News Archive

Twice a year, the North American Actuarial Council (NAAC) meets in person to exchange information on current activities within each organization and discuss profession-wide issues. It also encourages coordination and cooperation among the North American actuarial organizations, including: American... READ MORE

The IRS has announced that it has granted tax relief to certain victims of wildfires in California. The IRS action includes relief from penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Nov. 8, 2018, and before Nov. 23, 2018, which it says will be abated as long as the deposits are made... READ MORE

What holds more than one half of the assets and funds in the world’s largest asset owners? Not a government or even a collection of them, nor a corporation — that distinction belongs to pension funds. According to Willis Towers Watson's Thinking Ahead Institute, approximately 61% of the assets... READ MORE

The American Retirement Association’s staff and volunteer Legislative Retirement Committee (LRC) both review legislative proposals and proactively propose legislative changes to improve the employer-provided retirement system. Over a period of years, many of ARA’s proposals have appeared in... READ MORE

New research published by the National Tax-Deferred Savings Association (NTSA) confirms that there is a connection between the number of options – and advisors – available to employees in public education 403(b) plans and participation and contribution rates in those plans. Those findings are... READ MORE

With the impetus of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the IRS has provided for comment some much-anticipated new proposed regulations on hardship distributions. Generally speaking, the changes will make it easier for participants to get, and to get more, when requesting a hardship distribution –... READ MORE

“Unintended consequences” are generally a bad thing. But not always. The 401(k), for example. We have just celebrated the birthday of the 401(k) – the anniversary of the day on which the Revenue Act of 1978 – which included a provision that became Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sec. 401(k) – was... READ MORE

The parties in yet another proprietary fund suit have come to terms, rather than go to trial. The defendants here are Jackson National, sued by an employee/participant (Becky A. Matthews Pease) who had charged that 89% of the $608,784,892 in plan assets were “…invested in high cost and poorly... READ MORE

The IRS has announced that it has granted tax relief to certain victims of Hurricane Michael in Alabama. The IRS action includes relief from penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Oct. 10, 2018, and before Oct. 25, 2018, which it says will be abated as long as the deposits are... READ MORE