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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a proposal on June 4 that it says will improve the method for delivering fund shareholder reports to investors in mutual funds, ETFs and other investment funds.The SEC also announced that it is inviting comments on improving the fund disclosures...
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In spite of continued volatility, April’s “showers” produced some May flowers for average 401(k) balances.
In May, estimates based on the actual contribution records and investment choices of several million consistent participants in the EBRI/ICI database indicated that the average 401(k) account...
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Financial readiness for retirement improved in 2017, but there still is room for improvement, say recently released studies.
In its 2017 Year in Review, Financial Finesse looks at employer financial wellness programs and their results. Among the gauges it reports on is financial readiness for...
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The evidence seems clear that having a written financial plan helps people stay on track and reach their financial goals, yet only one in four Americans has a plan, according to new research.
As for the top roadblock, Charles Schwab’s Modern Wealth Index study says it’s because they don’t think...
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You have to wonder what the Wall Street Journal has against automatic enrollment.
The latest instance of finding the cloud in this silver lining arose in a recent Journal article by Anne Tergesen, “Downside of Automatic 401(k) Savings: More Debt” (subscription required). The article, based on the...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) expects that its insurance programs will have sharply different results. In its FY 2017 PBGC Projections Report, which provides long-term financial projections for its single-employer program and multiemployer program, the PBGC anticipates that the...
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This is auto-enrollment’s day in the sun. Widely lauded as a low-cost, low-impact solution for savings rates and behaviors that could use a boost, it’s easily regarded as a panacea. But a recent blog post suggests that it may not be.In “The Dirty Little Secret of Auto-Enrollment?” a post on Cammack...
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Longtime ASPA Executive Director Chester Salkind passed away on May 19, 2018, while in hospice care in Durango, CO.
Salkind’s daughter Elizabeth noted in an email to several retired ASPA members that he had been in declining health over the last year, and suffered a stroke the week of May 14.
...
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TPAs serving 401(k) plans may want to remind their clients that they should review and update their “special tax notices” in the wake of changes to the plan loan offset rules under last year’s tax reform legislation.An article by Todd Castleton of Kilpatrick Townsend explains that changes to the...
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Single premium pension buy-out sales exceeded $1 billion in the first quarter of 2018, says a recent report.In fact, those sales topped $1.3 billion, according to the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute (SRI). But it’s not really anything new, LIMRA says; it notes that the first quarter was the 12th...
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The average individual 401(k) and IRA balances of Fidelity clients dipped a bit in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the previous quarter, but year-over-year increases remained strong.According to Fidelity Investments’ most recent quarterly analysis of retirement savings trends and behaviors,...
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Please note that our websites, education resources, and email will be unavailable from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 27 for server maintenance. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
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Robert Kaplan, the American Retirement Association’s Director of Technical Education, provided a look at recent regulatory and legislative developments in a May 22 ASPPA webcast.Kaplan began the Second Quarter 2018 Washington Update webcast with a discussion of fiduciary rules. He noted that the U....
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A measure before the Senate would create a Commission on Retirement Security. S. 2753, The Commission on Retirement Security Act of 2018, would establish a federal commission to review private retirement benefit programs and report to Congress on how to improve private retirement security in the...
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The IRS is now accepting applications for opinion letters for pre-approved defined contribution (DC) plans for the third six-year remedial amendment cycle.
The IRS says that for it to consider a third cycle application, a pre-approved DC plan provider must verify compliance with the second cycle’s...
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Gains in access to DC plans were offset by lower rates of access to defined benefit plans, but overall younger workers saw some improvements, according to a new study using data from 1998 to 2012.Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), the Pew...
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The ACOPA Chicago 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 one...
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Participant transfer activity picked up in April, but was still well short of surges earlier in the year.April had four days of above-normal trading activity — up slightly from March’s value (2), but lower than the values for January (12) and February (9), according to the Alight Solutions 401(k)...
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New survey results reveal a variety of differences by generation and other demographic factors pertaining to perceptions and concerns about retirement savings strategies.
Now in its 7th year, Franklin Templeton Investments’ annual Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations (RISE) survey finds...
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How healthy is your plan? How healthy are the plans you serve? There are a variety of ways to gauge plan health, but a recent blog entry suggests that looking at account balances can be instructive.In “Retirement Plan Account Balances: Big and Small,” an entry in Cammack Retirement’s “Top of Mind”...
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