We were eagerly anticipating our December meeting with Dr. Todd Conklin and had over 90 guests registered for the event which was to include our chapter's 10th anniversary celebration. But a problem with our speaker's flight forced us to cancel at the last minute. First out.
Not wanting to leave three months before our next chapter meeting, we decided to take advantage of our STAR funds through CFMA headquarters and quickly booked a meeting for the end of January with one of their sponsored speakers. Two days before that meeting, Jodi received a call indicating that our speaker had been taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. Best wishes to Sam Henson for a speedy recovery, but for us, second out. Fortunately, one of his colleagues was on deck and we held the meeting as scheduled on January 29th.
We were concerned that an off-schedule, short-notice meeting during most companies' year-end time frame would not generate much interest, but we ended up with attendance that was about average for the chapter and I have to say, the attendees I talked to were glad they came!
The topics were benefit plan centered. First, Lucas Barton of Lockton Companies, hit a solid double on the topic of Fiduciary Best Practices. This presentation generated a great deal of discussion surrounding our members' 401(k) plans and what their companies and their plan providers are doing well, and not doing well. (It seems this is a topic that has potential for further exploration in another meeting.)
The great feedback from our members continued this morning with an email I received from Dan LaRock of Silverstone Group. Check out his recommended reading at
http://www.planadviser.com/print.aspx?id=10737425177. It is a discussion of a recent court case involving what actions make you a fiduciary (even if you are not a "named" fiduciary) as well as the appropriateness of revenue sharing arrangements that are common in retirement plans. The article recommends a Fiduciary Practice Review to make sure your plan is meeting all of its fiduciary obligations. Great reading. (Let's call all of this networking stealing third.)
Tom Pruner of Eide Bailly brought it home with what is coming in the next year from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 2014 is the first tax year for which individuals will be responsible to pay a penalty for not purchasing health care coverage. This year the penalty is the greater of $95 or 1% of your adjusted gross income (with a few modifications) and increases going forward.
(Note, the next paragraph has been updated with corrected filing information as of 2/24/15.)
Have you heard of Forms 1095-B and 1095-C? 2015 is the first tax year applicable large employers will be required to provide these forms to their employees. (You could have reported voluntarily for 2014.) Employers offering self-insured plans must complete all sections of the 1095-C, while fully-insured plan sponsors need only complete Parts I & II while their insurance carriers are tasked with completing the 1095-B, which contains the details of what dependents were covered in which months for these plans. Similar to W-2's, the forms are due to employees by January 31 following the end of the calendar year. You will want to make sure you are gathering all of the appropriate information during 2015 so that you are prepared for this reporting requirement in January of 2016.
Or then again, as Tom pointed out at the beginning of his presentation, the Supreme Court could call a foul on the subject of subsidy availability for individuals who purchased coverage on the Federal Marketplace (as opposed to a Marketplace created by a state.) It is a big question that could unravel the whole works and send everyone scrambling back to their bases. What this means to our members is that five years after it was passed we (and I'm sure Nancy Pelosi) aren't done learning about what is in the PPACA.
Our Membership Committee
hit it out of the park registering seven new members since our September meeting bringing us to 57 total members. Kudos to our Membership Committee for their hard work (and congratulations to their leader, Michelle Lounsbery on the recent birth of a new baby girl!)
Please join me in welcoming the following to the Siouxland Chapter:
- Catherine Bloom, Interstates Companies (she joined in July, but we had not recognized her in one of our communications yet)
- Daschle Larsen, McKinney Olson Insurance
- Matthew Buenzow, ELO Prof LLC
- Jason Herrboldt, First Bank and Trust
- Todd Netten, Interstates Companies
- Hollee Ford, Howe, Inc.
- Matt Ramstad, Bierschbach Equipment
- Dan Schelske, McGladrey LLP
We also want to mention that Dan Schelske is replacing longtime member Tracy Peterson in representing McGladrey LLP to our chapter. Tracy has been an important member of the chapter having served as a speaker, board member and committee chair during his time as a member. We wish him the best and hope he will return for a meeting on occasion. Tracy, for your contributions to the CFMA Siouxland Chapter, we have named you to our All Star Team!
FINALLY (yes, this means I am almost done with the bad baseball references), please block out the afternoon of March 31st on your calendar. This is the date for our rescheduled meeting with Dr. Todd Conklin and our 10th...or now 11th Anniversary Celebration. We promise that neither Dr. Conklin's presentation nor the anniversary celebration will strike out! (I did say ALMOST done...)
Kit Gleason
Siouxland Chapter President