JD

One of the largest 401(k) excessive fee suit settlements—$39.8 million—has been approved. The settlement arose in a case involving Reliance Trust and its role regarding the Insperity 401(k) Plan, in which the plaintiffs—represented by the law firm of Schlichter Bogard & Denton—were enrolled.... READ MORE

A recent industry trade article questions the efficacy of saving early for retirement—and notes that there “may even be such a thing as saving too much.”  What launches that premise is a research paper titled “Is Automatic Enrollment Consistent with a Life Cycle Model?” That turns out to be a... READ MORE

Student loan debt—or more precisely, the forgiveness of some part of it—has dominated the headlines of late—but it’s been on the minds of retirement plan sponsors for a while now. The question is—why?  While the issue is hardly new, the connection between retirement savings and student debt really... READ MORE

The parties in a case that promised to set a new fiduciary threshold in stock drop litigation—that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court—and back—has settled. The parties here were those in the case of Jander v. Retirement Plans Committee of IBM, 910 F.3d 620 (2d Cir. 2018)—which had been... READ MORE

Could contributions to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) actually “crowd out” contributions to 401(k)s? A chart book just published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) suggest that the answer is—yes. It’s a conclusion—or at least a provocative question—that runs counter to the... READ MORE

Defendants in another excessive fee suit got some good news this week, as a federal judge ruled that the plaintiff’s “apples-to-oranges comparisons” regarding the plan’s fees and funds “do not raise a plausible inference that defendants breached their fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty.” ... READ MORE

Citing the “change in administration,” the Department of Labor (DOL) has backed off its previous support for a lawsuit challenging the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program. As recently as last summer, the DOL had affirmed concerns it had with the Golden State’s state-run IRA program for private... READ MORE

Recent DOL guidance on missing participants seems to fall short of what plan fiduciaries want/need—but may offer fiduciaries some key insights to avoid future problems. On Jan. 12, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a triple dose of guidance related to helping retirement plan fiduciaries... READ MORE

We just noted the day upon which America turns its attention to Punxsutawney, PA (and what seems to be a rapidly expanding array of Punxsutawney Phil wannabes) to get a read on the duration of winter. The theory, of course, is that if your local groundhog sees his (or her?) shadow when he/she... READ MORE