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Guaranteed Income
All too often the innovations honored with a Nobel Prize fly under the radar of “regular” Americans. But that wasn’t the case recently when the work of University of Chicago’s Richard Thaler was acknowledged.Thaler was, of course, recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, who said that...
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While tax reform is still very much a work in progress, there was a lot of good news for retirement plans and retirement savers yesterday. But there were also a couple of unwelcome surprises, particularly for 403(b) and 457(b) plans.
While there had been concerns that Rothification might surface...
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October brought good news for corporate pension plans, a recent study suggests. A monthly measurement of the 100 largest DB plans says their funding improved markedly, and that October marks the second consecutive month that their funding status has gotten better.According to the Milliman 100...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has announced that it has reached an agreement that will provide approximately $500 million in funding for Sears’ two pension plans.
The plans cover approximately 100,000 participants, the PBGC says. It further says that the closing on the new...
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The U.S. Senate is expected to unveil its tax reform package today — could Rothification resurface?It seems (highly) unlikely, but a group of 15 Senate Democrats (and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats) has written to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking...
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In a preemptive move against retirement provisions in the forthcoming House Republican tax reform plan, Senate Democratic leaders on Oct. 31 unveiled an alternative proposal that would increase 401(k) contribution limits.In a press conference with several other Democratic senators, Senate...
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided the offices of Vantage Benefits Administrators “amid concerns that money may be missing from retirement accounts the company manages,” according to the Dallas Morning News.
Founded in 1993, Vantage Benefits describes itself as a full-service TPA...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced on Oct. 30 that the guarantee limits for single-employer plans that fail in 2018 will be 0.95% higher than the limits that applied for 2017. The PBGC made the adjustment due to ERISA indexing rules.
The PBGC maximum guarantee for...
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The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board has issued a request for proposal for investment consulting services, California State Treasurer John Chiang (D) has announced.The board is seeking a qualified investment consultant to perform the following functions: facilitate the...
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Thomas Petit, Acting Director of Employee Plans Examinations for the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, has instructed EP examiners to not challenge a qualified plan for failing to satisfy the required minimum distribution (RMD) standards under certain circumstances. Petit gave the...
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If last week’s volley between President Trump and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) over the potential Rothification of 401(k)s has you perplexed, rest assured, we should have some initial answers this week.Following final House passage of the FY 2018 budget resolution last...
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The Oregon Retirement Savings Board has completed a second stage of rulemaking for OregonSaves, the state-run retirement plan that is approaching full implementation. The Board filed updated rules with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office on Oct. 24, 2017.The new round of rulemaking considered...
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It is all too common in human affairs to make choices that have “unforeseeable consequences.” And then there are those situations where people should have known better. Like the current rumors about capping employee pre-tax contributions at $2,400.Having the opportunity to put off paying taxes is...
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In July, Pew Charitable Trusts issued a report on employer perspectives on the barriers to offering retirement plans; now, the organization has a new report on worker perspectives on barriers to saving and the results suggest, not surprisingly, that access to an employer-sponsored plan is key.
The...
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The Government Accountability Office is recommending that Congress consider establishing an independent commission to examine the U.S. retirement system and offer recommendations to clarify key policy goals for the system and improve how the nation promotes retirement security.According to the...
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President Trump may have thought his tweet would have ended the controversy over a proposed partial Rothification of 401(k)s — but that was Monday.
While heading off on Marine One on Oct. 25, the President was asked about his comment that any changes to tax-free contributions to 401(k)s were off...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced on Oct. 16 that it is launching a new pilot program that will offer mediation in certain Termination Liability Collection and Early Warning Program cases. The PBGC says that it decided that the pilot project would concern such cases because...
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One might have thought that the momentum behind municipality-run auto-IRA programs for private sector workers was undermined by legislation signed by President Trump in April that blocked the Obama-era Department of Labor’s (DOL) safe harbor exempting states’ and municipalities’ auto-IRA programs...
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There have to be changes in the law, and “it needs to be done quickly,” argued former North Dakota Senator and Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad at an Oct. 11 Bipartisan Policy Center event that concerned Retirement readiness and policies affecting it, including the health of the...
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Just because both spouses in a married couple age, they are not necessarily eligible to claim Social Security benefits at the same time. Nor is either spouse required to claim them as soon as he or she is eligible to do so. A recent paper discusses what happens when they claim at different ages.In...
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