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Decades into reviewing the pluses and minuses of 401(k) defined contribution retirement plans, most employer plan sponsors have chosen to offer plan loans, which on the one hand give participants early partial access to their retirement funds but also threaten to erode those savings. A new paper suggests that plans’ loan policy can shape participant borrowing, […]
The 2015 ERISA Advisory Council plans to build on a 2013 effort by devising new draft model notices and disclosures for lump-sum pension distribution offerings to participants and retirees. Instances of pension risk transfer — often referred to as “derisking,” from the plan sponsor’s point of view — are on the rise among single-employer defined […]
Fidelity Investments told retirement plan sponsors and investment professionals in a late April notice that it had asked IRS to change or withdraw recently updated guidance on maintaining documentation for participant hardship withdrawal and plan loan requests. In a message on its website, Fidelity, one of the largest U.S. private-sector retirement plan recordkeepers and investment […]
The U.S. Department of Labor on April 14 previewed proposed changes to the 40-year-old definition of “fiduciary” that the agency says will increase consumer protection for those seeking advice on retirement investments and 401(k) rollovers. The long-awaited changes will include a new contract for broker-dealers to sign that pledges they will “formally commit to their […]
The second round of revisions to IRS’ Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System in a week focused on failures in automatic enrollment and escalation in defined contribution retirement plans. The procedural changes from the agency also addressed DC plans’ automatic employee contribution features that experience short-term elective-deferral failures. The procedural changes in Revenue Procedure 2015-28 were released […]
IRS on March 27 released a series of changes to its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System that it said would improve the correction programs. Among the modifications to Revenue Procedure 2013-12 announced are new options for correction methods to recoup participant overpayments and lower compliance fees for participant plan loan errors. The 17-page Rev. Proc. […]
Even if those administering your plan are familiar with the ERISA notice and disclosure requirements, it’s worth remembering the importance of notification during the series of benefits transfers that can occur from corporate takeovers. Not doing so, even if the accrued benefits are shifted to the new company, can leave participants unaware — and possibly […]
Packets being given to retirees and separated, vested employees considering taking an immediate lump-sum distribution from their former employer’s defined benefit retirement plan rather than continuing lifetime income benefits routinely lack some key information needed to make an informed decision, or were unclear, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office in a recent study. With […]
On Feb. 24, the first retirement plan “excessive fee” case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. It raises the question of how long a fiduciary must monitor its employer-sponsored plan’s investments — or whether that duty can instead be measured at a single point in time. A lower-court ruling had found the ERISA claim […]
Qualifying lifetime annuity contracts in July 2014 became another option for defined contribution plan sponsors to offer to assist with retirement income security when the U.S. Treasury Department and IRS issued final regulations allowing them. Now, plan sponsors and participants near retirement age face some confusing choices when considering whether QLACs are right for their […]