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The Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled the much-anticipated final version of a rule that allows more small businesses and self-employed workers to band together to buy health insurance — and may have dropped a small hint about retirement multiple employer plans (MEPs).
The association health...
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Nominations are now being accepted for the American Retirement Association’s 2019 Board of Directors. Elected at-large members of the Board of Directors serve for one term of three calendar years. Nominees must be nominated by at least two members to be considered. To view the nomination form,...
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ACOPA leadership was very active in Washington, DC from May 18 to May 22. Leadership met with our new Executive Director, attended American Retirement Association (ARA) Government Affairs Executive Committee meetings, visited the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and met with Senate and...
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PBGC has completely overhauled their missing participant program. The new rules are effective for plans that terminate on or after Jan. 1, 2018. Unfortunately, if you are dealing with a missing participant in a plan that terminated before that date, you will have to comply with the old rules....
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Several weeks back, I was invited to participate in a group conversation on retirement and the future of prosperity.
The group of 15 (they’re listed at the end of the document that summarized the conclusions) that Politico pulled together was diverse, both in background and philosophies, and...
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How does the best interest standard of care in the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest compare to the standard of care in the DOL’s Best Interest Contract Exemption (BICE)?
Well, having previously outlined the similarities between those two, in his most recent blog post noted ERISA attorney Fred Reish...
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Employer-based retirement plans are the keystone of retirement preparedness. A recent Forbes column examines the centrality of employers’ role — and the areas where there are shortcomings.In “Should We Continue to Count on Employers for Retirement Provision?” Forbes contributor Elizabeth Bauer, FSA...
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ACOPA actuaries benefit from being a part of ASPPA and ARA. In May, ACOPA actuaries Tom Finnegan and Bill Karbon, our new Executive Director Marty Pippins and I participated in the Government Affairs Committee (GAC) weekend meetings in Washington. On Monday, May 21, we met with the PBGC and the IRS...
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The ACOPA Actuarial Symposium is coming up!
It is an honor to serve on the symposium conference committee with such dedicated volunteers, who want to bring the best educational experience to all who attend the symposium. If comments from attendees at prior conferences are any guide, the reasons...
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A recent survey of DC plan sponsors and consultants finds that when selecting a target-date strategy or other QDIA, plan sponsors were most concerned about participants’ longevity risk and their ability to achieve higher retirement account balances over the long term.T. Rowe Price’s survey, “...
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Thinking outside the box is often a valued attribute; in the retirement plan universe, it can find expression in arrangements and plan features that offer flexibility, liquidity and portability. But a recently released paper suggests that it is important to be mindful of fiduciary duties while...
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There were mixed results for defined benefit and defined contribution plans in the first quarter of 2018, the Federal Reserve reports. In short: assets grew, but so did liabilities.
Assets
The Fed reports that assets for private DB and DC plans — showed mixed results since the 4th quarter of 2017...
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Guess how many CE credits you can get at the ASPPA Annual Conference.This year you can earn up to 25 ASPPA CE credits — with three ethics credits available — for the 2017–2018 CE cycle. Sessions offer up to two credit hours each.At “ASPPA Annual” — one of the retirement industry’s longest-running...
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Another provider has been sued by an employee-participant in its own 401(k) plan, not just for its inclusion of proprietary funds, but the type and number of options on its menu — and its target-date strategy.The suit, filed by participant-plaintiff Diego Cervantes in the U.S. District Court for...
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A new report forecasts how the innovations brought on by the Pension Protection Act will continue to evolve, foreseeing a DC industry that takes on some of the traditional features of the DB industry.
In its 250th issue of The Cerulli Edge – U.S. Asset and Wealth Management Edition, Cerulli...
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Recently, the Wall Street Journal’s Anne Tergesen wrote a story titled, “Mixed Bag for Auto-enrollment.” Citing data presented at the recent EBRI Policy Forum,1 the article claimed that “employees who are automatically enrolled in their workplace savings plans save less than those who sign up on...
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The SEC’s proposed Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) is remarkable in its similarities to the DOL’s vacated Best Interest Contract Exemption (BICE) – or so Fred Reish thinks.
With a beginning note of caution that Reg BI applies to securities recommendations, while the BICE would have (but for the...
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President Trump has nominated Senate Banking Committee aide Elad Roisman to serve as a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Roisman, who currently serves as Chief Counsel to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee under Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), would...
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The official hurricane season has just begun (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it starts June 1). But we’ve already had a tropical system hit the United States (Alberto) — and that serves as a reminder that it can be helpful to a service provider and plan administrator to...
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The victorious plaintiffs in litigation vacating the Labor Department's fiduciary rule would like the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to put the rule — and the financial services industry at large — out of its collective "misery."In a letter to the Clerk of Court for the U.S. Court of...
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