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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    ERISA

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, August 12, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

$297.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL

This CLE course will provide ERISA counsel and advisers with a thorough and practical guide to structuring cash balance pension plans and converting current defined benefit plans to cash balance plans. The panel will detail optimal scenarios for establishing a cash balance plan, identify risks in structuring a plan, and discuss critical features to include in any cash balance plan document in light of IRS guidance.

Faculty

Phillip Loftus
Senior Consulting Actuary
Milliman, Inc

Mr. Loftus has 26 years of experience providing retirement consulting services to plan sponsors that include publicly traded companies, privately held corporations, large and small public sector employers, and notforprofit corporations. His experience includes all aspects of pension and retiree healthcare projects, including actuarial valuations under ERISA, defined benefit plan administration, benefit calculations, plan design studies, experience studies, funding and accounting projection studies, nondiscrimination testing, and accounting disclosure statements under U.S. accounting standards. Mr. Loftus has also completed valuations of Other PostEmployment Benefits (OPEB) under Governmental Accounting Standards (GASB) Statements 74 and 75, including transition from GASB Statements 43 and 45. Prior to joining Milliman, he led the consulting line of business while simultaneously serving as subject matter expert to the company’s pension risk transfer line of business with over $3B of transactions.

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Amy Thompson Sunderland
Senior Counsel
Mcgrath North Mullin & Kratz

Description

For many businesses, particularly closely held firms and professional practices, establishing a new cash balance plan, or converting a traditional defined benefit pension plan to a cash balance pension plan, may offer significant potential advantages, both in terms of current tax benefits and increased retirement accruals. However, a cash balance plan should be carefully constructed to help mitigate legal and financial risks while maximizing tax benefits and retirement savings.

 

A cash balance pension plan is a defined-benefit pension plan under which an employer credits a participant's account with a defined percentage of the employee's compensation or other specified principal amount plus an interest credit amount. By using a cash balance plan, principals of professional firms and well established closely held businesses may be able to significantly increase their retirement savings and realize greater current-year tax benefits.

 

Additionally, plan sponsors may want to consider ways they may structure the plan investments so the performance of the trust assets reasonably approximates the plan's specified interest credits. Employee benefits counsel can help ensure that plans are designed and documents are drafted to support plan compliance and risk mitigation strategies related to funding and interest crediting.

 

Listen as our experienced panel provides a practical and in-depth guide to structuring cash balance pension plans.

Outline

I. Advantages of cash balance plans

II. Structure of cash balance plans

III. Setting principal credits

IV. Setting interest credits

V. Ideas on plan asset investments

VI. Timing of distributions

VII. Special considerations on cash balance conversions

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • Funding requirements for cash balance plans
  • Ideal profiles for firms contemplating a cash balance plan
  • Structuring plan investments to avoid a mismatch between the plan's interest credits and actual trust returns
  • IRS audit targets and areas of concern