Products October 1, 2007

AIG Offers 30 No-Load Mutual Funds to 403(b) Plans

October 1, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - AIG VALIC is launching a no-load mutual fund retirement savings program for the K-12 403(b) market, which includes index, lifecycle and actively managed funds.
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According to a press release, the Profile Retirement Program offers more than 30 no-load mutual funds covering all major equity and fixed-income asset classes. The active funds are managed by firms that include American Century, T. Rowe Price, Oppenheimer, BlackRock and Wellington Management.

Expense ratios for the funds range from .35% to 1.17% and average 0.8%, the announcement said.

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The offering also includes telephone enrollment and Web-based account management tools, along with support services and investment advice available from AIG VALIC’s Client Care Center and Retirement Education Center.

AIG VALIC also acts as custodian for the funds, providing compliance infrastructure and support to plan sponsors, along with written assurances in the form of “hold harmless agreements” and other service provider agreements to assist the plan in meeting strengthened regulatory requirements.

“At a time when many 403(b) service providers are stepping back in the face of new compliance responsibilities, AIG VALIC is standing firm with our education partners, providing reasonable written assurances that we can assist their plans in meeting the new 403(b) requirements, protecting the compliance integrity of the plan and participants’ retirement assets,” said Bruce R. Abrams, President and CEO of VALIC and the VALIC Retirement Services Company, in the news release.

More information is at  http://www.aigvalic.com/valic2003/plansponsor.nsf/contents/home .

Compliance September 28, 2007

Beneficiary Status Revoked Upon Divorce in South Dakota

September 28, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a man who was the beneficiary of his ex-wife's pension for three decades will not see any pension money because the couple was divorced, which revokes the beneficiary status under state law.
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According to a news report from the Associated Press, Harold Storsve was the beneficiary of Linda Buchholz’s pension from the South Dakota Retirement System. The couple divorced in 1975, but she never changed his beneficiary status.

Buchholz died last year and the retirement system notified Storzve that he would get her pension.However, Walter Buchholz, Linda’s husband when she died, argued that he should get the money. The two were married in 1979.

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The court rejected Storsve’s argument that he should get the benefits because she intended him to have them and agreed with Buchholz, citing a 1995 state law that states that a beneficiary to a will, trust or pension plan is revoked by divorce or annulment of a marriage unless otherwise specified.

The Supreme Court’s opinion is  here .

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