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Defined Contribution Plans
For the second time in a month, a law firm has brought suit challenging the use of forfeitures in a 401(k) plan.
The lawyers are from Hayes Pawlenko LLP, a South Pasadena, CA-based duo (who met in law school, according to their website) positioning themselves as an employment litigation firm “...
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There’s an oft-repeated line from that 1967 classic movie “Cool Hand Luke” about a “failure to communicate.”
Now, most of us aren’t trying to convey the consequences of violating prison rules, but there are messages where mere words sometimes fall short of their purpose. There are literal...
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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series about service providers’ audits of clients and their plans.
That’s what a first financial audit can feel like, says an industry expert. But it doesn’t have to.
“Death by a thousand cuts. That’s what initial 401(k) and 403(b) audit clients...
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The IRS has updated the content it provides through an issue snapshot on the deductibility of employer contributions to a 401(k) plan made after the end of the tax year. The refresh accounts for application of the SECURE 2.0 Act.
The Issue Snapshot discusses the timing rules of the Internal...
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A few years ago, my wife went to a garage sale and bought a box of old books for $25. She came home as excited as I had ever seen her. Why? One of the books was an 1831 edition of The Federalist Papers. We searched online and were thrilled to see an estimated value of $500. Those poor sellers had...
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Concerns about increasing partisanship in traditionally bipartisan retirement policy and legislation was the theme of a conversation between Brian Graff and Preston Rutledge at the ERISA 403(b) Conference in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2.
Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, and...
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Another federal judge has weighed the assertions made in an excessive fee suit—and found them lacking both in terms of a “meaningful benchmark,” and specificity of the claims made.
The Suit
The plaintiffs here—Jennifer R. Lard, John G. Juergens, Gerald L. Robinson, Scott W. Anderson, Thomas A....
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The priority guidance plan that the Treasury and IRS have issued for 2023-24 includes plans for action that will affect retirement plans. They unveiled the plan on Sept. 29.
The 2023-2024 Priority Guidance Plan contains projects that will be the focus of guidance and regulatory efforts by the...
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Where do things stand regarding retirement assets and plan participation in the United States? Two agencies give us a look.
Assets
U.S. retirement assets as of New Year’s Eve in 2022 stood at a total of $37.8 trillion, says the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in U.S. Retirement Assets: Data...
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A recent MarketWatch article poses the intriguing question: “Why does TikTok hate the 401(k) so much?”
Now, as social media platforms go, I’ve pretty much avoided TikTok. Oh, I’ve swung by it from time to time just to see what the “fuss” is, but generally speaking (and even in “retirement”), I’ve...
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Everyone, relax. There is no retirement savings “crisis,” and you’re probably saving enough for retirement.
That’s the message in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, and a working paper from the American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew Biggs, a frequent critic of what he says are...
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The industrial revolution, 21st century-style, mass-produces information—but at the same time makes it an individual experience. And that includes information about retirement plans and one’s own retirement plan and account.
One of the ways in which that information is delivered is via apps. But...
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Retirement plan professionals are getting increasingly creative in how they observe 401(k) Week, culminating in Friday’s National 401(k) Day.
Take Qualified Plan Advisors, the high-profile Kansas City-based firm. Its Nebraska Practice Leader, Charles (Chuck) Smith, is an elite runner with many...
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) was recently informed of a legal scheme in Texas—a community property state—that allows younger workers to raid up to 100% of their defined contribution (DC) plan (such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan) account balance without incurring the tax penalty for...
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An update of a so-called “study” has been making the rounds—again—and its authors have doubled-down (and then some) on the assumptions in an updated version.
I’m referring to something called “The True Cost of Forgotten 401(k) Accounts (2023)”—an update to a report circulated about a year ago of...
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Retirement plans and benefits still are among the matters the IRS plans to address in upcoming guidance. They still are included in the IRS 2022-2023 priority guidance plan; the IRS issued a fourth quarter update to the plan on Aug. 21.
The IRS had released the initial plan on Nov. 4, 2022,...
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If it wasn’t already a known commodity to industry stakeholders and workers saving for retirement, a new study finds that the 401(k) is becoming a non-negotiable benefit for job seekers.
When considering a new employer, nearly 9 in 10 workers (88%) say a 401(k) is a “must-have” benefit and...
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A new WSJ op-ed says that 401(k)s “too often lead employees to make financially harmful mistakes.”
The “problem”—at least according to the op-ed authors is that, left to their own devices participants are said to be inclined to overindulge in bad investment choices; choices they claim are the...
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Defined contribution plans are constantly evolving and the number of features plan sponsors can select that encourage employee participation, recruitment and retention, continues to grow. But plan sponsors must balance the desire to offer these incentives and the need to keep the plan manageable...
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Many members of the Baby Boom generation have retired, and many of those who remain in the workforce are not far off from following suit. But many of those individuals are less financially prepared for retirement than one may expect, says a recent study.
In “What Happened to Late Boomers’...
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