Technical Resources

Is Washington obsessed with rollovers? ASPPA Executive Director and CEO Brian Graff thinks so. “There’s no one who doesn’t care about this issue. There is an obsession with the rollover issue in D.C.,” said Graff in the July 22 webinar, “Washington Update: Rollovers, Rollovers, Rollovers — it’s All... READ MORE

Expenses charged to 401(k) plan participants declined in 2013, says a new study from the Investment Company Institute (ICI). In “The Economics of Providing 401(k) Plans: Services, Fees and Expenses, 2013,” the ICI reports that last year, participants spent less when they invested in equity, hybrid... READ MORE

Seventeen states have, or are, considering measures that would allow private-sector employers to automatically enroll employees in IRAs. None of these measures has yet resulted in a law that does, although three states — California, Connecticut and Oregon — have enacted measures that create boards... READ MORE

Millennials’ embrace of savings is robust, says a report the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies issued on July 15. The report says that employees born between 1979 and 1996 have a strong interest in saving and preparing for retirement. TCRS found that 75% of employed Millennials are... READ MORE

On Thursday, July 10, both the House Ways and Means (W&M) and the Senate Finance Committee (SFC) marked up bills to extend funding for the highway trust fund. Both bills include extension of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) interest stabilization provision to... READ MORE

The Treasury Department issued a rule July 1 that essentially allows employees to convert part of their IRA or 401(k) balances into a longevity annuity. Under the rule, an IRA or 401(k) can allow participants to use $125,000 or up to 25 percent of their IRA or 401(k) — whichever is less — to buy a... READ MORE

Fiduciaries of an ESOP are not entitled to any special presumption of prudence with regard to purchases or sales of employer securities, except as the duty of prudence relates to diversification of plan investments, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 25. In its unanimous decision in Fifth Third... READ MORE

It will be a good deal more congenial than testifying before the Treasury Department — but just as informative. Maybe moreso! Robert M. Kaplan, who has more than 30 years’ worth of experience and is the recipient of the Pension Administrator’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Institute... READ MORE

Early withdrawals — loans taken against plan balances, hardship withdrawals and retirement account payouts when changing jobs — can provide participants quick infusions of cash that help meet pressing needs. But these forms of “leakage” can come at the expense of their future retirement security. A... READ MORE