Products May 16, 2008

ftwilliam.com Unwraps DC EGTRRA Prototypes

ftwilliam.com, a provider of plan documents and government forms software, has released their defined contribution EGTRRA prototype plan documents.
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Defined contribution Volume Submitter EGTRRA documents in the individually designed format are scheduled to be released in July .

New Document Options

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According to a release, ftwilliam.com has made several improvements to its software for EGTRRA. The firm now offers new document options that include cross testing with one participant per group, bottom-up QNECs, enhanced vesting options for safe harbor plans, finer control over document options, as well as other options. The Milwaukee-based company has also added more fill-in-the-blank, catch-all questions wherever possible and one basic plan document for all prototype-style plans.

Several new forms have also been added to the software including an Annual Notice form that provides for Traditional Safe Harbor Notices (including contingent notices), Traditional Automatic Enrollment Notices, Qualified Automatic Contribution Arrangements (QACA), Automatic Contribution Arrangements (EACA), and Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (QDIA) all in one notice. In addition, all of the defined contribution plan forms and summary plan descriptions have been updated for the Pension Protection Act (PPA). An EACA Refund Request, Safe Harbor Follow-up Notice with a consent resolution and Roth Certification forms have also been added.

Enhanced Group Processing

To make the restatement process easier, ftwilliam.com said it has enhanced its Group Printing feature and provides a batch print option for EGTRRA restatements and the new annual notices. According to the release, the company’s software gives customers the ability to select specific forms to generate at once in a single MS Word file, called Group Printing. The Group Print feature has been added to the documents so that customers may generate one MS Word file with their document, SPD, consent and other desired documents.

ftwilliam.com currently offers a batch amendment feature. That same feature has been added for EGTRRA plan restatements and the annual notice described above. According to the release, their customers may now batch generate all of their EGTRRA restatements and corresponding forms and documents in one single file or generate a zip folder with each client in a single file. The Batch feature provides for batch printing of cover letters and changes to the documents. The Batch Printing features are available to the company’s clients who subscribe to the Retirement Annual Subscription.

EGTRRA Restatement Webinars

Additionally, the company has already started offering EGTRRA restatement webinars free of charge to anyone interested in learning more about EGTRRA restatements and software improvements—and will offer two webinars per month depending on demand. Tim McCutcheon, President and one of the company’s ERISA attorneys, will be hosting all webinars and addressing questions.

Data & Research May 16, 2008

Americans Know They're Not Saving Enough

Americans have no trouble admitting they are lackluster savers, but that doesn’t seem to motivate them to stock away more of their income, a new survey found.
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A news release from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project said three-quarters of respondents confessed they were not saving enough—an admission the survey found across the demographic spectrum. Nearly seven out of 10 adults who identify themselves as upper or upper-middle class said they aren’t saving enough, a belief shared by slightly larger proportions of middle class (75%) and lower class Americans (82%).

However, the Pew researchers said the confessions were not enough to motivate action: Americans now save less than 1% of their incomes on average and the savings rate has been in almost continuous decline for more than two decades.

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Sixty-one percent of Americans with family incomes of $150,000 or more said they aren’t saving enough. Among those earning between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, the proportion soars to 79%.

Minority Savers

Minorities are somewhat more likely than whites to say they aren’t saving enough, according to Pew.

Blacks in particular say they should be saving more (84%), compared with whites (74%) or Hispanics (78%)—a relationship that persists even after differences in income are taken into account. For example, 84% of blacks with family incomes of less than $50,000 say they don’t save enough, compared with 77% of whites and 80% of Hispanics in the same income range.

Senior Citizen Savers

Senior citizens appear to be doing the best of anyone at saving. Only a narrow majority (54%) of those ages 65 and older say they aren’t saving enough, while more than a third (36%) of seniors says they are saving enough. It may be because seniors generally have lower living expenses than do younger adults, Pew contended.
One other demographic group that does relatively well on saving is college graduates. Three-in-ten (31%) say they save enough, compared with 19% of those with just a high school degree.

The telephone survey covered 2,413 adults and was conducted from January 24 through February 19.

More information is available here.

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