17 pages. "[T]he PBGC's disavowal of federal protection for retirees after pension risk transfers was never authorized by Congress and conflicts with both the statute and the PBGC's own 1981 position. The authors trace the legal history, legislative intent, and policy implications demonstrating that the law already requires PBGC guarantees to continue even after pension benefits are annuitized. Their analysis calls on regulators and courts to restore this 'forgotten promise' to strengthen the integrity of the U.S. pension system." MORE >>
"Every dismissal so far rests on one or more reversible errors. The most common: [1] Courts assume PRT annuities are safe -- contrary to market evidence ... [2] Courts misapply ERISA's burden of proof ... [3] Courts ignore prohibited transactions (the strongest claim) ... [4] Courts wrongly treat PBGC loss as irrelevant ... [5] Courts ignore offshore private-credit exposures inside insurer portfolios ... Judges have been asleep at the wheel. Appeals are not just warranted -- they are essential." MORE >>
"President Donald J. Trump announced ... agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company and Novo Nordisk to dramatically reduce the prices Americans pay for some of the world's most popular drugs." MORE >>
"Slated for 2026, President Trump's direct-to-consumer TrumpRx website will offer obesity drugs to Americans for as low as $150 for a month's supply. This announcement marks one of the first major actions to enforce MFN, or Most-Favored-Nation, pricing in an executive order signed in May." MORE >>
"These steps should be taken by December 31, 2025: [1] Ensure systems will identify 'High Earners' ... [2] Confirm payroll is set to withhold catch-up contributions for High Earners as after-tax contributions. [3] Determine whether the plan will administer catch-up contributions as deemed elections or require affirmative election. [4] Confirm payroll and plan recordkeeping systems communicate wage data correctly and can segregate contribution types. [5] Communicate with participants." MORE >>
"The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 introduced a more robust optional statutory safe harbor for a fiduciary's selection of certain lifetime income options for defined contribution plans.... As plan fiduciaries continue to become more comfortable with the SECURE Act safe harbor, it is likely that new guaranteed retirement income products will continue to emerge." MORE >>
"New York Secure Choice ... mandates and facilitates the creation of Roth IRAs for private-sector employees who do not have access to a qualified retirement plan through their employers. Beginning in March of 2026, New York will require most private-sector employers to register for the Program or certify their exemption from the Program." MORE >>
"The Agencies also announced that they intend to propose notice and comment rulemaking to provide additional ways that certain fertility benefits may be offered as a limited excepted benefit if certain conditions are met and are considering whether to modify the standards under which supplemental health insurance coverage provided by a group health plan, including a supplemental benefit for fertility coverage, will be considered to satisfy the conditions for being an excepted benefit." MORE >>
"[C]overed entities and business associates do not need to update HIPAA policies and procedures, risk assessments, business associate agreements, and training for the 2024 Privacy Rule. Covered entities and business associates who took actions to comply with the 2024 Privacy Rule before the nationwide injunction was issued should consult legal counsel regarding further actions." MORE >>
"Forward-thinking plan sponsors can respond with non-fiduciary plan design and education strategies ... Sidecar emergency savings.... Student loan repayment benefits ... Retirement reboot campaigns.... Targeted financial wellness.... Sponsors that look beyond the averages -- analyzing specific participant segments and approaching engagement creatively -- can help shift mindsets and narrow participation gaps." MORE >>
"What's New: [1] Permanent credit for Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account contributions ... [2] New saver's match for qualified retirement contributions starting with 2027 tax returns filed in 2028." MORE >>
"The Earned Sick and Safe Time Act has been expanded to [1] formally codify the paid prenatal leave requirements into the local law, [2] provide for additional unpaid time, and [3] permit more reasons for use of time." MORE >>
"Private equity funds can now explore new distribution channels through retirement plans. This includes launching collective investment trusts (CITs), target date funds and managed accounts that incorporate PE exposure. Fund managers have the opportunity to design products tailored for long-term retirement investing, potentially unlocking a vast pool of capital from defined contribution plans." MORE >>
