Advertisement
Fiduciary Governance
The latest issue of Employee Plans News, a periodic IRS newsletter with retirement plan information for retirement plan practitioners, highlights recent developments concerning the IRS Employee Plans Determination Letter Program, as well as links to recent guidance and updated forms and...
READ MORE
The latest issue of Employee Plans News, a periodic IRS newsletter with retirement plan information for retirement plan practitioners, highlights recent developments concerning the IRS Employee Plans Determination Letter Program, as well as links to recent guidance and updated forms and...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) has filed suit against the International Association of Machinists National Pension Fund (IAMNPF) and its board of trustees for multiple violations of ERISA. The DOL seeks a court order requiring the defendants to restore any losses the fund suffered due to the alleged...
READ MORE
When an employee retires, that’s the end of the connection between the ex-employee and the former employer’s plan. Right? Not necessarily, say researchers at PIMCO.In “Turning Defined Contribution Assets into a Lifetime Paycheck: How to Evaluate Investment Choices for Retirees,” Stacy Schaus and...
READ MORE
As the Department of Labor (DOL) moves forward with its new fiduciary standard, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on legislation to address concerns that the final DOL proposal will harm access to retirement savings advice.The House Committee on Education and the Workforce...
READ MORE
The IRS on Jan. 29 issued guidance on mid-year changes to a safe harbor plan under Internal Revenue Code Sections 401(k) and 401(m). It provides that a mid-year change either to a safe harbor plan or to a plan's safe harbor notice does not violate the safe harbor rules just because it is a mid-year...
READ MORE
Tomato, tomahto. Split an atom, terminate a pension plan. A recent blog post suggests they may not be as different as they seem.In “The Big Bang Theory and Pension Plan Terminations,” a recent post in Retirement Town Hall, Javier Sanabria argues that both will gradually go away if left alone — but...
READ MORE
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night — could keep the Department of Labor (DOL) from getting the updated conflict-of-interest/fiduciary regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.That’s right, despite the massive snowstorm that hit the Washington, D.C. area last week,...
READ MORE
In a Jan. 25 telephone interview with reporters, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said that the Department of Labor (DOL) hopes that work on the proposed fiduciary rule will be completed “in the coming months.”According to ThinkAdvisor, Perez also said that the DOL is reviewing the high number of...
READ MORE
Pension plans should reduce surplus volatility as they work toward becoming better funded — at least, that is one school of thought. But there could be a fly in the ointment, argues Tony Gould, global head of pensions solutions and advisory at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in New York City.In a...
READ MORE
Employers with pension plans seek to control costs. But what approach should they take? A recent report offers some suggestions.In “Managing Pension Costs — Some Solutions Are Time-Sensitive,” PriceWaterhouse Coopers argues that controlling costs can best be accomplished by: understanding plan...
READ MORE
November was a good month for those who believe that the government should take over the private retirement system.Since far too many Americans continue to lack access to a retirement plan at work, state governments have been legislating retirement policy in recent years to address this significant...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) is pushing to get the revised version of its fiduciary rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the end of January, according to published reports.The DOL needs to finalize the rule by April or mid-May at the latest to prevent Congress from exercising its...
READ MORE
The “Gray Book,” a compendium of questions actuaries pose to the IRS and the answers to them, will no longer be produced. The Conference of Consulting Actuaries (CCA), which had produced the book with the American Academy of Actuaries, recently made the announcement.The CCA said that it has taken...
READ MORE
This is the time of year when resolutions for the cessation of bad behaviors and the beginning of better ones are in vogue. Here are mine for plan sponsors.Put your fund menu on a diet.Though it is a point often made with jellies and ice cream, a long-standing behavioral finance tenet is that more...
READ MORE
Are we approaching a tipping point in the effort to foster active interest in financial wellness — and in the process, improving prospects for financial readiness for retirement? A new report indicates that such may be the case.As the new century — not so new now — dawned, employers’ focus was...
READ MORE
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently issued exposure drafts proposing accounting and financial reporting guidance related to fiduciary activities and pension issues.The Exposure Draft “Fiduciary Activities,” issued Dec. 8, would establish guidance regarding what constitutes...
READ MORE
Retirement plan accounts benefited from higher deferrals and fewer plan loans in 2014, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA). The PSCA, in its 58th Annual Survey, found that plan participants increased their deferrals and took less from their accounts through plan loans that year....
READ MORE
Last year proved to be a volatile one for pension funding, but how did the nation’s largest corporate pension plans fare compared with the year before?A new analysis by Towers Watson of pension plan data for the 413 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor defined benefit plans and have a December...
READ MORE
The advent of a new year traditionally is a time to take of stock of where one has been and what lies ahead. Accordingly, Transamerica recently issued “Prescience 2019: Expert Opinions on the Future of Retirement Plans,” a report containing the results of its survey of experts from a wide range of...
READ MORE