Industry Trends & Research
Morningstar’s 7th annual landscape study on health savings accounts (HSAs) available to individuals shows continued industry improvement, even though persistent issues with transparency and fees remain.
The study evaluated 10 of the top HSA providers on two different use cases[JI1]: (1) as...
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Do you feel confident selling SECURE 2.0 to clients? Joey Santos-Jones writes in MarketBeat about an Oct. 24 session of the 2023 ASPPA Annual conference, which featured PSCA Executive Director Will Hansen, JJ McKinney from EGPS and Kirsten Curry from LRS as they unspun the most talked-about...
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Ok fine, I will admit it…I was wrong.
I have been known for saying “I have only been wrong once in my life, but that was only when I thought I was mistaken.” But last week I read an article titled: “To Err Is Human—To Correct, Divine.” Those of you who know me understand that I make mistake...
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The nation’s youngest members of the workforce have ambitious goals to retire at an early age, though they also believe they are facing more obstacles to do so than those before them.
In fact, according to Charles Schwab’s annual nationwide survey of 401(k) plan participants, Gen Z workers (21–26...
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There’s an oft-repeated line from that 1967 classic movie “Cool Hand Luke” about a “failure to communicate,” writes Nevin E. Adams. JD in MarketBeat. He continues that there are literal barriers in terms of language, of course—but all too often there also barriers built of different life...
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Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series about service providers’ audits of clients and their plans. The first is here.
Audits may be a frightening and painful experience from the perspective of plan administrators and plan sponsors. But what does it look like from the auditor’s...
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The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced Oct. 12 that the monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase 3.2% in 2024. The change will affect more than 71 million Americans and translates to an increase in Social Security benefits of more than $50...
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The timing of when one leaves the workforce has a variety of effects—and a recent study examines whether, and how, it affects one’s lifestyle during retirement, writes John Iekel in MarketBeat.
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An apple for the teacher? The most bountiful bushel of them—and the one most frequently dipped into—appears to be that provided for public-sector teachers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Its most recently released report about employee benefits in the United States, which...
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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series about service providers’ audits of clients and their plans.
That’s what a first financial audit can feel like, says an industry expert. But it doesn’t have to.
“Death by a thousand cuts. That’s what initial 401(k) and 403(b) audit clients...
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“403(b)s are not 401(k)s, and damage is done by not understanding the difference,” PenServ Plan Services President Sue Diehl emphasized at the outset of a session dedicated to a comparison of the two at the ERISA 403(b) Advisor Conference in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 2.
She then listed several...
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I fear that by the time you read this, we will be entering a government shutdown or will be moments away from one. Fingers crossed that we can all come together to keep things up and running.
Regardless of that, September has been a very busy month for the NTSA.
Educating the Educators
I am...
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Where do things stand regarding retirement assets and plan participation in the United States? Two agencies give us a look.
Assets
U.S. retirement assets as of New Year’s Eve in 2022 stood at a total of $37.8 trillion, says the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in U.S. Retirement Assets: Data...
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The Student Loan Payment Matching Contribution provision in SECURE 2.0 is one of the most asked-about new features in the law. This is particularly true among our public education clients who are looking for ways to attract and retain teachers, which continues to be a problem for districts...
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Social Security—often cited as a “third rail”—has been a staple of the retirement landscape for almost 90 years. But that doesn't mean that it’s free of misconceptions; in MarketBeat, John Iekel discusses a recent commentary that highlights some to avoid.
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Registration is open for the 2024 NTSA Summit! The conference—Feb. 25-27 in San Diego, CA—is the only industry event designed for 403(b) and 457(b) professionals. But that’s not all! It will include:
Tailored general sessions, workshops, and up to 12 continuing education (CE) credits
A...
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Starting a state-run program could result in private-sector employers dropping their existing retirement benefit plans, warned some soothsayers. Not so, says an industry expert.
Kim Olson, Senior Officer of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Retirement Savings Project took issue with such doom and gloom...
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Compounding the problem of low financial literacy is “low longevity literacy,” or a lack of understanding of how long people tend to live in retirement, writes John Sullivan in MarketBeat. He discusses research that found that a staggering number of Americans display low longevity literacy, which...
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The month of August has come and gone. This may be one of the slower months of the year when it comes to legislative activities: there are currently only eight states whose legislatures are in session and Congress is on recess for the month. BUT—that didn’t stop us from moving some things forward...
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Running any employee benefit plan entails following certain rules—and it is always possible that at some point, a mistake will be made in running a plan. An expert offers his observations regarding mistakes that tax-exempt organizations (EOs) make with their 457(b) plans.
In a recent entry in the...
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