Diversions November 11, 2010

Are You Celebrating Movember?

If you are a man with a moustache, November is your time to shine.  
Reported by

Movember aims to raise awareness and money for men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer.

It started in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, when a couple of friends decided to grow moustaches – partly as a joke and partly to raise awareness around men’s health.  They didn’t try to raise money in 2003, but they realized that the moustache (“mo” for short) is a sure-fire conversation starter.  The following year, the “Mo Bros” decided to take their idea to the next level and with the help of 432 participants, the group raised $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia – representing the single largest donation they had ever received.

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Unlike comparable races and walks for charity, Movember requires very little effort (in fact, it saves you the effort of shaving).  Beginning on November 1st, men begin the month with a clean-shaven face and grow a moustache for the entire month.  They ask friends and family to donate to the cause and use the moustache as a conversation-starter to raise awareness.   

In 2009, global participation of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas climbed to 255,755, with more than one million donors raising $42 million U.S. equivalent dollars for Movember’s global beneficiary partners.  The funds raised through Movember’s U.S. campaign benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

According to Movember’s Web site: “The PCF uses the money raised by Movember to fund research that is accelerating the discovery of better treatments and ultimately finding a cure for prostate cancer.  One such program is the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center’s research, which has recently made a significant breakthrough.  They identified 24 different kinds of prostate cancer and how aggressive each is.  This should enable scientists to soon be able to answer the agonizing question facing men with prostate cancer: does their cancer need immediate treatment, and if so what is the best treatment, or can it be left alone?”

Learn more at http://us.movember.com/?home 

Compliance November 10, 2010

ASPPA Says Deficit Reduction Proposal Would Eliminate 401(k)s

A retirement industry trade group says that a proposal in the Deficit Reduction Commission Proposals could eliminate 401(k) plans.
Reported by

Brian H. Graff, executive director and CEO of The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) in response to the draft report released today by the chairs of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform said, “We are deeply concerned that recommendations from the draft report issued today from the chairs of the Deficit Reduction Commission would eliminate tax incentives for retirement savings and negatively impact the ability of working Americans to effectively prepare for retirement.

According to ASPPA, as drafted, one of the options listed in the proposal would eliminate the tax incentive for employers to offer retirement plans to their employees—which ultimately hits low and moderate income workers the hardest.  ASPPA says that the proposed “Zero Option Plan” (page 24 of the Co-Chair draft at http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/sites/fiscalcommission.gov/files/documents/CoChair_Draft.pdf) would “decimate the savings rate by eliminating tax incentives for contributing to employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans, likely triggering mass terminations of company retirement plans—directly impacting a worker’s ability to save for retirement”. 

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ASPPA cited data prepared by the non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), which suggests that only 5% of workers save for retirement on their own, without the benefit of an employer sponsored plan. By contrast, 70% of moderate to low income workers earning between $30,000 and $50,000 participate in employer sponsored retirement plans when they are offered.

“The 401(k) acts as the primary savings vehicle for most Americans and eliminating these tax incentives would strip them of critically important benefits and protections provided by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1975 (ERISA). Simply put, the retirement security of American workers will greatly suffer if the Deficit Reduction Commission’s recommendations are enacted,” according to the press release.

Graff added, “We urge Congress to consider carefully the impact of the commission’s draft recommendations on tax incentives for employer-sponsored retirement plans. Don’t rob America’s future retirees to fund the deficit gaps of today.”

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