Advertisement
Topics
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 29 announced that the Office of Management and Budget has approved revisions it made to the forms and instructions for standard and distress terminations and missing participants.Under the revisions, a plan administrator of a plan terminating...
READ MORE
The White House memo on the DOL’s proposal to redefine what constitutes a fiduciary continues to engender negative reaction. Tim Pawlenty, CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, weighed in on Jan. 28, according to ThinkAdvisor, calling the memo “overly broad” in its condemnation of the financial...
READ MORE
The 114th Congress has gotten off to a quick start with retirement legislation.During the week of Jan. 25, Collins-Nelson Retirement Security Act of 2015 (S. 266) was introduced in the Senate, while a companion bill, the Retirement Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 557) was introduced in the House. The...
READ MORE
The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Jan. 28 announced its assignments for the committee’s three subcommittees for the 114th Congress.The committee’s Primary Health and Retirement Security subcommittee consists of 10 Republicans, seven Democrats and Vermont’s...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
The ERISA Advisory Council has thrown its support behind the notion of multiple employer plans as a means of encouraging plan formation.The recommendation came as part of a series of suggestions regarding outsourcing employee benefit plan services following hearings held by the ERISA Advisory...
READ MORE
New Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has staked out his plans, and the committee’s agenda, for dealing with pension reform.In his speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, Hatch specifically highlighted key portions of that bill in his speech, pitching a new “...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was not arbitrary and capricious when it concluded that Kentucky Bancshares was obliged to comply with the Section 1107 of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) as well as ERISA’s standard termination requirements when it terminated its retirement plan and...
READ MORE
Implementation and appreciation of the value of automatic enrollment is increasingly widespread among employers. Several recent studies have found that more employers are using it, although one points out that enthusiasm about auto features is not universal.In a recent study of 100 employers with...
READ MORE
The 114th Congress has officially kicked off, and federal tax reform remains high on the agenda for this year. On Jan. 15 the Senate Finance Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over tax policy, released a statement announcing that Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D...
READ MORE
A year ago, President Obama touted the voluntary MyRA in his State of the Union Address — but the White House has a lot more to say about retirement this year — and it’s a lot less voluntary.According to a White House fact sheet, the administration is touting a series of retirement tax reform...
READ MORE
With President Obama poised to deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 20, a powerful coalition of retirement, union and so-called consumer protection groups have again interjected themselves into the debate over retirement plans.The coalition’s website, Saveourretirement.com, intends to...
READ MORE
Reports of hacks, identity theft and more highlight the importance of making sure information about plan participants and beneficiaries is secure. In fact, it’s more than a good idea — it’s part of a fiduciary’s duty.The 401(k) HelpCenter suggests questions to ask to make sure participants’ and...
READ MORE
Funding levels of pension plans sponsored by the S&P 1500 fell by 9 percentage points in 2014, from 88% to 79%. According to Mercer, the plans’ collective deficits more than doubled last year, reaching $504 billion at year-end.The plans had been doing well in 2014, Mercer said, having benefited...
READ MORE
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has outlined the conditions for determining the existence of a partial plan termination, ruling on the fifth appeal of what it called a “seemingly interminable class action suit.”The ruling came in a case filed just two months short of 19 years ago, in which...
READ MORE
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) is arguing that the Land of Lincoln has “police powers” that allow it to change a contract in extraordinary circumstances, including changes to the state’s public pensions contained in a 2013 pension overhaul.Madigan is appealing a lower court ruling that...
READ MORE
House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) unveiled a set of tax proposals Jan. 12 that are said to be designed, at least in part, to redistribute current tax breaks for the wealthy to middle-class workers.While the “action plan” includes proposals that could draw bipartisan...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 12 issued a draft of the 2015 premium filing form and instructions. It provides information for plans paying premiums for plan years beginning in 2015, including instructions for all the particular forms of data that must be reported.The...
READ MORE