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Retirement Plan Assets Grow

"[T]otal assets held in employer-sponsored retirement plans were $11.3 trillion at the end of 2014, an increase of 11.5 percent from the $10.1 trillion one year earlier. Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) hold another $5.4 trillion of retirement savings. Total assets, including public, private, 403(b) plans and IRAs is $21.5 trillion.... [M]ore than $3.5 trillion ($3.537 trillion) is in defined benefit accounts among the public sector, while there is $458 billion in defined contribution accounts and $241 billion in 457 Plans[.]"  MORE >>

What Do Plan Participants Consider When Choosing a Financial Advisor?

"[F]or nearly nine-in-ten (89 percent) of retirement plan participants, honesty and trustworthiness are the most important criteria in choosing a financial advisor. Eighty-five percent of retirement plan participants surveyed ... place the highest premium on a financial advisor's transparency and being kept in the look on what they are doing in regard to their investments. For eight-in-ten, a financial advisor's investment track record and fees or commissions charged are the most important factors in choosing an advisor. Other factors retirement plan participants consider important when choosing an advisor include having access to products from a variety of different companies (73 percent), website and online services offered (63 percent) and the renown of the financial advisor's brand or company (61 percent)."  MORE >>

Smartphone Usage Up Among Retirement Plan Participants

"Smartphone usage among DC plan participants is up significantly from last year (71 percent), which PC/Mac usage has remained basically unchanged (79 percent). Tablet or e-reader usage is trending upward from 57 percent in 2013."

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Nearly Three-Fourths of Millennials Have Made No Preparation for Retirement

"[A recent] survey found that almost 70 percent of Millennials have not taken any action to plan or save for retirement. Not that they are completely myopic about their projected source of retirement income. Concerns about the sustainability of Social Security no doubt account for a significantly less proportion of Millennials than Baby Boomers (54 percent vs. 85 percent) counting on Social Security as their primary source of retirement income."

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Retirement Plan Participants: Comparing Concerns of Men to Those of Women

"There are few retirement readiness issues on which men and women feel equally secure.... When asked about future prospects, men are more likely than women to say they expect to be better off financially one year from now. They also express greater concern with their level of household debt. Women are more concerned about not saving enough for retirement, health issues and the financial situation of their children."

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401(K) Plan Participants Using Almost Double the Investment Funds

Why the increase? One simple reason is that the number of funds offered increased substantially. Today the average number of funds included in a 401(k) plan is 19.4 compared to only 6.3 in 1996.

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Asset Allocation Fund Usage Rising in 401(k) Plans

The popularity of asset allocation funds is expected to increase as investors become increasingly comfortable with relying on the investment expertise of providers rather than trying to 'do it yourself'.

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Survey Says DC Plans With Unbundled Providers to Add Options

Excerpt: The Spectrem Group Report also says that plans using unbundled providers are likely to add employer stock, high-yield bonds and target-date funds as new investment choices.  MORE >>

Teachers Need to Do Homework on Their 403(b) Plans

Excerpt: Only 19 percent of teachers' 403(b) cash, according to a Spectrem Group survey, is invested in mutual funds. In this $607 billion market, the vast majority of teachers have embraced expensive annuities.

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A Chat With Ted Benna, Mr. 401(k)

"While he's astonished at the growth in 401(k) plans, which last year held $1.7 trillion, according to Chicago-based consultant Spectrem Group, Benna is still looking for ways to improve his baby. To that end, he recently has been circulating his blueprint for 401(k) reform among interested parties, including officials at the Treasury Dept. and on Capitol Hill."  MORE >>

Employee Aggregation Rules: Affiliated Service Groups

"Each of the first two ASG rules requires some degree of overlapping ownership and at least one of the organizations must be involved principally in the performance of services. Generally, an organization will not be considered a service organization if capital is a material income-producing factor (e.g., a substantial portion of the gross income of the business is attributable to investment in inventories, plant, machinery, or other equipment)."  MORE >>

Employer Groups Urge Eighth Circuit to Review Class Certification in Tobacco Surcharge Challenge

"In an amicus brief ... the ERISA Industry Committee and the American Benefits Council backed Compass Group's bid to appeal a Missouri federal judge's decision to grant class certification in a lawsuit challenging tobacco-use surcharges imposed through the company's health plan." [Mehlberg v. Compass Group USA, Inc., No. 24-4179 (W.D. Mo. Apr. 15, 2025; on appeal to 8th Cir. No. 26-8007)]  MORE >>

The New IDR Operations Final Rule: What Employer Group Health Plan Fiduciaries Need to Know

"Employer group health plan fiduciaries should continue to monitor IDR activity for their health plans and analyze reporting from their TPAs on IDR disputes involving the plan. Because of the significantly reduced administrative fee, fiduciaries should examine their TPA agreements and make sure the pricing is consistent with the lower amount.... [F]iduciaries should prepare for the new registration requirement, working with their TPAs to ensure timely compliance once the registry becomes available."  MORE >>

