Chapter 10 from this book provides a good précis for a plan sponsor who may have cheated other plan participants out of millions of dollars what to expect. The IRS looks closely at the case’s publicity value – locally or nationwide. A prominent local doctor or movie star is a juicy plum. (page 335) More excerpts: If you are caught in a tax lie, an auditor can either slap you with a heavy fraud penalty or refer your case to the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division (CI). In the vast majority of cases, the auditor won’t call in the CI. (page 322) tips from citizens such as ex-spouses or disgru ..read more

It was 1962 and screenwriters had some some experience of real life: Though these excerpts are unlikely to escape an X these days ..read more

Rule 18 from this book for when you become aware a plan sponsor stole pension money. For years, millionaires and billionaires had devised sophisticated tax-avoidance schemes, and there was no incentive whatsoever for bankers, accountants, and insiders to blow the whistle. In fact, the reality was far from it – if an accountant blew the whistle on a client, that accountant would be ostracized from the industry. (page 129) On December 20, 2006, Congress passed the Grassley-sponsored amendment to the archaic IRS informants law….The IRS was required to establish a Whistleblower Office, and if a cl ..read more

These are the top five fallacies I found in the Politico article. Five months before Congress faced a near-catastrophic standoff over the debt ceiling, with Republicans demanding restrictions to food and Medicaid programs to rein in spending, a bill that raised the cost of private retirement savings accounts to $282 billion per year was quietly signed into law. In this era of deeply divided politics, the 2022 bill known as Secure 2.0 was hailed as a bipartisan success. Tax-advantaged savings has become a staple of the American retirement system, with 60 million savers squirreling away $6.6 tr ..read more

I was inteviewed by Benjamin Guggenheim for this Politico article. Nothing I said made it into the piece. This is what I emailed to the author on November 15, 2023 which explains the real problem with the current state of private pensions and it does not have to do with more money in the system (which is a good thing) or lobbyists making laws (which is not exactly breaking news). Ben, I would be glad to discuss these issues with you any time. As it turns out the next month or so are one of the slowest times of year in my job of doing 5500 forms for small plans so I have plenty of time. The blo ..read more

So I would get this to print out on 14 instead of 32 pages here is the Politico article that I will offer my comments on in the next blog. I was contacted by the author, Benjamin Guggenheim, and we had a long phone conversation and exchanged some emails last November. Greased by lobbying and campaign cash, tax breaks for retirement savings are one thing Congress agrees on. But they also blow out the deficit and add to income inequality. Five months before Congress faced a near-catastrophic standoff over the debt ceiling, with Republicans demanding restrictions to food and Medicaid programs to ..read more

Subititled The Educaiton of a Courtroom Lawyer, John C. Tucker was a Chicago trial lawyer in the last century who, in retirement, wrote about a few of his cases while offering insights into the job. The firm had decided not to take on routine insurance-defense work lest it create a group of “insurance-defense” lawyers who would be viewed as second-class citizens. (page 4) (Many private lawyers, having long since used up the fee they collected, would have moved heaven and earth to avoid anoth3er trial by persuading their cliens to plead guilty; but to the intense displeasure of prosecutors and ..read more

Teresa Ghilarducci has been a Cassandra for the decline of Defined Benefit Plans and her new book advocates for government expanding Social Security through Guarnateed Retirement Accounts since the private sector is not doing the job of providing secure benefits for older workers. However statistics and anecdotes do not drive home that sad tale as much as the experience of small plan acturies (like me) in designing retirement plans ..read more

George Karl going on about his forty years surviving NBA divas (Carmelo Antohony, Kenyon Martin, and J. R. Smith) , clueless GMs (Wally Walker), and cancer. If make any money from this book, it’s going to my foundation, which helps cancer patients and their families navigate the ridiculoously expensive, needlessly frightening, and stupidly complicated world of doctors, hospitals, andinsurance: George Karl Foundation.org. (page xvi) Basketball was my life. Now life is my life. (page xvii) Sometimes, like at the end of games, the iso is a necessary evil. And, sometimes, the iso was the only play ..read more

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), held a hearing this morning titled “Taking a Serious Look at the Retirement Crisis in America: What Can We Do to Expand Defined Benefit Pension Plans for Workers?” A lot of talking points we have all heard before with these clips I found notable ..read more