue of Action Items, we answered the question of what are a retirement plan fiduciary’s responsibilities. In this issue, we’ll answer the question of how to limit fiduciary liability. |
April 2004 | |
Action Items: Cash Balance Confusion Recently, the press has been full of items about cash balance plans that have done little more than create a great deal of misunderstanding... |
December 2003 | |
Action Items: Planning For the Year-End If you sponsor a defined contribution plan, it’s likely that your plan year ends on December 31st... |
October 2003 | |
Action Items: Are you liable? Yes! You are an architect with a thriving practice in a nice community. Interest rates are low and the residential building in that community is off the charts... |
July 2003 | |
Action Items: ERISA Section 404(c): Myth vs. Reality ERISA §404 essentially created the issue of fiduciary liability in retirement plans when it was passed into law in 1974... |
March 2003 | |
Action Items: ERISA Section 404(c): Fiduciary Liability Exposure When writing about ERISA Section 404 liability exposure, I feel like the dentist asking the reluctant patient to open wide, wider... |
December 2002 | |
Action Items: Are You Really Paying for the Right Performance? Imagine two scenarios:... |
June 2002 | |
Action Items: The Bonfire of the Values We live in a noisy world. Whether it’s from the radio, the telephone, the person in the cubicle next to us, or the constant barrage of e-mails, we are deafened by data and surrounded by sound... |
March 2002 | |
Action Items: The Certainty of Change Stock prices are up... No, Down. Unemployment rates are low... No, huge layoffs are going on all around us. The economic outlook is good... No, or is it Yes? ... |
May 2001 | |
Action Items: One Plus One Equals More The Year 2000 repeal of the limit on combined defined benefit and defined contribution plan benefits has given rise to a potent new retirement plan combination: defined benefit plans in combination with defined contribution plans. |
August 2000 | |
Action Items: The Value of Change Benjamin Franklin postulated life's two certainties as death and taxes. Mr Franklin had it two-thirds right; he forgot about change... |
March 2000 | |
