Conversation with Former SEC Chief Economist Dr. Jessica Wachter on Investment Management Rulemaking at the Commission – PE Pathways
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
5 Key Takeaways | IRS Final RMD Rules & Proposed Regulations to Address SECURE 2.0 Act Issues
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Helping Employers Address the Gender Gap in Retirement Savings
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Millennials, Boomers and Retirement Planning
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cryptocurrency in 401(k) Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
2022 Resolutions: What Healthcare Practices Need To Tackle In the New Year
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Cautionary Tales for Preapproved Plan Documents
DOL Clarifies Timing of Lifetime Income Disclosures in Benefit Statements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Back to the Future: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Payroll Integration for Plan Sponsors
On 7 August 2025, President Trump signed an executive order intended to modernize the 401(k) investment universe, directing the Secretary of Labor to clarify the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) position on fiduciary duties in...more
The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) is once again carrying water for the annuity industry, this time urging the Department of Labor to retain a regulatory safe harbor that’s already obsolete. The safe harbor in question,...more
The August Monthly Minute brings you the latest guidance on ERISA retirement plan investment in alternative assets and highlights a recent ruling in mental health parity nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) litigation....more
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) just dropped an RFI (RIN 1210–AC10) and some limited guidance on pooled employer plans (PEPs), asking for public input, especially from small...more
Word on the street is that President Trump plans to issue an executive order promoting private equity and other private investments in 401(k) plans. While he can’t mandate it, he can certainly nudge it, and that’s exactly...more
What can employers do with non-vested employer contributions? Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), employers may require an employee to work for a set number of years before any company...more
On August 7, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to broaden retirement plan participants’ access to alternative assets—including cryptocurrency, private equity, private credit,...more
I t was 2001 when Aerosmith dropped Just Push Play, and while it was no Rocks or Toys in the Attic, it packed a punch. That title track? A distorted, energetic anthem about dropping the hesitation and just going forward. No...more
ERISA forfeiture class action litigation has continued to see various developments and potential new theories emerging in 2025. As Carlton Fields has previously reported, starting in late 2023, a new trend of lawsuits emerged...more
President Trump has issued an Executive Order (EO) that could reshape how alternative assets are treated in defined contribution retirement plans. The directive requires the Department of Labor (DOL) to revisit its past...more
On August 12, 2025, the DOL issued a press release (the “Release”) announcing that it is rescinding its prior guidance regarding the use of alternative assets as an investment option under a 401(k) plan’s investment menu....more
One of my favorite sayings is: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” To me, it’s a reminder that even when we mean well, things don’t always turn out the way we hoped....more
The Trump administration is moving quickly to implement the president’s Aug. 7 executive order (EO) to expand retirement savers’ access to alternative investments in private markets through defined contribution (DC) plans,...more
Tom Cruise doesn’t age, and apparently neither do the problems that plague 401(k) plan sponsors. The plotlines may change—market volatility, regulation updates, SECURE 2.0—but one thing remains constant: fiduciary liability...more
On July 29, 2025, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published limited interpretive guidance regarding pooled employer plans, or “PEPs,” in the Federal Register (the “New Guidance”). Although PEPs are available to all sizes...more
On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors.” The order seeks to clarify the obligations of Employee Retirement Income Security Act...more
Let me start with a confession: I love Bitcoin. I admire what it represents—decentralization, monetary freedom, borderless transactions, and the kind of disruption that makes traditional finance sweat. I hold it, I follow it,...more
You can cut corners in business. You can play fast and loose with your vendor contracts. You can even get away with sloppy recordkeeping—at least for a while. But when you mess with employee 401(k) contributions, you’re not...more
On August 7, the White House issued an Executive Order (EO) aimed at broadening Americans’ access to alternative asset investments within employer-sponsored defined-contribution retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans....more
On August 12, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration rescinded guidance from December 2021 that discouraged fiduciaries from considering alternative assets in the list of investment options...more
On August 7, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies, particularly the Department of Labor, to work on expanding access to alternative investments for participants in 401(k) and other...more
On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) designed to increase access to investment in certain Alternative Assets (defined below), including private equity, through Internal Revenue Code...more
What You Need to Know - The Trump Administration has shifted away from Biden-era rules related to certain investments, like alternative asset investments, ESG, and cryptocurrency in 401(k) plans....more
President Donald Trump on Aug. 7, 2025, signed an executive order (EO), "Democratizing Access for 401(k) Investors," and published a related fact sheet. The EO expresses the policy of the Trump Administration that "every...more
On August 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors) that has been widely – and mistakenly – reported to open 401(k) plan assets to “alternative...more