Retirement Matters

RIA/Thomson Publishing's Pension & Benefits Week newsletter has mention of a couple newsworthy retirement items.

The IRS has issued a set of proposed regulations that would permit distributions from a pension plan under a phased retirement program, if that program meets certain specific requirements. Under this approach, a plan could allow employees who phase in their retirement by working fewer hours to receive a portion of their pension benefit while continuing to work.
( IRS Bulletin 2004-47 )


Secondly, a Congressional Research Service report "surveying the state of automatic enrollments in 401(k) plans" was released last month.
"Automatic enrollment," also referred to as "negative election," is a process designed to increase participation in 401(k) plans, especially among non-highly compensated employees, by automatically enrolling new employees in their company's 401(k) plan at a set percentage amount of their pay-- typically up to 3%.
The Congressional Research Service is a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress that serves as the public policy research arm of Congress.
The report is accessible at http://www.benefitslink.com/articles/20041014_rs21954.pdf