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Fiduciary Duty Defined Contribution Plans Retirement Plan

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

What Employers Should Know About Trump’s Executive Order on Expanding Access to Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Employer sponsored 401(k) investment menu offerings may be getting richer in diversified assets, including private equity, cryptocurrency, and other alternative asset investments, based upon a recent executive order signed by...more

K&L Gates LLP

United States: US$12.2 Trillion Opportunity–Executive Order Paves the Way for Easier 401(k) Plan Access to Alternative Investments

K&L Gates LLP on

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

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The DOL is Right to Scrap the Annuity Safe Harbor

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

Hall Benefits Law

President Signals Policy Shift With High Stakes for 401(k) Plans

Hall Benefits Law on

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

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Just Push Play: The Fiduciary Reality Check For 401(k) Plan Sponsors

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

Carlton Fields

Painting Outside the Lines: New Strokes in ERISA Forfeiture Litigation

Carlton Fields on

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

Fox Rothschild LLP

Trump Executive Order Calls for Review of Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

Fox Rothschild LLP on

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

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Trump Administration Begins Swift Implementation of 401(k) EO

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

McDermott Will & Schulte

Trump EO seeks to expand access to alternative investments in retirement plans

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

ArentFox Schiff

EO Seeks to Expand Access to Alternative Asset Investments in Retirement Plans

ArentFox Schiff on

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

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

DOL Begins to Act Under the New Executive Order Aimed to Increase Alternative Investments in Retirement Plans

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

Holland & Knight LLP

Executive Order Calls for More Access to Retirement Plan Alternative Asset Investment Options

Holland & Knight LLP on

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Selecting Annuity Providers for Retirement Plans: Tips for Success

When a plan administrator selects an insurer to provide annuities for a retirement plan subject to ERISA, it is engaging in a fiduciary act that must be conducted prudently. Mistakes in this process can expose the plan...more

Cooley LLP

Private Equity and Venture Capital Investments for 401(k) Plans?

Cooley LLP on

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

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Is Your Defined Contribution Plan Ready for Alternative Assets?

President Trump has issued an Executive Order ("Order") to enable defined contribution plans (e.g. 401(k) and 403(b) plans) to invest in "alternative assets," such as private equity, real estate and digital assets. The Order...more

King & Spalding

Executive Order Seeks to Promote Incorporation of Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

King & Spalding on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (the “Executive Order”),1 requiring the Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the Securities...more

Goodwin

Trump Administration’s Executive Order to Facilitate Availability of Alternative Assets in Defined Contribution Plans: What Does...

Goodwin on

On August 7, 2025, the Trump Administration issued a long-awaited executive order (the “Executive Order”) to encourage sponsors of 401(k) and other participant-directed defined-contribution plans that are governed by the...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Plan Design That Works: Why 401(k) Participants Are Saving Smarter

Every once in a while, the data tells a story that plan sponsors should actually feel good about. Vanguard’s latest How America Saves report offers just that, a story of progress. Thanks to smarter plan design choices,...more

Mayer Brown

Crafting Credit Facilities For Defined Contribution Plans

Mayer Brown on

INTRODUCTION - Over the past 50 years, the retirement landscape has steadily shifted from defined benefit (DB) pension plans to defined contribution (DC) plans. In fact, as of the fourth quarter of 2024, private sector DC...more

Fisher Phillips

Retirement Plan Fiduciaries Must Adjust to New Era of ERISA Litigation: How a Recent SCOTUS Ruling and $39M Jury Award Changed the...

Fisher Phillips on

A Supreme Court decision in April made it easier for plaintiffs to keep ERISA prohibited transaction claims in play longer, and just days later a rare ERISA trial resulted in a huge win for a class of 401(k) plan...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Modernization of DC Plan Investments

There is a growing interest from the retirement industry and policymakers to modernize 401(k) and other defined contribution (“DC”) plan investments by incorporating alternative asset classes and lifetime income features. ...more

Verrill

Plan Sponsors: How much thought have you given to your defined contribution retirement plan’s default beneficiary hierarchy?

Verrill on

Despite efforts by plan sponsors and third-party administrators/plan recordkeepers to communicate to defined contribution retirement plan participants the importance of designating a beneficiary to receive any remaining...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Supreme Court Decision Means Defense of ERISA Prohibited Transaction Claims Just Got More Difficult and More Protracted

Husch Blackwell LLP on

On April 17, 2025, the Supreme Court decided Cunningham v. Cornell University, unanimously holding that a plaintiff can state a valid claim under ERISA by merely alleging that a plan used “plan assets” to pay a service...more

A&O Shearman

Pensions: Joint DB and DC trustee agenda update - April 2025

A&O Shearman on

Welcome to our monthly update on current legal issues for trustees of DC and hybrid pension schemes, designed to help you stay up to date with key developments between trustee meetings and to support the legal update item on...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Missing Participants – New State Unclaimed Property Fund Option for Small Balances

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more

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