Dearest ACOPA Members (and you are the dearest!) –
January 2018 set a record for most data requests sent in by my clients. But sure enough, January 2019 broke that record. Just keeping track of what has come in is a job itself, and enough to make my head spin. Presumably I am that much closer to wrapping up my Form 5500s for the year, but vacation time can’t come soon enough!
Our first article of the year comes from our esteemed President, John Markley, Industry Relations Director at The Retirement Advantage, Inc. (TRA). John discusses the ad hoc Standards Committee created in response to the Academy’s recent actions. John also introduces the formation of the new Accounting Committee, which covers the various accounting standards. I always thought the FAS 87 and 88 materials were sorely lacking in providing any understanding for a fledging actuary. It took a while for FASB to click with me, but when it finally did, that was a great day!
John’s article originally mentioned that he hopes to see many of you at the LA Advanced Actuarial and 401(k) Conference. Since that conference has now passed, I hope you got a chance to speak to John. You can find his article here.
The next article was written up by yours truly (back in the trenches!) and concerns the Academy lawsuit regarding violations of the Academy’s bylaws. Though it is a recap of another short article from the Cook County Record, I did get a juicy scoop. If you do an online case search on the Clerk of Circuit Court’s website (referenced in the article), you can find the case information history. You can find my article here.
This was not my first case information search. I have an ex-best friend from my teen years facing serious prison time in Florida. His case history, which is available online, has thousands of pages of court proceedings, and the trial has not even started yet. Almost 4 years have passed since the alleged crime, with the defendant’s attorneys bringing on one delay after another. The charges are hit and run and tampering with evidence, which can carry a 30+ year sentence. Very odd to see someone you knew in the news, handcuffed and facing a judge.
Next up is an article by Andrew Remo, Director of Legislative Affairs at the ARA. I always enjoy Andrew’s Washington updates at the start of our LRC meetings. It is amazing how little most actuaries know about how pension laws are made and ACOPA’s lobbying efforts through the years.
Andrew’s article highlight describes changes to the RMD rules that were included in the Retirement and Security and Savings Act of 2018 (S. 3781). All those years ago watching “I’m just a bill” on Schoolhouse Rock and now to be a part of the process feels good! You can find Andrew’s article here.
And with all due apologies to the other authors, we saved the best for last. I was admittedly a little down due to the lack of articles for the ACOPA Monthly. We were discussing the various RP- 2014 mortality tables and improvement scales on our Google Groups page. I threw a Hail Mary pass asking if someone could write an article for the Monthly about the meaning of the various tables and scales.
And our Super Bowl hero is David J. Kupstas, FSA, EA, MSPA, Chief Actuary of the ACG Retirement Plan Design and Administration Division. David wrote an amazing article about constructing RP-2014 Mortality Tables with Projection Scales. This is quite the comprehensive article and contains my first Excel files as Executive Editor (always a milestone!).
And after trading emails with David, I have to give a shout out for all of David’s personality, sense of humor and humility. Someone capable of writing an article like this could just as easily be a dry, humorless boor (and bore).
David’s article just might be our Pulitzer winner! You can find it here.
Okay, ACOPA – have a great few weeks! See you after we put together the next round of articles.
– Alan
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