Nevin Adams

The Department of Labor (DOL) is moving ahead with its effort to make it easier for states to offer retirement initiatives without running afoul of federal law, sending a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review Sept. 1.The action, noted in an OMB website posting, could... READ MORE

What would a plan conversion be without a “bump” — or two — along the way. But what have you found to be the biggest complicating factor(s)?ASPPA’s Retirement Plan Academy is working on an update of the Retirement Plan Fundamentals (RFP) certificate, and would like to enlist YOUR help in... READ MORE

The public comment period may have closed, but a group of U.S. Senators has weighed in on the proposed fiduciary regs — and lent their support to a recommendation of the American Retirement Association.The letter, signed by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (Ore.), as well as fellow... READ MORE

Diamonds may be forever, but apparently fiduciary liability for choosing annuities in a DC plan is not.That’s likely the most significant takeaway for advisors and plan sponsors from Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2015-02. In that document, acknowledging that “confusion or lack of clarity” about... READ MORE

Plan sponsors who want to “de-risk” their pension plans will no longer be able to give participants who are currently receiving monthly annuity benefits the option to convert that benefit to a lump sum, according to new rules from the IRS. IRS Notice 2015-49, issued June 9, provides that qualified... READ MORE

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that in the years to come the U.S Treasury will receive “significant” tax revenues from retirement plan withdrawals.In fact, the CBO’s extended baseline projects that revenues as a share of GDP are projected to climb by about 0.3... READ MORE

The 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald & Associates finds that the nation’s retirement confidence continues to rebound from the record lows experienced between 2009 and 2013 — but exclusively among those who, directly or... READ MORE

Plans that have, or have been contemplating, automatic enrollment features just got some good news from the Internal Revenue Service.In Rev. Proc. 2015-28, issued April 2, the IRS provided new safe harbor correction methods for errors relating to automatic contribution features, including automatic... READ MORE

If the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has its way, plan sponsors will have a new reporting obligation to the Department of Labor. Specifically, GAO recommends that DOL improve oversight by requiring plan sponsors to notify the agency when they implement lump sum windows, and coordinate with... READ MORE