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Defined Contribution Plans
A pair of Senate Democrats, one of whom is a 2020 presidential candidate, introduced legislation on April 4 that would require businesses to pay at least 50 cents into an employee’s retirement savings plan for every hour worked.
Noting that 3 in 10 workers lack access to a workplace retirement...
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A new report claims that participants and plan sponsors are keen on ESG – but apparently not enough to do much about it.
The report, by Cerulli Associates, cites a 2018 survey of 1,000 active 401(k) plan participants among which “more than half” agreed with the statement, “I prefer to invest in...
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Ever since passage of the Economic Growth Tax Relief and Recovery Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), individuals who are age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year can make annual catch-up contributions – as much as $6,000 in 2019.
The provision was designed to allow workers to “catch up” on contributions...
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The House Ways & Means Committee will consider legislation on April 2 to expand retirement savings opportunities and reform the IRS’s administration and operating procedures, according to multiple press reports.
The outline for the legislation – the “Chairman’s mark” – could be released as...
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What’s in a fund name? More – and less – than you might imagine.
According to a new paper by academics at Kansas State, Saint Louis University and Seton Hall, along with a researcher at the Ipsos Behavioral Science Center, when a participant searches through her plan’s menu of investment options...
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The IRS on March 26 updated its Operational Compliance List for compliance in 2019. The list is intended to help plan sponsors and practitioners achieve operational compliance by identifying changes in qualification requirements effective during a calendar year.
The Operational Compliance List...
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The fourth quarter 2018 market correction weighed on plan participants’ investment activity within self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs).
According to Charles Schwab’s SDBA Indicators Report, the average balance of the firm’s SDBAs fell to $246,153, a decline of 10.6% from the third quarter of...
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A new survey of nearly 4,000 401(k) plans sheds some light on current plan design trends in the small-plan market.
The survey of 3,975 small business 401(k) plans focused on common practices in two plan design areas: contributions and eligibility requirements. It was conducted by Employee...
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Following a slow start after 2018’s year-end market volatility, 401(k) investor trading activity again remained calm for February, reflecting a mostly positive performance for investors.
According to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index, February included only three trading days of above-normal...
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Private sector pension plan contributions were exceptionally high in 2017 and 2018, but may not remain so this year, say recent analyses.
The 20 largest corporate DB plans just had “two of the strongest years ever for pension contributions,” writes Russell Investments’ Director of Client Strategy...
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The IRS announced on March 7 that victims of the severe storms, tornadoes and straight-line winds that took place on March 3, 2019 in Alabama may qualify for some forms of tax relief.
Where and to Whom it Applies
The relief applies to:
individuals who reside or have a business in Lee County,...
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Multiple employer plans (MEPs) are not new. But what is new is the attention they are receiving and the possibility that they could be more widely available. A recent analysis offers a look at MEPs and what the results of making open MEPs possible could mean.
In “Multiple Employer Plans and Their...
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Legislation introduced Feb. 28 by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) includes provisions that concern the use of funds from retirement plans to address losses and circumstances facing account holders after disasters take place.
The use of retirement plan funds is really one area the bill, The Tax...
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Democrats in both houses of Congress have introduced legislation that will tax financial transactions – including those in your 401(k).
"It's called the Wall Street Tax Act, but it's really a Main Street savings attack," said Brian Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association.
The Wall...
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There is less than a month to make required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs and employer-provided retirement plans to taxpayers who reached age 70½ in 2018. The IRS on March 5 in IR-2019-29 issued a reminder that the deadline is April 1.
The April 1 deadline applies to owners of...
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Picking up where they left off in the last Congress, Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Tim Walberg (R-MI) have reintroduced legislation to make it easier for retirement plan sponsors to provide guaranteed lifetime income products as part of their DC plan.
In general, the Increasing Access...
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A recent headline in The Wall Street Journal started off: “Forget the 401(k).” And then, unintentionally, proceeded to explain why that would be… nuts.
Not that the author (Jason Zweig) didn’t throw in some digs at the subject, making a glancing reference to what he termed “the rigid and often...
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Regardless of political affiliation, large majorities of Americans believe the nation faces a retirement crisis and are largely supportive of state efforts to expand coverage, new survey results show.
Findings contained in the National Institute on Retirement Security’s “Retirement Insecurity 2019...
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The IRS has updated the information available on its website concerning automatic enrollment.
The site provides basic information regarding an employer’s obligations if it decides to offer automatic enrollment and deferrals. It also discusses automatic contribution arrangements, eligible automatic...
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The seeds have been sown for a retirement income crisis, says a former U.S. Senator, and the time to act is now.
“We face a looming retirement crisis that will impact millions of elderly and soon-to-be elderly Americans, as well as our children and grandchildren who will have to bail out those...
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