There has been a flurry of recent activity surrounding the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act as we near its first anniversary. Signed into law on December 20, 2019, the SECURE Act has been the subject of various federal government-issued explanations and…
Despite predictions by some that 2021 would begin with an explosion of Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) as a result of the passage of the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement), that does not seem to be the case, so far. Certainly there…
Not long ago, I wrote a blog entitled, “The SSRA: What’s Not to Like?” Now that it is wending its way through the Congressional approval process, my answer remains the same: There is very little not to like. The Securing a Strong Retirement Act (SSRA)…
Momentum for government-facilitated automatic Individual Retirement Account (auto-IRA) savings programs appears to be growing – and, in our opinion, that is a very good thing. The programs are aimed at private sector workers without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan to instead have access to…
Introduced on June 7 by U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), the pair of bills are designed to encourage more Americans to save for their retirement, and maintain greater control over those savings. The Keeping Your Retirement Act would raise the required minimum distributions (RMD) age…
Implicit in planning for retirement is looking ahead. But thanks to the SECURE Act and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it can pay to look to the past as well. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 allows an employer…
A package that included H.R. 1187, the Corporate Governance Improvement and Investor Protection Act, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by just one vote, 215-214, on June 16. The bill, whose future in the Senate remains unclear at this time, would require publicly…
“Everybody makes mistakes – that’s why the invented erasers,” goes the old saying. And while the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may not enjoy an image of being cheerfully understanding of errors, it recently made some significant alterations to its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS)…
How does one go about assessing a third-party fiduciary for a company’s retirement plan? I thought this might be a good time to revisit the issue, and to remind readers of what they should look for when considering an independent fiduciary. When it comes to…
Many financial organizations tout the benefits of their ERISA 3(16) fiduciary services and, frankly, many of these messages can sound irresistibly compelling. But buyer beware; not all 3(16) fiduciary services are created equal. In today’s increasingly litigious environment, it is imperative for plan sponsors to…
Healthcare is generally one of the largest expenses during one’s retirement and costs continue to rise. These costs are rising primarily due to an aging population and longer life expectancy rates. According to Fidelity Investments, an average retired couple age 65 in 2021 may need…
To be clear; a retirement plan is not required to have an Investment Policy Statement (IPS). But the more important question is should a plan have an IPS? To use a silly analogy, a person need not have a parachute to jump out of an…