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The “hits” just keep on coming with the latest wave of excessive fee litigation, with three more university retirement plans targeted.A decade ago, the law firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton launched a dozen excessive fee lawsuits against a multi-billion dollar 401(k) — in the past week they’...
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Plan sponsors are often reluctant to take big steps in making plan changes — but a new participant survey finds that workers would welcome more aggressive defaults.According to a national survey conducted by American Century Investments: Eight out of 10 employees want at least a “slight nudge” from...
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You have a client who is retiring but has an agreement to return to work with the same employer to do a special project for them. In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us if he can make withdrawals after retiring and before the project begins without the 10% IRS premature distribution penalty tax being...
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Running and providing for teachers’ retirement plans is a matter of facts and figures, argues a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).In “Teacher Pensions Have a Math Problem” AEI Adjunct Fellow in Education Policy Studies Michael Q. McShane expresses wonder that teacher pensions are...
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Roughly three-quarters (74%) of those surveyed said they’d feel very or extremely confident making 401(k) decisions with the help of a financial professional. Left to their own devices, only 44% would feel that same level of confidence. And yet, only 10% of participants surveyed are currently...
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The IRS has updated the information it provides concerning making voluntary corrections when a plan has failed to make required minimum distributions (RMDs) to participants and beneficiaries.Specifically, the IRS has updated the information concerning two of the programs it offers under the...
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There are varying predictions regarding the effects that the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule will have. Some of those crystal ball views are positive, and one of them is the results of a recent study in which a majority of plan providers are optimistic about how it will affect asset...
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Retirement plan professionals of all stripes expect to have to adjust to the Department of Labor’s final fiduciary rule. But businesses are gearing up for more than the obvious adjustments they’ll need to make.A strong majority — to the tune of 75% — of retirement plan providers told the LIMRA...
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Every so often, a measure or a regulation comes along that is the legal equivalent of a river changing course. To Michael Kitces, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule is one of them, recently calling it a “watershed moment.” And that’s not all — Kitces considers it only the beginning.“I...
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Is the plan sponsor in a non-ERISA (public education) 403(b) plan responsible for oversight of individual annuity contracts and individual custodial accounts? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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When a participant in a non-ERISA 403(b) plan wishes to roll assets over from another non-ERISA 403(b) plan into this plan, what best practices can the receiving plan sponsor or vendor use to ensure compliance with IRS guidance and Treasury regulations? In MarketBeat, Sue Diehl and Ellie Lowder use...
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Does a charitable contribution from required minimum distributions (RMDs) from a 403(b) have to be 100% of RMD or can it be just part of the RMD? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) has partnered with Morningstar, Inc. to develop a program that sets a new standard in fiduciary education and best practices.The IRA Fiduciary Adviser education program is designed to prepare advisers for a continuously shifting regulatory environment. The...
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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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The IRS specifically recognized the termination of a 403(b) plans as being a “distributable event” in its 2007 regulations. But that doesn’t mean that questions don’t arise. In MarketBeat, Robert Toth addresses issues that arise concerning 403(b) plan terminations and distributions.
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Can one make charitable contributions from required minimum distributions (RMDs) from 403(b)s? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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The Department of Labor (DOL) has made some “technical corrections” to the Best Interest Contract (BIC) Exemption of the fiduciary regulation. The DOL issued the corrections on July 7; it had published the BIC Exemption in the April 8, 2016 Federal Register.The DOL notes that all of the corrections...
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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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Top leadership at the Department of Labor (DOL) has indicated that the department will not bend on its fiduciary rule, but then again, it may. Bad cop, good cop?Not entirely. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)...
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Millennials appear to be a pretty cocky bunch when it comes to investing — though they are inclined to turn to advisors for help, according to a new survey.They’re confident about the market: 71% of Millennial investors predict a bull market in the next one to three years, compared with 50% of Baby...
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