FTC and Florida Focus on Non-Competes, SCOTUS to Rule on Pension Withdrawal Liability - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Forfeitures Under Fire
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Navigating Fiduciary Responsibilities in a Tide-Turning ESG Era
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Big Changes to Catch-Up Contributions in 2025
How ERISA Litigators Strengthen Plan Compliance and Risk Management: One-on-One with Jeb Gerth
Maximizing Financial Growth: Insights on HSAs and Smart Investment Strategies with Shaun Eddy
5 Key Takeaways | IRS Final RMD Rules & Proposed Regulations to Address SECURE 2.0 Act Issues
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Tax Relief and Possible Retirement Plan Resources for Hurricane Victims
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
La Reforma Pensional en Colombia
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
Multiemployer Pension Plans in Mergers and Acquisitions — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE 2.0 Act - Navigating New Retirement Plan Provisions in 2024 - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0: Leveraging Opportunities Employees Want Most
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
In its April 17 decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, the U.S. Supreme Court established a plaintiff-friendly standard for ERISA prohibited transaction claims, resolving a circuit court split. As a result, plan...more
Builder of Investment Models Deviates From Blueprints Employee’s Rogue Remodeling Costs Builder Plenty - The SEC’s recent order instituting administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings (OIP) against registered...more
by Alex Smith The Supreme Court recently issued a decision regarding the pleading standards for ERISA prohibited transactions claims in a case involving Cornell’s 403(b) plan to resolve a federal circuit court split. Under...more
Contingent deferred annuities (CDAs) represent an interesting approach to securing lifetime income but have struggled for recognition in the marketplace since their introduction more than a decade ago. Recent developments,...more
At least four lawsuits have recently been filed against employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fiduciaries alleging a failure to prudently invest cash held in the ESOP trust. While scrutiny of investments in company stock has...more
Key Takeaways - FINRA’s 2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report 2025-annual-regulatory-oversight-report.pdf included a focus on issues related to retirees and senior investors. - The Report provides guidance to...more
Among other things, FINRA is focusing on services and recommendations by broker-dealers and their registered representatives to retirees, senior investors and investors with diminished capacity. The Report has one part...more
Mariner announced the acquisition of Cardinal Investment Advisors. Mariner’s advisory assets will grow to $550 billion in the first quarter of 2025....more
401(k) financial advisors are often handicapped by the fact that the nature of their position requires them to have an ERISA background when they don’t. It’s hard to fake an ERISA background when you don’t and it’s pretty...more
Who may be interested: Investment Advisers; Investment Companies; Boards of Directors; Compliance Staff - Quick Take: The SEC announced that an investment adviser (Adviser) agreed to pay over $100 million to settle...more
The DOL’s EBSA has a number of programs that can restore benefits to plans and participants. Those include: - Civil investigations. - Criminal investigations. - Informal compliant resolutions. - Correction programs. ...more
Last week, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued the first-of-its-kind ruling on the merits pertaining to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) investing...more
SageView Advisory Group has announced its acquisition of OnTrack 401(k), based in Frederick, Maryland....more
The SEC’s Division of Examinations issued its 2025 Exam Priorities a few months ago. 2025-exam-priorities.pdf Many articles have been written about those priorities, but none—at least that I have seen—have addressed the focus...more
This starts a new series of blog posts…Things I Worry About. I will number these, but they will be more episodic than sequential. SECURE Act 2.0 was enacted on December 29, 2022. Among its provisions is a requirement that...more
Gone With the Wind? Closed-End Funds Risk Extinction - Shares of SEC-registered closed-end funds (CEFs) have long held significant potential advantages for some investors. For example, unlike shares of mutual funds...more
In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its long-awaited retirement security rule, also known as the fiduciary rule, broadening the definition of who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee...more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” DOL fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the existing exemptions continue in effect indefinitely....more
The effective date of the DOL’s new expansive fiduciary rule and the amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 has been stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuits challenging the rule and the amended PTE....more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” DOL fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the existing exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a...more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...more
The Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. Department of Labor case was the first case challenging the Department of Labor’s 2024 retirement security rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary. It was...more
Two Texas federal court decisions have stalled the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) “investment advice fiduciary rule” under Section 3(21) of the Employee Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (the “Fiduciary Rule”) from...more
Two recent Texas court decisions stayed the fast-approaching September 23, 2024, effective date of the DOL’s new fiduciary rule (including both the new regulation re-defining “fiduciary” investment advice and the related...more