Ask Our Expert gives you an opportunity to ask questions, get answers, and gain insights from our thought leaders on the latest trends in HR. We address a variety of strategic areas that impact employers and their employees around the world.
If you'd like to ask a question about your cash balance plan, or any other pressing human resources challenges you might be facing, email us, and we'll share responses to selected questions on a regular basis.
Ask Our Expert: Cash Balance Plans
Sweeping regulatory changes from the 2006 Pension Protection Act and FASB are causing organizations to look for new ways to manage risk and still deliver retirement benefits to employees. Plan sponsors must understand how these changes impact their companies and what solutions are available to them. Many companies have specific questions about how this legislation affects cash balance plan arrangements.
Hewitt consultants Dan Schwallie, Paul Rangecroft, and Barb Hogg have authored the Cash Balance Plan Answer Book, published by Aspen Publishers. The Cash Balance Plan Answer Book addresses more than 500 cash balance plan questions, providing a comprehensive guide to cash balance plans in a post-Pension Protection Act (PPA) environment. The book thoroughly explains how the PPA affects cash balance plans, discusses factors to consider when deciding whether a cash balance plan is the right choice for a particular employer and its workforce, and guides employers through the effective operation of a cash balance plan.
The Cash Balance Plan Answer Book is in a question-and-answer format, answering questions related to:
- Cash balance plan design
- Plan administration
- Conversions
- Age discrimination
- Communication, reporting, and disclosure
- Plan costs
- Eligibility and vesting
- Distributions
- Accrual rules
- Coverage and nondiscrimination testing
- Top heavy testing
- Investment of plan assets
- Plan termination
- Qualified domestic relations orders
- Determination letters
This is the only book exclusively on cash balance plans in Aspen's highly regarded Answer Book series. For more information about the Cash Balance Plan Answer book, visit Aspen Publishers Web site.
About Our Experts
The Hewitt authors bring a broad range of perspectives to the cash balance plan environment. Dan Schwallie is an attorney in Hewitt's HR Outsourcing group with a focus on retirement programs, from design elements to operational requirements for compliance, and over 12 years of experience with cash balance plans. Paul Rangecroft is a Hewitt principal and consulting actuary, is one of Hewitt's leading subject matter experts on cash balance plan design, and has more than ten years of experience with cash balance plans. Barb Hogg is a principal and senior retirement consultant who leads Hewitt's retirement communication consulting efforts.
