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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is seeking the approval of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of a collection of information that will help it to determine if certain plans are covered by Title IV of ERISA.
Plan sponsors or plan administrators would use the proposed form and...
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Congress returned from its two-week spring break with plans to consider bipartisan retirement security legislation to make it easier for businesses to offer retirement plans and for individuals to save for retirement.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) reportedly announced in a “Dear...
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New proposed legislation could help close the retirement savings coverage gap — and you can help make it a reality.
Small business owners face real challenges — costs, administrative burdens, and increased liability for mistakes — in the decision to provide retirement benefits for their workers....
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The IRS and Treasury are seeking comments concerning the way the Form 5500-EZ is filed. The IRS says that it plans to make the Form 5500-EZ available on the EFAST2 for direct electronic filing instead of using Form 5500-SF.
The Forms 5500 and 5500-SF are filed electronically through the web-based...
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After several years of record-breaking plan and participant outcomes, 2018’s market turbulence appears to have contributed to an increase in troubling participant behavior.
T. Rowe Price’s “Reference Point” reveals that 401(k) pretax deferral rates continued to rise in 2018, increasing to 8.6% on...
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Employers are seeking to assist workers with student loan debt for purposes ranging from altruistic to improving their bottom line, according to a new EBRI Issue Brief.
In “How Employers are Tackling Student Loan Debt: Evidence from the EBRI Employer Financial Wellbeing Survey,” better employee...
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So much happening – and there’s an easy way to catch up.
A week ago, the IRS made significant changes to EPCRS by issuing Revenue Procedure (Rec. Proc.) 2019-19, effective immediately – we’re talking self-correction of some of the more common failures relating to participant loans and plan...
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Plan sponsors often gloss over the reality that they are ERISA fiduciaries – or think that if they have hired an advisor, they’ve basically hired a stand-in for that responsibility. But there’s another mistake that even the most well-intentioned make – with remarkable frequency, based on what I...
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It’s easy to assume that if everyone did their part individually, a team would function smoothly and efficiently, but group dynamics, synergy and demographics all can either contribute or detract from an investment committee’s effectiveness.
A new white paper the firm Arnerich Massena, “Investment...
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With the recent release of the Social Security Trustees’ 2019 report, there appears to be a renewed focus on Social Security and “stabilizing” the nation’s retirement plan.
Before efforts are made to stabilize Social Security, a hard question must be addressed. As currently designed, is the system...
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While there’s some good news in the Trustees report for the nation’s retirement security system, there’s also some not-so-good news.
First, the good news. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to become...
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Timing, it is said, is everything. And the timing of an employee’s retirement, which seems to be a discrete and simple matter, actually is a more delicate dance than one may imagine for future retiree and employer alike.
In an April 30 presentation at the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s (PSCA)...
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Under questioning at a May 1 hearing on Capitol Hill, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta appeared to confirm that the Department of Labor will issue a new fiduciary rule.
Acosta appeared before the House Education and Labor Committee for a hearing to examine the policies and priorities of the...
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The Internal Revenue Service has announced the expansion of areas for issuing determination letters for certain retirement plans.
Revenue Procedure 2019-20, issued May 1, details two new issues for which retirement plan sponsors may now request determination letters:
Statutory Hybrid Plans –...
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Retirement plan participants spend many years — perhaps an entire career — accumulating savings to support themselves after they retire. But decumulation — actually spending it — can prove to be even harder.
In an April 30 session at the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s (PSCA) 2019 annual...
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American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff offered his assessment of how things stand in Washington at the on April 30 opening session of the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s (PSCA) 2019 annual conference in Tampa. The PSCA is one of the organizations that comprise the ARA.
“There is very...
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Jack Towarnicky, the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s Executive Director, asserted that “the state of the retirement savings industry remains strong” at an April 30 session at the PSCA's 2019 annual conference in Tampa.
Towarnicky presented statistics showing that the number of plans,...
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Capitol Hill and statehouses, federal and state regulators, bipartisan efforts and gridlock. An expert panel discussed recent developments at the federal and state levels in an April 30 session at the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 2019 annual conference in Tampa.
Panelists included Will Hansen...
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The U.S. Senate has confirmed Gordon Hartogensis as head of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. He will replace W. Thomas Reeder, Jr., who has served as director of the PBGC since October 2015.
The full Senate approved Hartogensis’s nomination April 30 by a vote of 72-27. After being...
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Creating a plan for retirement can lead to a greater sense of confidence and control, but a new study suggests that a surprising percentage of the general population hasn’t even considered doing so.
In fact, while many say they’ve “thought about it,” only 18% of respondents have created a...
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