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News Archive
QOTW: ESG Suitability
Opinions on ESG funds are as polarized as … well as politics in this country these days. And the fact that guidance on ESG shifts depending on which political party is in the white house, it is no wonder. And, it looks like we may be getting more guidance soon. A recent reader poll of advisors by NAPA.net showed some shift in opinions about ESG... Read More >>
QOTW: Inflation and Plan Loans
A member mentioned they have seen an increase in participants asking about plan loans lately and wondered if others are and if they are contemplating any changes to loan or hardship provisions. We asked members in this week’s QOTW what they are seeing and also asked if they are providing any specific education around this topic. Nearly 30 percent... Read More >>
QOTW: SSA Letter
A member recently reached out wondering if any other members receive a lot of inquiries from former employees about a letter from the Social Security Administration stating that they may have a retirement benefit with the company. As these letters tend to cause confusion, the member was wondering if there is a standard template or language... Read More >>
QOTW: Plan Entry Dates
Recently a member asked if we had any information on when plans allow participants to enroll in the plan, separate from service requirements – if participants are allowed to enroll as soon as they are eligible (next pay period) or if (administratively) there are set plan entry dates. We used to include this question in our annual survey of 401(k)... Read More >>
QOTW: Surveying Employees
We have heard lately from some members that they are starting to survey employees about the organization’s offered benefits and we wondered how prevalent it is to ask employees about what benefits they want and/or their satisfaction with current benefits. More than forty percent (42.5 percent) stated they currently survey employees about desired... Read More >>
QOTW: Recordkeeping Fee Allocation to Participants
A member is reevaluating how recordkeeping fees are charged to participants and wanted to know what other members do and why. Thirty percent of respondents stated that they do not pass on the recordkeeping fees to participants. Of those that do pass on recordkeeping fees to participants, nearly half use a pro rata approach, allocating fees based... Read More >>
QOTW: Managed Accounts
More than half (54 percent) of respondents said they offer a managed account solution to participants. That is significantly higher than the 43.6 percent of plans that indicated they provide one in our 64th Annual Survey. It will be interesting to see if that percentage increases when the 65th Annual Survey is published later this year. The most... Read More >>
QOTW: Missing Accounts
A member reached out wanting to see if other companies do anything to help participants track down lost 401(k) accounts. She stated she receives a lot of questions from employees asking about tracking down a 401(k) plan from a former employer that is now out of business, closed, moved, or it is simply hard to find information. Eighty percent of... Read More >>
QOTW: EARN Provision
One of the revenue-raising provisions currently in the EARN (Enhancing American Retirement Now) Act that was passed out of committee in the Senate last month, is a provision that would permit an employee to elect to treat employer matching and other employer contributions as after-tax Roth contributions. This week we asked members if their company... Read More >>
QOTW: Small Distributions
A PSCA member reached out wondering what other plan sponsors do about paying out very small plan balances. They have a significant number of terminated employees with a plan balance less than $10, which is more than it costs to process and distribute the balances, and very often participants don’t cash very small checks which creates an additional... Read More >>