Advertisement
Guaranteed Income
What is the best way to increase a household’s affordable, sustainable standard of living in retirement? A recently released paper discusses the relative strengths of saving more and working longer to bring that about.The debate over the merits of working longer vs. those of saving more is not new...
READ MORE
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have named the four Republicans and four Democrats from the House of Representatives who will serve on the new Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans.The bipartisan, bicameral...
READ MORE
April Fools Day is not far off. And a plan would be wise to remember that the joke can be on it if it fails to recall that April 1 is the deadline for making the first required minimum distribution (RMD) to terminated vested participants who attained age 70½ in 2017 and to participants older than...
READ MORE
Unexpected events can be expected. Or should be. And doing so can help a retiree to be prepared. So suggests a recent report that has implications not only for retirees but also retirement plan professionals.Anna Rappaport, Society of Actuaries Committee on Post-Retirement Needs Chair,” looks at...
READ MORE
Crystal balls and peeks into the future can be hard to resist. Sometimes they can even motivate changes in behavior, and a recent study says that principle holds regarding retirement plans. The finding: give participants projections of their monthly income in retirement, and they will hike their...
READ MORE
Growing U.S. bond yields and changes to corporate taxes could pay dividends for private-sector DB plans, some analysts argue.There were hints of DB plans’ improving fortunes by the end of January, Reuters says, when the estimated aggregate funding status of DB plans sponsored by the Standard &...
READ MORE
Encouraged by the new tax reform law, more well-known employers have announced plans to boost retirement plan contributions for their workers.The most recent is Anthem Inc., which says it will make a one-time $1,000 contribution to the retirement saving accounts of more than 58,000 employees and...
READ MORE
A bill that would revamp the multiemployer pension system is now before the U.S. House. Rep. David Roe (R-TN) introduced the measure on Feb. 13; Rep. David Norcross (D-NJ) is its co-sponsor.The Give Retirement Options to Workers (GROW) Act, H.R. 4997, is intended to safeguard the multiemployer...
READ MORE
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Feb. 13 cited the cut in corporate tax rates under the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as a way to boost retirement plans and retirement savings. Hatch made his remarks at “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: The New Business Tax Landscape,” a program held by the...
READ MORE
Debt is accumulating like snow in a blizzard, we have long been told. And that load may not melt away quickly — it may linger, extending its chill seasons ahead to retirement. A recent blog post looks at its longer-term effects.
In “How Does Household Debt Affect Retirement?” Capital Groups...
READ MORE
The two-year budget agreement that Congress passed in the early morning hours of Friday, Feb. 9 includes several tax policy changes affecting retirement plans.In general, the amended version of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (H.R. 1892) increases discretionary budget caps for both defense and...
READ MORE
Witnesses at a Feb. 6 Senate committee hearing debated current challenges and offered several policy proposals to help so-called “gig economy” workers save for retirement.At the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security’s roundtable-style hearing, four panelists argued for...
READ MORE
The largest retirement plans — defined benefit as well as defined contribution — in the United States collectively amassed more than $10 trillion by the end of the third quarter of 2017, a recent report estimates.In fact, together they accounted for $10.326 trillion — an all-time high — reports...
READ MORE
The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) will not affect 2018 pension plan limitations, the IRS said on Feb. 6 in IR-2018-19.
The Internal Revenue Code specifies dollar limits on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans and requires the Treasury Department to...
READ MORE
The ink is barely dry on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) — it’s been on the books for less than two months. Panelists at a session of ASPPA’s Feb. 2 Tax Virtual Conference offered their take on what the new law means to retirement plan professionals.
The session, “Retirement Plan Threats and...
READ MORE
A recent paper touches on where retirement readiness fits into the financial wellness equation, and it’s not just in the obvious ways.In “The Power of the Wellness Effect: Seeing the Real Value of Employee Financial Health,” Prudential Retirement President and CEO Phil Waldek and Prudential Group...
READ MORE
It has been heartening in recent weeks to see a number of employers announce plans to expand and increase benefit programs, offer bonuses, and increase the employer match. Better still, a recent survey indicates that more positive changes could lie ahead.
A decade ago, the headlines were filled...
READ MORE
January opened with the ball dropping, but that may be about all that fell last month — at least as far as pension plan funding was concerned.In its regular analysis of how pension funds are faring, October Three applies current conditions and circumstances to two model pension plans: a traditional...
READ MORE
Two more House members, one from each major party, on Jan. 30 joined 132 of their peers as cosponsors of the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Dina Titus (D-NV) signed on as cosponsors of H.R. 4444, a bill that calls for the creation of a Pension...
READ MORE
The IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are granting relief to those in the Golden State who have suffered due to the recent wildfires, floods, mudslides and debris flows that began on Dec. 4, 2017.This is only the most recent action by the IRS and PBGC to give such Californians a...
READ MORE