Client Services
“Auto” features — enrollment and escalation, that is — have received fresh boosts in recent reports concerning private as well as public-sector employers.The National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA) in its report, “Using Auto-Enroll to Improve...
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There is a sizable number of pre-retirees and retirees who do not enlist the assistance of a professional when devising a financial plan for their retirement, according to a recent study. It also takes a look at how they do in the effort.The study, by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, found...
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A new survey finds that, among plans automatically enrolling participants, 7 in 10 use all three features of an autopilot program (auto enroll, contribution acceleration, and qualified default investment alternative (QDIA)), but the adoption rate varies by plan size. According to “How America...
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A client has a 403(b) account which was established in 2006. He now wants to roll over that account to an IRA, since is he over age 59½ and has also severed employment. In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us who needs to sign off on the rollover and what the employer’s role is.
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Special pay features became popular among 403(b) plans after EGTRRA enabled 403(b) sponsors to make employer nonelective contributions to the 403(b) account of a former employee. In MarketBeat, Linda Segal Blinn argues that as is often the case, the devil can be in the details and discusses how the...
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Financial reporting standards the Government Accounting Standard Board (GASB) set in place in Statement 74 last year are effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2016. This affects a variety of retirement plans that provide postemployment benefits other than pension benefits (OPEB)....
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“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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Look for a bill to be introduced in Congress next month that some have called “auto-IRA on steroids.”At the recent Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (FSP) commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Pension Protection Act, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus...
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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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The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on June 15 to examine ways to leverage prizes and technology to influence savings behavior.The hearing featured testimony from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies President Catherine Collinson that focused on a new research report...
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A strong majority of attendees at a recent conference for executives, investment professionals and registered investment advisors expect that changes to their technological systems will be necessary in order to comply with the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. An even greater majority expect...
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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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The three lawsuits filed against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation in the Northern District of Texas could be coming together. The DOL has filed an “unopposed motion to consolidate cases” with the court, arguing that: all three actions challenge the same agency rulemaking...
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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver recently included a segment that was deeply critical of the financial services industry and specifically referenced the 401(k) plan that the show’s production company has with John Hancock. Here’s John Hancock’s response.“As could have been inferred from the...
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You may have missed it, but you’ll likely be hearing a lot about John Oliver’s take on retirement savings, financial advisors, small plans, and the fiduciary regulation. Warning: It isn’t pretty.HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” spent about 20 minutes talking about those issues,...
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Collective trusts have seemingly become all the rage in plan investment circles, and for some very good reasons. But what of a 403(b) plan purchasing collective investment trusts (CITs)? In MarketBeat, Robert Toth discusses issues that need to be addressed concerning 403(b)s and CITs.
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A TPA’s personnel says that 403(b) accounts are individual contracts and refuses to change the contracts to a group contract. In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us whether they will honor the asset exchange, liquidate the assets and transfer them to the new TPA on an individual basis if the...
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This year, there were three named tropical systems in the Atlantic Ocean by June 5 — the first time ever that there were three named storms by such an early date. And two of them made landfall in the United States. With the official Atlantic hurricane season just begun (the National Oceanic and...
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Is it possible that individual 403(b) participant accounts can be considered individual contracts unless the third party administrator chooses to change the contract into a group contract? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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Is it possible that individual 403(b) participant accounts can be considered individual contracts unless the third party administrator chooses to change the contract into a group contract? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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