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News Archive
“Unintended consequences” are generally a bad thing. But not always. The 401(k), for example.
We have just celebrated the birthday of the 401(k) – the anniversary of the day on which the Revenue Act of 1978 – which included a provision that became Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sec. 401(k) – was...
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Today’s typical histrionic, hyperbolic headline: “Retirement Crisis: Workers Can’t Afford to Save for Retirement Due to Crippling Out-of--Pocket Medical Expenses and Crushing Student Debt!”1 The accurate rewrite: “Saving for Retirement Is Doable — Almost all Workers Have Low, Budget-able Out-of-...
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The parties in yet another proprietary fund suit have come to terms, rather than go to trial.
The defendants here are Jackson National, sued by an employee/participant (Becky A. Matthews Pease) who had charged that 89% of the $608,784,892 in plan assets were “…invested in high cost and poorly...
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Much is said about the need to increase retirement savings and access to plans, but a recent report on savings says that there is some good news about retirement savings.
In its annual savings trends report, Ascensus includes data on retirement savings in the results, and it notes that there are...
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The IRS has announced that it has granted tax relief to certain victims of Hurricane Michael in Alabama. The IRS action includes relief from penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due on or after Oct. 10, 2018, and before Oct. 25, 2018, which it says will be abated as long as the deposits are...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) wants to know what you think about auto-portability.
In a Nov. 7 request for comments, the DOL noted that employees leaving their current place of employment with small account balances in the company’s 401(k) plan often either take a distribution of their retirement...
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UPDATED NOV. 8, 2018
As expected, the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the congressional midterm elections, portending a major shift in focus for retirement policy issues.
Currently the party affiliation in the House stands at 219 Democrats and 193 Republicans. In the...
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CalSavers, the state-run retirement plan for private-sector employees whose employers do not offer a retirement plan, is set to launch a pilot on Nov. 19, Calpensions has announced.
The pilot is expected to start with about 20 diverse employers and grow to 50 or more. The first contributions to...
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Would you like a big payment now, or smaller payments at regular intervals for many years? When that question was posed by researchers in the context of retirement benefits, a majority chose slow and steady.
In a recent study of employees with at least $100,000 in assets nearing retirement and...
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Several of the most infamous stock market declines in history have happened in October – which turned out to be a bit of a fright for the average 401(k) balance.
Snapping a long winning streak, estimates from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) note that the average 401(k)...
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At a recent event in Washington, SEC Commissioner Kara Stein provided her take on retirement readiness in the United States and what she thinks can be done to improve it.
In a conversation with the Brookings Institution,Stein painted a sobering picture. “Although everyone’s ideal retirement might...
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A new report notes that while longevity is increasing, the number of years Americans spend in retirement has not changed much over the last generation because they’re also working longer.
In “The Aging Economy: Improving with Age,” BMO Wealth Management notes that the Department of Health and...
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Halloween is the time of year when one’s thoughts turn to trick-or-treat, ghosts and goblins, and things that go bump in the night. But what are the things that keep – or should keep – plan fiduciaries up at night?
Well, there are the things like…
Getting Sued
The headlines are (still) full of...
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Did you hear the one about loan defaults adding up to $2.5 trillion in potential retirement savings shortfalls over the next 10 years? How about the “$210 Billion Risk in Your 401(k)”?
Those reports were based on an “analysis” by Deloitte that claims to find that “…more than $2 trillion in...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued the present values of its maximum guarantees for 2019.
The values apply to benefits with annuity starting dates in 2019. The values for the 2019 table were developed using the Internal Revenue Code Section 417(e) segment rates for August...
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Employers have always been competing to hire the best. And employers use various tools to attract and retain them. One of the most important, argue recent blogs, is the 401(k).
“Offering a high-quality 401(k) plan is an essential tool to add to your HR toolbox,” writes Roger Lee in “How 401(k)s...
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The Oregon State Treasury has announced that OregonSaves, the state-run auto-IRA program for private-sector workers in Oregon, has been expanded to allow individual Oregonians, such as self-employed or gig economy workers, to join the program.
Certain individuals can choose from a simple menu of...
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The IRS has announced cost-of-living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2019. The 2019 limits are contained in Notice 2018-83, released Nov. 1.
The limits for 2019 are as follows:
The limitation under Code Section 402(g)(1)...
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The law firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton LLP is back in court – challenging a district court’s decision on awarding fees in an excessive fee case.
The firm is looking to collect $964,212 in fees to consultants and expert witnesses in the case of Tibble v. Edison – a case that over the...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued new materials for use by a variety of practitioners: the guarantee limits for single-employer plans for 2019, and a reference tool for use when advising small plans about possible reportable events.
Guarantee Limits
The guarantee limits...
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