The SECURE Act: Significant Changes for Retirement Plans and IRAs
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – DOL: What’s ahead
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
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released their final revisions to the Form 5500 and the Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan for the 2021 plan...more
Whether it’s a single employer plan, a multiple employer plan (MEP), a pooled employer plan (PEP), or a plan provider, they can always be a target for ERISA litigation....more
Multiple employer plans (MEPs) have become larger targets for litigation when they achieve a plan of substantial size....more
I rarely talk about legislation because so many bills over the years get proposed with zero action by Congress. It took more than 4 years for Roth 401(k) plans to be a thing. However, I want to take time to talk about...more
In terms of the 401(k) plan business, I think the hype over pooled employer plans (PEP) will be the most over hype since the release of Crystal Pepsi....more
If you become big enough, you can get sued. That is the lesson I tell everyone when someone mentions to me when a large plan provider or a large plan gets sued. Jerry Schlicter’s law firms has targeted the Pentegra Defined...more
If you’re a small employer with a 401(k) plan, you might save some money and provide a more professional level of administrative support by joining a Pooled Employer Plan (PEP). Unrelated employers have always been able to...more
The intention of multiple employer plans is that for the small plan market, their fees should be lower than single-employer plans. According to a paper by Natalya Shnitser, assistant professor at Boston College Law School, it...more
When your plan becomes big enough, you become a target. A lawsuit was filed in New Jersey Federal Court by McCaffree Financial Corp., a participating employer of the ADP TotalSource Retirement Savings Plan...more
A plan provider once asked me if I had written a full-blown article on why trustee directed 401(k) plans are better than participant-directed plans. I haven’t even if I believed in it (which I do), but it’s not going to get...more
I am a proponent of multiple employer plans (MEPs) and the new change that will allow pooled employer plans (PEPs) that will be what we called an Open MEP in 2021. As discussed in other posts, the PEP change doesn’t change...more
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is a national service organization that represents more than 1,000 rural electric cooperatives around the United States. NRECA sponsors a 401(k) multiple employer plan...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was signed into law late last month and makes significant positive changes impacting retirement plans. Many of the provisions are effective today, so...more
There are two parts of the SECURE Act that I believe will have the greatest impact on plan sponsors and service providers. • The first part includes the provisions on retirement income, including the safe harbor for...more
The SECURE Act, included as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, was signed into law on December 20, 2019. This new law contains many significant changes that may impact employer-sponsored benefit plans....more
On December 20, 2019, federal legislation approving spending limits for the 2020 fiscal year was signed into law. Included in the legislation is the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the...more
After a delay of several months, Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, clearing the way for one of the most substantial pieces of retirement plan legislation in years to...more
Thanks to renewed interest in. multiple employer plans (MEPs), I will always get the phone call from someone interested in setting up a multiple employer plan. That person might be an advisor, third party administrator (TPA),...more
The DOL’s newly released final regulation on “Association Retirement Plans” (ARPs) will make it easier for groups and associations of employers to jointly sponsor a combined 401(k) or other defined contribution plan. (These...more
• The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published its Final Rule clarifying the circumstances under which an employer group or association or a professional employer organization (PEO) could sponsor a multiple-employer...more
Mistakes An Employer Needs To Avoid When Starting A 401(k) Plan. It's important to get off the right foot. I'm a firm believer that you need to get off on the right foot if you start something new. Otherwise, you have a...more
After Vermont decided to proceed with sponsoring an open multiple employer plan (MEP), legislation proposed would make Massachusetts the second state to sponsor a 401(k) MEP. Prior to May 2012, we had a decent market for...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule providing states with a safe harbor under which they can create programs that require employers to establish payroll-deduction IRAs for employees. I would say that’s a...more