On Wall Street, VIX is shorthand for the CBOE Volatility Index, or "fear gauge," derived from stock option prices. On Tuesday, the VIX hit a 14-month low of 11.38. But just a quick look at news around the world begs the question: Why?

In a study I prepared in 2009, I compared the fees for actuarial services performed for a frozen defined benefit pension plan both before and after the freeze. As I suspected, there was little difference, even though the amount of work can be dramatically less with a frozen plan.Examining 20 frozen plans near a fairly large heartland city, the fees spiked in the year the plan was frozen, and then over the next two years settled back to roughly pre-freeze levels. This situation opens the door for advisors to have a discussion with these Plan Sponsors. So how can one find Plans that are frozen?  Easy: it’s an IRS Form 5500 item that’s a selection item in most good 5500 data mining systems. 

The IRS has issued a revenue ruling providing simplified safe harbor due diligence procedures that a plan administrator may use to determine the validity of a rollover contribution.

A concerted effort in Washington to get more employers to offer retirement plans has raised the profile of multiple employer plans. A multiple employer plan is adopted by two or more unrelated employers that do not want the administrative burdens and fiduciary responsibilities of sponsoring a plan themselves.  MEPs are an excellent tool to expand coverage, particularly in the small end of the market, but uncertainty about the application of pension and tax rules to MEPs and participating employers has hurt growth of pooled programs.    

Plan Advisors: you are remiss if you do not examine December 31, 2013 metrics NOW   It’s February, and your client’s have finished their W 2 1099 K 1 tax reporting and year end accruals for their accounting departments and CPAs. Theyknow what kind of year they just experienced. 

The retirement savings program for lower-income workers that President Barack Obama announced during his State of the Union speech is a good start.Called “myRA,” the plan is certainly better than nothing. But it is only the first of a series of steps we must take to alleviate this country’s retirement savings crisis. 

“Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” This ubiquitous phrase in financial products and disclosures, often falls on deaf ears. Investors often follow sectors, markets, and funds at the top of the previous year’s performance ranking. The S&P 500 recently traded at 15.8 times next year’s forecast earnings, a level that the stock index has traded at only 5% of the time dating back to 1976,according to Goldman Sachs. Yet there is a record number of investors moving cash into stock funds and selling bond funds.

Small and medium sized businesses with 1 to 500 employees should devote the same degree of importance to the firm’s retirement planning as they devote to health insurance and financial statement analysis. Unlike health insurance,where little control can be exercised over the “cost” of the product, 401(k)and profit sharing decisions allow business owners concerned about retirement to make major structural decisions both for themselves and for their employees.

Many small- and middle-sized businesses are missing out on enabling Internal Revenue Code provisions that would permit them to offer enhanced benefits to just a few key executives. The backbone of this benefit structure is an existing Qualified Plan, such as a profit sharing or active or frozen defined benefit Plan,combined with a Qualified Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (QSERP). By incorporating design and compliance-targeted contributions and benefits, these businesses can go beyond traditional limits of a qualified retirement plan.

Transitions are always difficult, and for most investors this transition has been going on for five years. Despite the efforts of the Federal Reserve with its quantitative easing (QE) since 2008, the economy continues to rely on the central bank’s monthly purchase of $85 billion worth of fixed income assets to keep interest rates at record lows. 

Sometimes the stock market and the economy go in the same direction but sometimes not. But they are tied together so it can never get too far apart.