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Your clients offer 401(k) plans, and all have 401(k) plan committees. Those committees have fiduciary responsibility, and it’s in your clients’ interest to make sure they are fulfilling their duties. They can do that through meetings of those committees and quarterly reviews, our friends at the...
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The ERISA Advisory Council has thrown its support behind the notion of multiple employer plans as a means of encouraging plan formation.The recommendation came as part of a series of suggestions regarding outsourcing employee benefit plan services following hearings held by the ERISA Advisory...
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The ERISA Advisory Council has published its recommendations on facilitating lifetime plan participation.Following up on a series of meetings last year, the council outlined a series of recommendations for plan sponsors and the Department of Labor to help preserve retirement savings. Specifically,...
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New Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has staked out his plans, and the committee’s agenda, for dealing with pension reform.In his speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, Hatch specifically highlighted key portions of that bill in his speech, pitching a new “...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was not arbitrary and capricious when it concluded that Kentucky Bancshares was obliged to comply with the Section 1107 of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) as well as ERISA’s standard termination requirements when it terminated its retirement plan and...
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Implementation and appreciation of the value of automatic enrollment is increasingly widespread among employers. Several recent studies have found that more employers are using it, although one points out that enthusiasm about auto features is not universal.In a recent study of 100 employers with...
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The 114th Congress has officially kicked off, and federal tax reform remains high on the agenda for this year. On Jan. 15 the Senate Finance Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over tax policy, released a statement announcing that Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D...
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A powerful coalition of retirement, union, and so-called consumer protection groups has launched a new effort ahead of the president’s State of the Union address, and doing so now because he is expected to throw his support behind the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule (re)proposal. Yes, that one...
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A year ago, President Obama touted the voluntary MyRA in his State of the Union Address — but the White House has a lot more to say about retirement this year — and it’s a lot less voluntary.According to a White House fact sheet, the administration is touting a series of retirement tax reform...
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Concern for — and plans for action about — retirement plans is widespread among employers. Aon Hewitt studied 250 employers with six million employees, and in 2015 Hot Topics in Retirement found that employer-provided retirement plans remain central to retirement readiness, and that employers know...
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With President Obama poised to deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 20, a powerful coalition of retirement, union and so-called consumer protection groups have again interjected themselves into the debate over retirement plans.The coalition’s website, Saveourretirement.com, intends to...
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Reports of hacks, identity theft and more highlight the importance of making sure information about plan participants and beneficiaries is secure. In fact, it’s more than a good idea — it’s part of a fiduciary’s duty.The 401(k) HelpCenter suggests questions to ask to make sure participants’ and...
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Funding levels of pension plans sponsored by the S&P 1500 fell by 9 percentage points in 2014, from 88% to 79%. According to Mercer, the plans’ collective deficits more than doubled last year, reaching $504 billion at year-end.The plans had been doing well in 2014, Mercer said, having benefited...
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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has outlined the conditions for determining the existence of a partial plan termination, ruling on the fifth appeal of what it called a “seemingly interminable class action suit.”The ruling came in a case filed just two months short of 19 years ago, in which...
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Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) is arguing that the Land of Lincoln has “police powers” that allow it to change a contract in extraordinary circumstances, including changes to the state’s public pensions contained in a 2013 pension overhaul.Madigan is appealing a lower court ruling that...
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House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) unveiled a set of tax proposals Jan. 12 that are said to be designed, at least in part, to redistribute current tax breaks for the wealthy to middle-class workers.While the “action plan” includes proposals that could draw bipartisan...
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Available through February 24, 2016 Speaker: Lawrence C. Starr, CPC, QPFC, FLMI, CLU®, CEBS, ChFC®, EA, President, Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. Access the presentation outline here!Case study examples will illustrate effective use of the coverage testing...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 12 issued a draft of the 2015 premium filing form and instructions. It provides information for plans paying premiums for plan years beginning in 2015, including instructions for all the particular forms of data that must be reported.The...
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Update (9/11/15): The CE guidelines have been updated for the 2015/16 credentialing period. You may view them here.The deadline for earning and reporting your 2013-2014 Continuing Education (CE) credits has been extended to Feb. 28, 2015.If you still need to earn CE credits for this cycle, visit...
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A regulation that would allow for a “window” period for giving out the annual notice required in most 401(k) plans appears to be heading for a spring 2015 publication date — and that could be good news for your plan sponsor clients.A new addition to the November 2014 DOL guidance plan was a project...
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