Description
The Retirement Plans Education Program is designed for practitioners who want to learn the basics of selecting, designing, installing, and administering both qualified and nonqualified retirement plans for business clients. Students will learn about defined benefit and defined contribution plans. They will study SEP and Simple Plans, Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k)s, Nonprofit and governmental retirement plans. In addition, the course covers plan penalties, plan terminations, and plan examinations.
Learning Objectives
"After completing this course, students will be able to:
1. identify the main types of retirement plans available to U.S. businesses, nonprofit organizations, and their employees.
2. describe the variety of individual retirement accounts available to U.S. workers.
3. describe the features of SEP, SIMPLE, and SARSEP plans, and analyze and explain their advantages and disadvantages for employers and employees.
4. describe the variety of defined contribution plans available to U.S. employers and their workers.
5. describe the important characteristics of 401(k) plans and the factors that employers should consider before offering these plans to their employees.
6. analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a profit sharing 401(k) plan and a SIMPLE plan.
7. describe the characteristics of defined benefit plans, and explain how these plans are funded and retirement benefits determined.
8. describe the characteristics of the retirement plans available to state and local governments and tax-exempt organizations.
9. describe the rules regarding distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRAs, as well as the basic provisions that plan administrators must comply with in making those distributions.
10. describe the issues involved in the design of a qualified retirement plan and its installation, administration, and amendment.
11. describe key aspects of establishing and operating a qualified retirement plan and its investment objectives/policy, what happens when plans are frozen or terminated, and how plan administrators can avoid costly penalties.
12. explain the roles of fiduciaries, their bonding requirements, prohibited transactions, claims against qualified plans by nonparticipants, and the IRS’s plan examination guidelines
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