"An effective de-risking approach often involves collaboration among actuaries, annuity consultants and investment professionals to evaluate a plan sponsor's unique circumstances and goals.... Compared to siloed consulting models, an integrated methodology can lead to more efficient execution and better outcomes." MORE >>
"The Sheresky plaintiffs allege that Morgan Stanley improperly lobbied the DOL in an 'ex parte process' for over a year ... They further allege that Morgan Stanley is impermissibly utilizing the Advisory Opinion in the arbitrations to argue that because the DOL's 'official position' is that the Program is not governed by ERISA, the financial advisors' claims are frivolous and must be dropped, and that Morgan Stanley will seek attorneys' fees if the arbitrations proceed." [Sheresky v. Chaves-DeRemer, No. 25-8935 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Oct. 28, 2025)] MORE >>
"The ESSTA amendments now require employers to provide a separate bank of at least 32 hours of unpaid leave that must be front-loaded at hire and at the beginning of each calendar year.... Employers must now provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week calendar period in accordance with the other ESSTA parameters. The effect of this codification is that the ESSTA's strong enforcement actions now include enforcing compliance with paid prenatal leave requirements." MORE >>
"An analysis of more than 190 employers and over 190,000 members found that overall pharmacy spend has increased by roughly 18% per member per month compared to the prior year. With specialty medications driving up costs and limited transparency from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), employers are increasingly seeking new strategies to manage expenses while ensuring that employees maintain access to essential medications." MORE >>
"Multitasking, especially in meetings with plan sponsor clients or internal teams alike, quietly erodes trust, clarity, and ultimately, could impact the retirement outcomes of your plan sponsors' participants. However, the solution isn't to police devices or ban technology altogether. Instead, it's about designing meetings that are purposeful, structured, and worthy of attention. In other words: the antidote to distraction is not restriction, but relevance." MORE >>
"This paper investigates the optimal investment strategies of defined contribution (DC) pension plans under an S-shaped utility function with a path-dependent reference point.... A new approach is proposed to convert the problem into an equivalent one with a single state variable and a fixed reference point, enabling explicit solutions via the martingale method in a complete market." MORE >>
"Enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening compliance and risk functions, and staying competitive with peers are leading reasons in-house counsel cited as primary motivations to implement Al." MORE >>
"While the list prices of these drugs are $1,000 per month, both Lilly and Novo Nordisk have already been selling them to cash-paying patients at lower prices.... This shows what happens when third-party payers don't distort the market's natural price feedback loop." MORE >>
"In today's dynamic and often unpredictable business environment, companies sometimes face circumstances that force them to reconsider their existing incentive plans midstream. Unpredictable conditions -- global crises, economic downturns, unforeseen industry disruptions, or governmental policy changes -- pose significant challenges to maintaining standard performance metrics and reward structures. Adjusting incentive plans under such circumstances requires a careful approach that safeguards the credibility of compensation plans, ensures transparency, and upholds governance standards." MORE >>
"Generally, 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans must comply with the Roth catch-up requirement as of January 1, 2026.... Employers may implement a 'deemed election' for participants who are subject to the Roth catch-up requirement. If an employer implements the deemed election, there are two new correction methods available to fix catch-up contribution characterization mistakes." MORE >>
"The Roth catch-up contribution mandate applies to catch-up eligible participants (i.e., those who are age 50 or older) who had FICA wages for the preceding calendar year 'from the employer sponsoring the plan' that exceeded the Roth catch-up wage threshold. This leads to the following questions: How are FICA wages for the prior year determined? What is the Roth catch-up wage threshold for a given year and how is it applied? Who is the 'employer sponsoring the plan'?" MORE >>
"The FAQs make clear that a plan may offer fertility benefits as an independent, noncoordinated excepted benefit, and thus be exempt from ACA requirements, if the following conditions are met: [1] the benefits are provided under a separate insurance policy; [2] there is no coordination between the independent benefit and any exclusion under a related group health plan; and [3] the benefits are payable without regard to whether benefits are provided for the same condition under a related group health plan." MORE >>