Controlled and Affiliated Service Group Rules for Retirement and Cafeteria Plans: An Overview

"[A] foreign-based corporation (or group of individuals) may have wholly owned subsidiaries in other countries that in turn have wholly owned subsidiaries in the U.S., which are in fact part of a controlled group. Most often, these U.S. controlled groups do not have centralized operations and are not even aware that there are other related entities in the U.S. ... Less familiar to many service-type companies are the rules treating affiliated service organizations as a single employer for retirement and cafeteria plan purposes. The ownership thresholds triggering application of these rules are much lower for this type of group than for controlled groups."  MORE >>

Funding Employer-Sponsored Group Health Coverage: The Group Captive Solution

"Group captive-funded medical stop-loss insurance offers a way for smaller employers ... to obtain the full benefit of self-funding.... This Special Report explains what group medical stop-loss captives are and how they are structured and regulated.... [It] includes a discussion of the criteria that an employer might apply to determine whether a group captive solution is appropriate. Then, it offers an overview of the applicable laws, regulations and other considerations ... [and] concludes with some practical recommendations for employers that either currently participate in, or are considering signing on to, a group captive arrangement."

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Controlled and Affiliated Service Group Rules for Retirement and Cafeteria Plans: An Overview

"For plan sponsors with U.S. based operations and exclusively U.S. controlled groups, there is, generally, a healthy awareness of the rules as operations are typically centralized in the U.S. and frequently a single third-party administrator is used for all retirement plans of the controlled group. For foreign based corporations with U.S. subsidiaries ... each company in the U.S. controlled group may have their own retirement plan and cafeteria plan with completely different benefits and separate third-party administrators and none of the parties are aware that a controlled group exists.... The ownership thresholds triggering application of these rules are much lower for [affiliated service groups] than for controlled groups."

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MEWAs and Affiliated Service Groups

"When considering funding options for a group of employers there is a hierarchy of questions to consider: [1] Does the group meet controlled group definition? ... [2] If group does not meet controlled group definition, they are a MEWA. If so: [a] Is there less than 25% common ownership? ... [b] What state law rules apply? [c] Does the plan have to register? [d] If the plan is self-insured, can it even function in that state? [4] Does the group meet affiliated service group rules?"  MORE >>

Text of Agency Proposed Regs: Grandfathered Group Health Plans and Grandfathered Group Health Insurance Coverage

76 pages. "This notice of proposed rulemaking would, if finalized, amend the 2015 final rules to provide greater flexibility for grandfathered group health plans and issuers of grandfathered group health insurance coverage to make certain changes without causing a loss of grandfather status. However, there is no authority for non-grandfathered plans to become grandfathered, and therefore these proposed rules would not provide any opportunity for a plan or coverage that has lost its grandfather status under the 2015 final rules to regain that status....

"These proposed rules would amend the 2015 final rules in two ways.

• First, these proposed rules include a new paragraph (g)(3) which would specify that grandfathered group health plans and grandfathered group health insurance coverage that are HDHPs may make changes to fixed-amount cost-sharing requirements that would otherwise cause a loss of grandfather status without causing a loss of grandfather status, but only to the extent those changes are necessary to comply with the requirements for HDHPs under section 223(c)(2) of the Code.
• Second, these proposed rules include a revised definition of 'maximum percentage increase' in redesignated paragraph (g)(4), which provides an alternative method of determining that amount based on the premium adjustment percentage. This alternative method would be available only for grandfathered group health plans and grandfathered group health insurance coverage with changes that are effective on or after the effective date of a final rule.

"The Departments request comments on all aspects of these proposed rules. "  MORE >>

Text of Agency Request for Information: Grandfathered Group Health Plans and Grandfathered Group Health Insurance Coverage

15 pages. "Given the limited information available regarding such coverage, the Department of the Treasury, the [DOL], and [HHS] are issuing this request for information to gather input from the public in order to better understand the challenges that group health plans and group health insurance issuers face in avoiding a loss of grandfathered status, and to determine whether there are opportunities for the Departments to assist such plans and issuers, consistent with the law, in preserving the grandfathered status of group health plans and group health insurance coverage in ways that would benefit employers, employee organizations, plan participants and beneficiaries, and other stakeholders."  MORE >>

Controlled Group and Affiliated Service Group Rules for Retirement and Cafeteria Plans (PDF)

"[A] foreign-based corporation (or group of individuals) may have wholly owned subsidiaries in other countries that in turn have wholly owned subsidiaries in the U.S., which are in fact part of a controlled group. Most often, these U.S. controlled groups do not have centralized operations and are not even aware that there are other related entities in the U.S.... Less familiar to many service-type companies are the rules treating affiliated (through ownership) service organizations as a single employer for retirement and cafeteria plan purposes. The ownership thresholds triggering application of these rules are much lower for this type of group than for controlled groups."  MORE >>