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Is it (Finally) Finally Time?
Two headlines caught my eye recently—provocative “what if”-type questions. I’m talking about “Will Retirement Income Solutions Finally Break Through in 2024?” and “Will Managed Accounts (Finally) Take Hold as QDIAs?” Both, of course, included the word “finally” in the title(s)—no doubt because the underlying premise has been touted in previous... Read More >>
Projected Retirement
Sponsored by: MFS Investment Management One of the SECURE Act of 2019 provisions requires plan sponsors to provide a lifetime income projection to participants at least once a year. The purpose of this provision is to help participants have a better understanding of what their current retirement accounts will provide in terms of income in... Read More >>
DOL Finalizes New PTE Filing and Processing Procedures
Employer plan sponsors and fiduciaries that are subject to the prohibited transaction rules as set forth in ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) will want to take note of new procedures for granting administrative transaction exemptions. The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on Jan. 23 announced that it... Read More >>
HSAs for All?
The pros and cons of universal availability of health savings accounts (HSAs). There has been extensive debate about HSAs focusing on access, utilization, and more specifically if they should be accessible beyond high deductible health plans (HDHPs), which is a current requirement. Several organizations have promoted for HSA universal access. “... Read More >>
New DOL Guidance Sheds Light on SECURE 2.0 Emergency Savings Accounts
On the heels of the recent IRS guidance on pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs), the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) followed suit on Jan. 17, issuing additional guidance in the form of FAQs. Included in Section 127 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, PLESAs are essentially short-term Roth... Read More >>
Plan Sponsors Expanding Their Efforts
Participants’ retirement security remains the priority of plan sponsors—and they are boosting their work to enhance it, says a recent report. JP Morgan, in its fifth Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Survey, which provides the results of an online survey of 788 sponsors of 401(k) and 403(b) plans during the period Jan. 9-Feb. 28, 2023, looks at... Read More >>
Plan Sponsors: How to Win the War for Talent
Retirement plan advisors are busy helping their plan sponsor clients (and participants) sift through the 92 mandatory and optional provisions in SECURE 2.0, especially highlighting those most pressing in 2024. One generating interest (if not the most interest) is the student loan matching program. It permits employers to match student loan... Read More >>
'Guiding' Student Loan Matches
One of the optional provisions in the SECURE 2.0 Act that some employers were very excited about is the provision to allow a 401(k) match based on a participant’s student loan payment rather than deferrals. This was seen by many as a way to help young (or not so young) employees start saving for retirement while paying off loans as student loan... Read More >>
Success Is Not Enough
The U.S. retirement system is a success—but we still can do better. That was the message from an expert panel that recently examined the gaps in that system and made suggestions regarding how to fill them. Pete Swisher, Managing Partner at Group Plan Systems, and Annie Messer, President, Member Relations at Pension Resource Institute and Group... Read More >>
Matching Deferral Rates?
Sponsored by: MFS Investment Management Once a plan sponsor decides to use an automatic enrollment feature, they must decide a few other items – default rate, default investment option, whether to auto-escalate. Though the default investment option is most commonly a target date fund (85% of plans*), and two-thirds of plans automatically... Read More >>