The Supreme Court Decides Not to Decide
The U.S. Supreme Court has an unusual number of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) petitions before it in the 2019-20 term.
DC Trends Survey Highlights Plans’ Focus for 2020
View PDF Defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors continue to make fees a main priority, according to Callan’s 2020 Defined Contribution Trends Survey, but they are also focused on communicating with participants and plan to highlight the topic of financial wellness in 2020. In addition, the already high share of sponsors acting to prevent plan leakage sharply rose, […]
What You Need to Know About the SECURE Act
The most substantial legislation affecting retirement since the Pension Protection Act of 2006 became law recently. Known as the SECURE Act (for Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement).
Key DC Plan Limits for 2020
The IRS has announced the updated retirement plan limits for 2020. Here are the notable limits for defined contribution (DC) plans: The annual contribution limit will increase from $19,000 to $19,500. The age 50 annual catch-up contribution limit will increase from $6,000 to $6,500, the first increase since 2015. The annual compensation limit will increase […]
Participant Notices: Boring but Important
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule in late October that would allow certain retirement plan disclosures to be posted online. This would result in reduced printing and mailing costs, make disclosures more readily accessible, and diminish the environmental impact of distributing physical notices. (It is noteworthy that a proposed rule on reducing paper […]
Brokerage Windows: Get the Full View
Several brokerage providers eliminated commission fees on stock, ETF, and other trades recently, a move that highlights a “race to zero” within the brokerage industry. Background: Brokerage firms have historically charged commission fees on various types of trades. The amounts charged, however, have generally declined over the past few years as smaller robo-firms have entered the […]
DC Plan Hacks: Tips for an Efficient Design
View PDF To best serve employees, defined contribution (DC) plans need to evolve to meet the changing needs of the workforce and respond to the shifting regulatory landscape. For instance, the Baby Boom generation may require a greater focus on decumulation strategies, while the Generation X cohort may need more savings options, and those in […]
IRS Provides Further Tailwinds to Open MEPs
The IRS has released proposed regulations that would relax the existing “bad apple rule,” which has been one of several impediments to open multi-employer plans (MEPs), which are defined contribution (DC) plans shared by more than one employer. The bad apple rule stipulates that the tax-qualified status of all the plans within an MEP could be revoked […]
Legislative Fixes for the Student Debt Tsunami
A quarter of Americans have student loans, and the U.S. student debt burden grew to $1.5 trillion in 2018. This issue impacts new employees entering the workforce, career workers, and parents who have borrowed to finance their children’s education. As financial wellness becomes a common theme in employee benefits, and as employers look to manage […]
The Impact of Vendor Consolidation: Wells Fargo and Principal
After much industry speculation, Principal Financial Group is acquiring Wells Fargo’s Institutional Retirement and Trust (IRT) business for $1.2 billion.