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2006 Articles
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Former Bank of Lodi employees unable to access 401(k) funds
Stockton Record – December 13, 2006
Bank of Lodi's former employees are still unable to access funds in their 401(k) retirement and profit-sharing accounts because of a discrepancy in the number of stock shares held by employees, and Placer Sierra Bank officials don't know when the freeze will end.
If Company Goes Bankrupt, Don’t Count on Your Pension
New York Times – October 24, 2006
When a company is in such severe financial trouble that paying the pensions it owes could put it out of business, it can turn the responsibility over to the pension agency in a so-called distress termination.
Retirement, Squeezed
Washington Post – September 17, 2006
As Traditional Plans Decline, Workers Face a Less Certain Future
DuPont Shift to Defined Contribution Plan Consistent With Trends
BNA Pension and Benefits – September 1, 2006
The DuPont Company's recent announcement that it is shifting retirement benefits toward defined contribution pension plans is consistent with current employer-provided pension plan trends, which will be accelerated by the new Pension Protection Act, practitioners told BNA Aug. 30.
Law to boost pension costs at companies
Boston Globe – August 19, 2006
Analysts say hikes will hasten end of traditional programs.
Deciphering the New Retirement Law
BusinessWeek Online – August 18, 2006
H.R. 4, 907 pages of pension legislation, has changes that will affect every worker, regardless of age and income
Congress passes complex pension bill full of favors
Northwest Labor Press – August 18, 2006
In July and August, the U.S. House and Senate approved what Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy called “the most important action to safeguard the retirement of hard-working Americans in a generation.”
Bush signs massive pension overhaul
Associated Press via USA Today – August 17, 2006
President Bush on Thursday signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension plans with a tough message for corporate America: "Set aside enough money now."
Pension Reform: Write a check
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – August 10, 2006
The bill doesn't do enough to balance a $450 billion shortfall in pension funding, nor will it prevent companies from using bankruptcy courts to dodge their pension obligations. It even permits sleight-of-hand accounting.
Pension reform aims to boost savings
The Christian Science Monitor – August 9, 2006
Under legislation that will soon be signed by President Bush, key features of the nation's pension system will shift from discretion toward autopilot for both companies and workers.
As more companies adopt cash-balance plans, what you need to know
USA Today – August 7, 2006
The pension-reform act passed by Congress last week isn't expected to reverse the trend away from traditional pensions. It could encourage more companies to shift to the cash-balance type of plan, a hybrid that mixes features of a traditional pension and a 401(k).
Court: IBM cash-balance pension is okay
CNN Money.com – August 7, 2006
In a victory for IBM, an appeals court on Monday ruled that IBM's conversion of its traditional pension plan to a cash-balance plan did not discriminate against older workers.
Change to boost 401(k)s, put brakes on pensions
Dallas Morning News – August 7, 2006
Congress' pension reform bill will spark more savings in 401(k) plans but hasten the death of traditional pension plans, experts said Friday.
Reaction mixed to pension reform
The Republican – August 5, 2006
The pension reform bill that recently passed the House and Senate won praise yesterday from the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., based in Springfield, Mass., but protests from the chief executive officer of the city's Teamsters union.
What's At Stake In The New Pension Bill
Nightly Business Report – August 4, 2006
Early this morning, the Senate passed a plan to shore up the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and ensure better funding for the defined benefit plans that cover 44 million Americans.
Freeze To Get Deeper
HR Magazine – August 2006More plan sponsors will freeze their defined benefit plans in the next few years, retirement experts predict, continuing a 20-year shift toward defined contribution plans as the favored vehicle for employee retirement saving.
Pension bill under fire from Teamsters
The Republican – July 31, 2006Tucked inside the 900-page bill is a brief amendment that Springfield-area Teamsters say threatens their pensions by allowing labor and management to reopen agreed benefit packages in ways that could cut benefits.
Senate considers pension overhaul
Marketplace Radio – July 31, 2006Many companies have been underfunding their pension plans, so this week the Senate's expected to vote on the first pension overhaul in three decades. Host Scott Jagow talks to Karen Friedman with the Pension Rights Center about the proposed bill.
Today's Tip (scroll to bottom)
Providence Journal – July 25, 2006In time for its 30th anniversary, the Pension Rights Center has launched a newly designed Web site.
Know Where Your Pension Is?
Kiplinger's – July 2006Advice column provides answers to a person with a lost pension plan
Even healthy companies are killing pension plans
Virginian-Pilot – June 18, 2006For years, it was struggling companies in the steel, airline and auto-parts industries that scaled back or dumped their defined benefit pension plans. Today, a growing roster of large, financially healthy companies have frozen their pension plans or sharply reduced employees’ eligibility for the plans as a way to hold down labor costs.
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