John Iekel
By John Iekel 10/26/2016
Much-anticipated guidance on the DOL fiduciary rule will be coming soon, according to Phyllis Borzi, head of the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). She made the remarks Oct. 25 during the Government Update session at the ASPPA Annual Conference held at National Harbor, Md....
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By John Iekel 8/30/2016
Is it possible to increase financial literacy, employee participation in retirement plans and employer action to boost options available to employees all at once? A network in Arizona has found a way to do just that. The Arizona 403(b) Professionals, a group of which NTSA President-Elect Adam...
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By John Iekel 7/12/2016
A new private letter ruling (PLR) from the IRS says that the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules apply to a designated IRA beneficiary even though a state court modified the beneficiary designations. The IRS released PLR 201628006 on July 8.Note that PLRs are applicable only to the specific...
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By John Iekel 7/7/2016
Employer-provided retirement benefits in general are holding steady, according to the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). In “2016 Employee Benefits: Looking Back at 20 Years of Employee Benefits Offerings in the U.S.,” SHRM reports that some aspects of employer-provided retirement...
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By John Iekel 6/27/2016
“Data security is a team sport.” That’s how FIS Chief Risk Officer Greg Montana summed up cybersecurity efforts at a June 20 session of the SPARK National Conference held in Washington, DC. The panel included not only experts from the private sector, but also Deputy Assistant Secretary for...
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By John Iekel 6/27/2016
Less than a year till zero hour on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule. And while it is imminent but not formally implemented just yet, it’s already having an effect — and panel discussions at the June 20-21 SPARK National Conference in Washington, DC offered insights into those effects...
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By John Iekel 6/21/2016
There are plenty of financial pressures on DC plans, providers and sponsors. Not to mention the importance clients place on fees when considering whether to drop an investment manager. In a June 20 session at the 2016 SPARK National Conference held in Washington, D.C., Tom Kmak, CEO of Fiduciary...
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By Andrew Remo, John Iekel 6/3/2016
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) on May 27 signed into law the Connecticut Retirement Security Program Act (H.B. 5591), which establishes a state-run retirement plan. That came after a sometimes bumpy road to get the bill to his desk. Those machinations included a deadlocked Senate vote that...
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By John Iekel 5/26/2016
State and local pension plans, and the struggles many have regarding funding, have generated plenty of attention. Some background information about them helps illustrate the depth and breadth of the problem and brings into sharper relief the importance of state and local government pension plans,...
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By John Iekel 5/24/2016
Increasingly, a plan’s digital platform — both website and mobile — is becoming participants’ main point of contact with the plan, upping the ante on the quality and efficiency of the user experience. What can consumer research tell us about doing a better job of fulfilling users’ digital...
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By John Iekel 5/11/2016
Increasingly, a plan’s digital platform — both website and mobile — is becoming participants’ main point of contact with the plan, upping the ante on the quality and efficiency of the user experience. What can consumer research tell us about doing a better job of fulfilling users’ digital...
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By John Iekel 5/9/2016
Recent research about the development of annuity products and certain life insurance products used for retirement purposes provided food for thought at a May 6 session of LIMRA’s 2016 Retirement Industry conference. Elaine Tumicki, Corporate Vice President, Insurance Research – Product, LIMRA, and...
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By John Iekel, Ray Harmon 7/10/2015
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) on July 9 vetoed the pension reform bill, Senate Bill 1. State Sen. Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) had introduced the measure, which was designed to modernize Pennsylvania’s retirement systems in order to update the funding, sustainability and practices followed by the...
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By John Iekel 6/18/2015
The June 17 Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee hearing provided ample illustration that the debate on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal is far from over. DOL Secretary Thomas E. Perez appeared before the subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce...
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By John Iekel, Ray Harmon 5/15/2015
Reform of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) move one step closer on May 13. The state senate in a 28-19 vote approved SB 1, the measure that would reform the systems. It now is before the House for further...
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By John Iekel 5/11/2015
The Illinois Supreme Court was of one mind on May 8, unanimously ruling in In re Pension Reform Litigation v. Quinn (No. 118585, May 8, 2015), that the state’s 2013 pension reform law that went into effect on June 1, 2014 violates the state constitution.Lawmakers approved the overhaul to address...
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By John Iekel 5/8/2015
“The current retirement system in the private sector works well for those to have access to it. The challenge is to expand the availability of retirement savings in the private workforce.” That was the core message of American Retirement Association Congressional Affairs Manager Andrew Remo in his...
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By John Iekel 5/7/2015
Cyber attacks, and the threat they pose to firms that provide finance-related services and their clients, prompted the recent release by the SEC’s Division of Investment Management of some steps that can protect against them. The SEC intended the tips for financial services firms and advisors, but...
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By John Iekel 4/30/2015
There’s a maxim that says all politics is local. And so it goes that concerns about public-sector pensions drill down to the local as well. From coast to coast, cities figure prominently in the debate over — and problems facing — public pensions.The financial meltdowns that Detroit and Stockton,...
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By John Iekel, Ray Harmon 4/15/2015
State legislatures continue to be active in considering ways to improve and enhance the retirement readiness of their citizens. The latest: North Carolina and Maine.North CarolinaLegislation is before the North Carolina House of Representatives that would call on the Department of the State...
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