It is that time when plan sponsors need to send annual notices to participants. The 401(k) safe harbor, qualified default investment alternative (“QDIA”), and automatic enrollment notices must all be sent to plan participants between 30-90 days before the beginning of the plan year (i.e., no later than December 2nd for calendar year end plans), … Continue reading Annual Retirement Plan Notices

The Department of Labor is working on a guidance package addressing cybersecurity issues as they relate to plan sponsors and third-party providers.Tim Hauser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for DOL's Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) has indicated that we should expect more focus in the department’s investigations of the adequacy of various cybersecurity programs to confirm that … Continue reading Cyber Security Issues for Plan Sponsors

Stock markets abhor uncertainty. Currently, investment prognosticators are interpreting the election results to create a relatively “stagnant” legislative environment. This opinion is based primarily on the Senate remaining in Republican control with the presidency Democratic. The anticipated stagnation connotes a more predictable investment environment. Clearly, the stock market has recently responded overwhelmingly positive (as of … Continue reading Post-Election Investment Commentary

1. What is it? Your employer’s retirement plan is a defined contribution plan designed to help you finance your retirement. Federal and sometimes state taxes on your contributions and investment earnings are deferred until you receive a distribution from the plan (typically at retirement). 2. Why do they call it a 401(k)?The 401(k) plan was … Continue reading Ten Things to Know about Your Employer’s Retirement Plan

Election years, with their uncertainty and increased emotions, cause anxiety for investors. Certainly, there may be short-term market volatility around elections, but history suggests that over the long-term the economy and markets move higher regardless of election outcomes.In fact, presidents often receive too much credit for strong economies and markets, as well as too much … Continue reading Election Year Investment Volatility

Attaining a satisfactory retirement experience is dependent on sufficiency of post retirement income. In an attempt to identify current attitudes in this regard the *Alliance for Retirement Income surveyed pre-retirees between the ages of 56 and 75 (with a minimum of $100k assets) regarding their anticipated timing of their retirement. https://www.allianceforlifetimeincome.org/feature/americans-more-pessimistic-about-retirement-plans-due-to-pandemic/Here are some highlights resulting … Continue reading Retirement Income Survey

Does your plan require an annual audit? If your eligible participant count (including terminated employees who maintain an account balance) exceeds 100 at the beginning of your plan will you be required to conduct a benefit plan audit including financial statements attached to the Form 5500 (the one exception is the *80-120 rule.) The audit … Continue reading Annual Plan Audit: An Auditor’s Perspective

This month’s employee memo encourages employees to conduct a regular examination of their retirement plan to determine whether any changes need to be made. Download the memo from your Fiduciary Briefcase at fiduciarybriefcase.com. Please see an excerpt below. There are all kinds of “rule of thumb” numbers floating around for how much income you’ll need … Continue reading Participant Corner: Budgeting for Retirement

Many ERISA plan sponsors are unclear regarding a primary fiduciary responsibility concerning plan document retention (which and when documents may be purged). Most plan sponsors adopt an assumed “reasonable” amount of time to retain documents prior to purging them. Unfortunately, IRS rules may not always be complicit with what may be assumed to be “reasonable”. … Continue reading Plan Documents… Save or Purge?

Empower recently announced an agreement to acquire MassMutual’s retirement plan recordkeeping business. The acquisition is expected to capitalize on both firms’ experience and expertise to the benefit of retirement plan participants and plan sponsors. Plans currently utilizing MassMutual are being notified of this action and should expect no changes or disruption to current operations during … Continue reading Defined Contribution Recordkeeper Consolidation Continues