Showing entries with the topic “Legislative/Regulatory”.
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Jan 2020The SECURE Act Facts: What You Need to Know Now
To the surprise of many, significant retirement plan legislation, known as the SECURE Act, was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019, thanks to its attachment to a must-pass budget appropriations bill. While comprehensive coverage of the Act will be the feature of upcoming thought …
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Oct 2019The New DOL e-Disclosure Regs
On October 22, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued the long-anticipated proposed regulations addressing electronic disclosure of ERISA-required documents such as Summary Plan Descriptions, benefit statements, fee disclosures and blackout notices. For retirement plan sponsors, the paperwork bu…
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Sep 2019What I Learned from Reading My Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure
I have a confession to make: While I have written extensively on annual participant fee disclosures for retirement plans, I have never read the participant fee disclosure for my own plan! It’s a little embarrassing, given that I work in the retirement plan industry, but to me, the idea of reading a…
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Aug 2019Is Your Adviser Who They Say They Are? How to Check an Adviser’s Background
The Certified Financial Planners (CFP) Board made news recently when their public background database of CFPs came under criticism in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article. However, that same WSJ report also highlighted what I believe to be a hidden gem for retirement plan participants and plan sponso…
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Jul 2019What Happened to the SECURE Act?
On May 23rd, the U.S. House of Representatives, by an overwhelming 417-3 vote, passed the SECURE Act. The retirement plan legislation includes a number of enhancements, among which is an increase in the age at which Minimum Required Distribution (RMDs) commence (from 70½ to 72). Following the House’…
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May 2019Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs): Why I’m Not a Fan
For regular blog readers, it’s no secret that there are certain retirement plan provisions which I could live without. While strides have been made over the years, in my opinion, the laws governing retirement plans remain needlessly complicated and have many unnecessary provisions. Required Minimum…
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Dec 2018A Solution to What Shouldn’t be a Problem? IRS Provides Some 403(b) Universal Availability Relief
Over eight years ago, in a PLANSPONSOR Ask the Experts column, I suggested to plan sponsors that all employees be permitted to make elective deferrals to a 403(b) plan (a concept the IRS calls “Universal Availability”), despite the fact that certain employees could be prohibited from making these de…
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Dec 2018The Proposed Hardship Distribution Regulations: Some Misconceptions
The proposed hardship regulations were issued less than a month ago, but there already appears to be a lot of misunderstanding among plan sponsors and those who work with them. Based on the numerous questions we’ve received these past few weeks, it appears that the biggest misconceptions are as fol…
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Nov 2018Why Now Might Be the Time to Eliminate a Hardship Distribution Provision
In my experience, most of the retirement plans that are eligible to maintain a hardship distribution provision (defined benefit and money purchase plans cannot, and 457(b) plans can only permit distributions for unforeseeable emergencies, which are a different animal entirely) do indeed allow funds …
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Sep 2018Some Top of Mind Thoughts on President Trump's Retirement Executive Order
On August 31st, the Friday before Labor Day; President Donald Trump signed an executive order; that if fully carried out, could provide for some significant changes to retirement plans.
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