Ted Godbout
By Ted Godbout 8/19/2021
The Department of Labor reportedly is engaging in a letter-writing campaign urging retirement plan fiduciaries to recoup amounts held by former recordkeepers or paying agents that may have been overlooked during the transition of a service provider relationship.
According to an Aug. 13 blog post...
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By Ted Godbout 8/18/2021
Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have reintroduced several bills to help boost retirement security for individuals and families.
Citing data by the U.S. Department of Labor showing that more than 40 million people do not have access to any workplace retirement plan, the pair...
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By Ted Godbout 8/17/2021
As a follow-up to its June 2021 How America Saves study, a supplementary report by Vanguard offers four key themes and recommended plan actions that can improve participant outcomes.
Vanguard Strategic Retirement Consulting’s Insights to Action report explains that increased adoption of target-...
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By Ted Godbout 8/17/2021
Regardless of income, American families do not appear to be prepared for short-term financial emergencies, which can have long-term implications on retirement savings, a new study suggests.
Among families with working family heads under age 65, fewer than a quarter had more than three months of...
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By Ted Godbout 8/12/2021
Based on new estimated data for July, it’s starting to look like next year’s annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment may be the highest in nearly four decades.
The new, updated estimates from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) show that the annual COLA could be 6.2% next year, based on...
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By Ted Godbout 8/11/2021
The Senate wrapped up its work for the summer Aug. 10, approving a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that extends pension smoothing relief for single-employer plan sponsors, as well as a $3.5 trillion budget outline that sets the stage for a broader tax and spending bill later this fall.
The...
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By Ted Godbout 8/3/2021
While it may come as no surprise, new survey results show that auto-enrollment has been an important tool to help young savers get on the right track to saving for retirement early in their careers.
According to the latest quarterly Principal Retirement Security Survey, 84% of workers who were...
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By Ted Godbout 8/3/2021
The American Retirement Association has endorsed new bipartisan legislation that would make permanent retirement plan tax relief measures that automatically kick in following a presidentially declared disaster.
Introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ), both of whom sit on...
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By Ted Godbout 7/29/2021
In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on July 28, Brian Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, cited projections that enactment of new legislation could create 51 million new individuals saving for retirement and add an additional $6.2 trillion in retirement savings over a 10...
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By Ted Godbout 7/29/2021
The Department of Labor (DOL) wants everyone to be attentive to cybersecurity protocols as a fiduciary responsibility, but there’s a higher expectation for those “running the systems.”
Tim Hauser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Office Operations at the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security...
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By Ted Godbout 7/28/2021
Speaking July 27 at the 2021 NAPA D.C. Fly-In Forum, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration outlined the key areas the department is working on, including both cryptocurrency and cybersecurity issues.
While noting that he didn’t have much to share...
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By Ted Godbout 7/26/2021
Under a set of Frequently Asked Questions issued by the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), participant-directed plans now have a firm compliance date to provide lifetime income illustrations (LII).
Plans which must issue quarterly statements under ERISA Section...
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By Ted Godbout 7/22/2021
Brian Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, is set to appear next week before Congress to advocate for the retirement policy priorities of the ARA.
The hearing, entitled “Building on Bipartisan Retirement Legislation: How Can Congress Help?,” is scheduled for Wednesday, July 28, at 10...
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By Ted Godbout 7/21/2021
New proposed legislation by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee would expand the pass-through deduction under Internal Revenue Code Section 199A and might be of some help to plan advisors, but it also would curtail the deduction for so-called upper-income clients.
The Small Business Tax...
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By Ted Godbout 7/15/2021
Witnesses testifying before the ERISA Advisory Council largely panned the idea for additional fiduciary or disclosure obligations on DC plans that contain brokerage windows.
During the two-day hearing held June 24-25, witnesses representing private companies, law firms, industry groups and other...
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By Ted Godbout 7/7/2021
In what is described as leaving money on the table, a new survey finds that few near-retired Americans are planning to wait until the age they become eligible to claim maximum Social Security benefits.
According to Schroders’ 2021 U.S. Retirement Survey, just 10% of non-retired Americans ages 45...
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By Ted Godbout 7/5/2021
Most people remain hesitant to invest in cryptocurrency in their DC plans, but a recent survey finds that there’s a small “crypto-curious” contingent.
With the increased attention of cryptocurrency, Stan Treger, behavioral scientist at Morningstar, notes that analysts at the firm began to wonder...
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By Ted Godbout 6/29/2021
A plan sponsor asserts that an audio recording of a claims inquiry was made for quality assurance purposes and was not part of the administrative record, but the Department of Labor has a different opinion.
Addressing the question of whether a plan sponsor is required to produce an audio...
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By Ted Godbout 6/28/2021
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to restore the delivery of annual Social Security projected benefit statements.
Introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), Finance Committee Member Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), House Ways and Means Social...
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By Ted Godbout 6/25/2021
Witnesses testifying before a House panel agreed that more needs to be done to address the current retirement savings coverage gap, but they diverged on what those solutions should entail.
The June 23 hearing, “Examining Pathways to Build a Stronger, More Inclusive Retirement System,” before the...
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