Managing Your Practice
Advisors working in the ERISA 403(b) marketplace often are asked to help plan sponsors meet their fiduciary duties under ERISA. In MarketBeat, Diane Capone provides some basics on the process an ERISA fiduciary plan sponsor needs to follow in order to comply with their obligations to the plan.
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Is there a difference between 403(b)(1) annuities and 403(b)(7) custodial accounts regarding withdrawal restrictions? In Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder explains how the rules work.
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One aspect of 403(b) plans that is not easily understood is the correction deadline for the actual contribution percentage (ACP) non-discrimination test. In this week’s MarketBeat, Farhad Mirzada provides an overview of the penalty-free and statutory deadlines for corrections for failed tests.
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Many states and local government pension plans face funding challenges. At the same time, average longevity is increasing. Seems logical that retirees living longer would exacerbate those funding woes, but a recent study by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, “How Will Longer...
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Legislators in the Bay State have been busy developing legislation that could affect the private employer sponsored retirement system should the bills become state law.In the current legislative session, two bills have been offered that attempt to regulate 401(k) plans — apparently overlooking the...
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An employer that allows one employee to participate in its 403(b) plan must allow all employees to do so — that is, unless they fall into one of five types of employees who may be excluded. The IRS recently issued a reminder of the importance of following the Universal Availability Rule, and what...
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Suppose a client exchanged a 403(b)(7) custodial account into a 403(b)(1) annuity where the receiving provider applied pre-59½ withdrawal restrictions to the entire account value. Was that provider correct in that application, or should there be no restrictions? In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie...
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Total U.S. retirement plan assets were $24.7 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2014, with defined contribution assets registering the strongest percentage growth, according to a new report.While total retirement plan assets were up 1.7% from the $24.2 trillion mark at Sept. 30, 2014, according to the...
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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White confirmed March 17 that the Commission will “implement a uniform fiduciary duty for broker-dealers and investment advisors where the standard is to act in the best interest of the investor.” The statement, reported by Investment News,...
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If a portion of a minister’s normal wage is declared to be a housing allowance, must it be excluded from plan compensation for purposes of federal tax law? In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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You’re one of the decision makers at your organization, and the nondiscrimination rules that apply to employer contributions to retirement plans don’t apply to you and your peers. If that describes you, then you are covered by a top hat plan. In this week’s MarketBeat, Ellie Lowder tells us how...
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Americans strongly believe in and support saving for retirement. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re saving as much as they are projected to need in order to be financially ready for retirement. The findings of two recent studies illustrate this disconnect.The National Institute on...
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The Retirement Advisor Council (RAC) announced on March 12 that it has developed a template request for proposal (RFP) for institutions of higher education to use in searching for advisors for their retirement plans. RAC makes the template available free of charge and with no copyright restrictions...
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The IRS announced on March 11 that it has updated the information package containing sample plan provisions concerning pre-approved 403(b) plans. The update is first since March 2013.The IRS has made changes to the language that concerns the following terms and topics: compensation contribution...
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Most states are making a good faith effort to meet their annual required contributions (ARCs) to their state pension systems. That’s the conclusion the National Association of State Retirement Administrators (NASRA), an association of the directors of state and territorial public retirement systems...
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Some governmental plan sponsors, public school districts and public higher education organizations misinterpret how the federal income tax code applies to them. In this week’s MarketBeat, Michael Webb provides an overview regarding the sections of the tax code that do — and do not — apply to them.
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If a government employee separates from service, would he need a recurring contribution in order to fall under the Code Section 401(a) special pay provision? In this week’s Tech Talk, Ellie Lowder tells us.
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Michigan’s state employee retirement plan could be paying out a sizable chunk more in benefits four years from now. According to the Lansing State Journal, approximately 30% of the 48,617 state employees will be eligible to retire by 2019, nearly twice as many as this year.According to the Michigan...
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Retirees will need an average of $2.5 million to maintain the same quality of life in retirement, according to a recent Legg Mason survey.The majority (72%) of the 458 U.S. respondents to the firm’s Legg Mason Global Investment Survey — all affluent investors (defined as having at least $200,000 in...
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Floridians who take loans against their retirement plans have to pay a state tax on those distributions. But the Florida House of Representatives is considering a bill that could affect that tax treatment.State Rep. W. Gregory Steube (R-73) in January introduced HB 101, a measure that would exempt...
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