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Defined Contribution Plans
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...
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Reports from the Senate Finance Committee’s five bipartisan tax working groups have been published, including policy options and recommendations on savings and investment.On Jan. 15, the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, announced that Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)...
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Defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans and 403(b) annuity arrangements with calendar year plans, take note: July 31 is right around the corner. That’s the day by which most plans must file the dreaded and onerous Form 5500. The clock is ticking on filing the form that reports on 2014.The...
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The June 17 Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee hearing provided ample illustration that the debate on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal is far from over. DOL Secretary Thomas E. Perez appeared before the subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce...
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Those looking for a bright line of illumination from the U.S. Supreme Court on fiduciary responsibilities in a 401(k) revenue-sharing case were likely disappointed May 18.The case, Tibble v. Edison International, argued before the nation’s High Court on Feb. 24, dealt with the application of ERISA’...
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The IRS has put in place new ways to correct elective deferral errors in 403(b) and 401(k) plans. The IRS on May 6 updated its webpage concerning these corrections; it also included coverage of these changes in Issue 2015-5 of Employee Plans News.These methods are contained in Revenue Procedure (...
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http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-15-28.pdfSponsors of certain closed defined benefit plans got some good news from the IRS on March 19 — it has extended temporary relief from nondiscrimination rules under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(4) for another year. The extension applies to DB plans...
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Identical bills before both chambers of the Iowa legislature would end state taxation of pensions and other forms of retirement income — but only through 2020.HF 280 and SF 277 would remove from the Iowa income tax law two provisions that define income as including all forms of retirement income,...
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When Callan Associates surveyed plan sponsors in early 2014, more than a third of the respondents said they would make changes to their target date funds during the coming year. The firm’s just-released 2015 survey shows that many of those sponsors were true to their word.According to the survey,...
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A 401(k) revenue-sharing lawsuit finally got its day before the U.S. Supreme Court.While the nation’s high court was ostensibly focused on how ERISA’s statute of limitations was to be applied in challenging fiduciary actions, there was also a brisk discussion among the justices about the what, how...
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More divides private and public employees than the kind of employer for which they work — what kind of retirement plan is available to them, and how many assets are available in each kind, varies as well. Pensions & Investments reports that the answer for each is the opposite of the other.By...
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Buoyed by a rising stock market, most defined contribution plan participants stayed the course, according to a new survey published by the Investment Company Institute.The trends largely reflected a continuation of patterns that have been going on since at least 2011, when the country really began...
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The world’s pension assets grew 6% last year, and now amount to around 84% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), substantially higher than the 54% recorded in 2008.That growth means that global institutional pension fund assets in the 16 major markets have now reached a new high of $36 trillion,...
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One of my favorite movies — and perhaps my favorite “holiday” movie — is Groundhog Day, the 1993 film starring Bill Murray as an arrogant weatherman who finds himself stuck in Punxsutawney, Penn. by a blizzard, who then discovers that he is also “stuck” reliving Feb. 2 — over and over and over. A...
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Deferral and savings rates in 401(k) plans improved at a stronger rate than expected in 2014, recent studies reveal.According to Cogent Reports found that almost one-third of participants increased their contributions in 2014. That’s almost 12 percentage points higher than the number who in 2013...
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Your clients offer 401(k) plans, and all have 401(k) plan committees. Those committees have fiduciary responsibility, and it’s in your clients’ interest to make sure they are fulfilling their duties. They can do that through meetings of those committees and quarterly reviews, our friends at the...
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The number of private sector defined contribution plans and participants continues to expand, while defined benefit plans distributed more than they took in, according to just-published statistics from the Department of Labor (DOL).According to the Private Pension Plan Bulletin Abstract of 2012...
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The digital world offers revolutionary means to communicate, store and share data. But using it in a responsible and ethical manner is as important as it is challenging, as Lauren Bloom, an expert on professional ethics and risk management, pointed out in the recent ASPPA webcast, “Ethics and...
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Lobbying groups representing minority investment fund managers, backed by key Democratic members of Congress, recently met with key administration officials to press the case for doing business with minority and women-owned firms.According to The Hill, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory...
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Notice 2014-53, the recent guidance from the IRS on pension funding stabilization under the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 (HATFA), contains a provision that is in accordance with a request by ASPPA’s College of Pension Actuaries. On Aug. 13, the ASPPA and ACOPA sent a comment...
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