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Automated features now standard for most employer-sponsored retirement plans helped bring about a record 8.3-percent average participant deferral rate in 2017—the highest level in a decade, according to a recent T. Rowe Price study. The rise in employee deferral amounts perpetuates a trend started in the years after the 2008 financial crisis.
The HR industry is on the front lines of America’s fight for financial health; it just doesn’t realize it yet. Millions of lower- to middle-income Americans—including hourly wage earners and Gig Economy workers, are struggling with income volatility, low savings rates, and high personal debt. HR teams and executives have a unique opportunity to make […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) confirmed that neither it nor the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would punish prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) violations by investment advice professionals who are fiduciaries working in good faith to comply with impartial conduct standards.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should modify its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) to expand its use by retirement plans seeking to self-correct errors, according to the American Retirement Association (ARA). Doing so would reduce the burden of newly increased Voluntary Correction Program (VCP) fees (see, IRS Adjusts Voluntary Correction Program User Fees Starting […]
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on April 5 that it may reopen its determination letter program to certain types of individually designed retirement plans, beyond the narrow set of circumstances in which such letters are currently available.
Financial wellness continues to be one of the top priorities for workers of all ages. However, a new survey shows that gender plays an important part in how workers are saving for retirement and securing their financial freedom.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is lowering back to 2017’s level the fee it charges for applications seeking determination letters for terminating retirement plans, the agency announced on March 14.
When a new hire joined a U.S. Fortune 500 company in 1998, there was about a 59% chance he or she would be offered a traditional or hybrid defined benefit (DB) pension. As of 2017, that likelihood dropped to 16% in the same group of employers, according to a new Willis Towers Watson (WTW) retrospective […]
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 passed by Congress on February 8 and signed the next day by President Trump didn’t change retirement savings taxation or contribution limits, but it did bring good news for some plan activities.
Nearly 25% of full-time employees in the U.S. do not receive benefits, such as health insurance, retirement savings plan, or paid vacation, from their employers, according to a new survey by Clutch, a B2B research firm. These findings suggest that by not offering a benefits package, businesses risk losing out on top talent during the […]