John Iekel

Pension risk transfer is firmly entrenched, and for a variety of reasons. Some recent analyses offer their perspectives on the practice. “For several decades, corporate America had been looking for ways to shed the increasing costs and performance risk of sponsoring traditional, defined-benefit... READ MORE

The technological revolution that has ushered in today’s electronic age is a thing of wonder. But it has also opened the door to theft and abuse of money and information, including from retirement accounts. A recent article discusses what can be done to address the threat. In “Cybersecurity... READ MORE

The Oregon Retirement Savings Board, the body that runs OregonSaves, the state-sponsored retirement plan for private-sector workers, has issued a reminder regarding the next registration deadline and a report on some of the results of the program so far. Nov. 15 Deadline Looms Nov.15 is the... READ MORE

Thomas Petit, Acting Director of Employee Plans Examinations for the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, has instructed EP examiners to not challenge a qualified plan for failing to satisfy the required minimum distribution (RMD) standards under certain circumstances. Petit gave the... READ MORE

“All politics is local,” former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D-MA) was fond of saying. That principle holds for ERISA enforcement, too, at least according to an expert panel at an Oct. 25 session at the ASPPA Annual conference held in National Harbor, MD.Drinker Biddle Reath LLP Partner... READ MORE

“We’re establishing a standard for you to go by.” That is how J.K. Nowiejski of Nova 401(k) Associates characterized the Department of Labor’s (DOL) approach in auditing and investigating retirement plans. He was joined by Drinker Biddle Reath LLP Partner Heather Abrigo in addressing trends in... READ MORE

That’s a bit of wisdom more apropos for retirement plan professionals than they might have imagined even two months ago. Sudden events and rapid-fire regulatory guidance and adjustments have made recent months a challenge indeed, noted an expert panel at an Oct. 23 session at the 2017 ASPPA Annual... READ MORE

Tax reform, that is, and its potential to vex the retirement community and those it serves. With those words, American Retirement Association CEO and ASPPA Executive Director Brian Graff reminded attendees at ASPPA's 2017 Annual Conference at National Harbor, MD, that the matter is pressing. "We're... READ MORE

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced on Oct. 16 that it is launching a new pilot program that will offer mediation in certain Termination Liability Collection and Early Warning Program cases. The PBGC says that it decided that the pilot project would concern such cases because... READ MORE