"If a plan sponsor sees a need among its employees, it should consider two more things. First, the complexity of [the rules outlined in IRS Notice 2026-33] is daunting. Second, this is another way for plan benefits to be depleted before the participant retires, leaving him or her short on resources for living after working days are over ... Having said that, long-term care insurance is expensive, and this may be the only way a participant has to afford that coverage. Therefore, QLCDs address what may be an actual need for some people." MORE >>
"Each year, more states require businesses above certain employee thresholds, in many cases starting at 5 or more employees and in some states as low as 1 employee, to either offer a qualified retirement plan or enroll employees in a state-facilitated program, with penalties for noncompliance.... What began as a handful of pilot programs has evolved into a nationwide push to expand retirement access and increase employer responsibility." MORE >>
"As private equity firms seek to standardize operations and strengthen governance across their holdings, Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) and Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) are increasingly emerging as strategic retirement plan solutions. By combining centralized administration, professional fiduciary oversight, and scalable plan management, these arrangements can help private equity firms align retirement plan governance with broader business objectives." MORE >>
"[Technical Release 2026-02] states that Trump Accounts for children are not 'employee pension benefit plans' governed by ERISA.... Title I of ERISA defines mandatory standards for transparency, fiduciary conduct, vesting, and claims procedures for employer-sponsored retirement plans and health/welfare plans. These rules generally will not apply to the newly established Trump Accounts." MORE >>
"The gateway is not the full nondiscrimination test; it is a threshold that must be met before the plan can use more favorable combined testing. In practice, it is supposed to prevent a plan from giving HCEs richer DB/DC combinations while NHCEs get only token allocations." MORE >>
"Annuities may make sense for workers at jobs that are very stable and unlikely to result in small balances that need to be ported across employers.... [U]nlike assets like index funds, many annuities have a surrender fee that could be triggered when transferring savings from one provider to another at a job switch. Plus, workers in these more mobile jobs also tend to have lower incomes.... [T]hese workers may be better off holding onto their accounts to use as emergency savings instead of receiving a small monthly payment from an annuity." MORE >>
"[HB26-1026] improves teacher retirement outcomes in three ways: [1] New option for purchasing PERA (Public Employees' Retirement Association) Service Credit which takes into account time out of the workforce. [2] Starting January 1, 2027 all districts must offer the excellent PERA 401(k) plan in both the pre-tax and Roth versions.... [3] Starting January 1, 2027 all districts must also offer the excellent PERA 457(b) plan in both pre-tax and Roth versions." MORE >>
"[P]articipants enrolled in retirement plans for a minimum of five years saw balances grow by 2.1 times compared to figures in 2020.... The average participation rate for plans utilizing auto features was 86%, compared to 36% for plans who go without such benefits. Further, plans with auto-enrollment default rates of 7% or more had the highest participation rates at 90%, as well as leading savings rates at 9.6%." MORE >>
"[B]ecause, practically, unexpected inflation risk is always on the participant, the most robust solution to these challenges is to leave this bundle of risks with the participant. Doing so allows the participant to exploit key correlations to actually reduce volatility in his long-term project of producing adequate income in retirement.... [T]hat sounds counterintuitive, especially for sponsors that live in an all account-based (401(k)/DC or market cash balance) world. Why that is the case is what the rest of this article is about." MORE >>
"Under the new law, employers that decide to create a [phased retirement plan (PRP)] shall pay the full amount of the TRSL Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) administrative fee. They also will pay a higher employer contribution to an individual's ORP account; the act increases that contribution from 6.2% to 8.0% of pay, subject to appropriations. The employer of any participant in a PRP will be required to notify the TRS of the terms of the participant's phased retirement[.]" MORE >>
"In rejecting a motion to dismiss the suit, a federal judge noted 'The fact that the Committee might lawfully have used forfeitures to reduce UnitedHealth's contributions does not answer whether the Committee's decision to do that complied with its duty of prudence.'... [The judge] noted (and listed) 51 [similar cases] and wrote that he had carefully reviewed them all. Only to conclude that 'I identified no clear trend or consensus in these decisions that might justify a particular outcome on this motion.' " [In re: UnitedHealth ERISA 401(k) Litigation, No. 25-1751 (D. Minn. Jun. 9, 2026)] MORE >>
"A combination of stronger education and tools, along with accessibility to lifetime income options, could help workers better prepare for a successful retirement. Employees surveyed reported wanting 'structured, meaningful guidance' from employers, with almost all (94%) emphasizing that companies should provide resources on how to make retirement withdrawals. Nearly half (49%) even say it's the employer's responsibility to provide guidance." MORE >>
22 pages. "About 70% of 401(k) participants report they have thought about, at least to some degree, how to convert their retirement savings to retirement income. Among these retirement withdrawal planners, 94% think it's important for employers to provide resources to help employees determine how best to make retirement withdrawals ... Retirement withdrawal planners can be divided into those who've thought a lot about how they'll convert their 401(k) savings into retirement income (30%) and those who've thought about it some (70%).... 77% of those who've thought a lot about making retirement withdrawals used plan-provided resources." MORE >>
"The salary scale factor need not be the same as the 8.5% rate applied to the contribution since then we would be back to an allocation based on current compensation as the factors in the numerator and denominator would cancel out. But when salary scales were prevalent in funding defined benefit plans they were lower than the rates used to project earnings so there would still be some level of favoritism towards older participants (i.e., those who decide whether to set up a plan in the first place)." MORE >>
"In-plan annuities present a classic case of informational asymmetry. The plan sponsor, fiduciary committee, consultants, insurers, and recordkeepers generally possess sophisticated actuarial, financial, and mortality information that the average participant neither possesses nor can independently obtain. Participants frequently hear only the appealing phrase: 'Guaranteed income for life.' " MORE >>
"The three-judge appellate panel found that although ERISA lacks an explicit reasonableness requirement, the 'plain meaning of the words in 'actuarial equivalence' suggests reasonable, realistic actuarial assumptions.' The decision cited professional standards requiring actuaries to use reasonable assumptions and produce reasonable results, as well as literature suggesting that in many circumstances actuaries must ensure that previously selected assumptions remain reasonable." [Drummond v. Southern Company, No. 24-12773 (11th Cir. May 26, 2026)] MORE >>
"But if one had either the inclination or the incentive to think about what is going on here they would notice that HCE is getting his money in 2031 while NHCE is getting his in 2056 with that time value of money difference ignored. In any case, these age weighted Profit Sharing plans are not going away even if younger lower-paid employees were ever to wise up.... [B]ased on 2024 5500-SF filings, 30% of all Defined Contribution plans (212,662 out of 720,335) use age weighting in their allocations." MORE >>
"[A] healthy 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need to save on average: [1] $418,000 under Original Medicare with Medigap Plan G plus Part D coverage, an increase of $30,000 (+7.7%) from 2025. The couple is projected to spend an average of $637,000 on healthcare expenses over the course of their remaining lifetime. [2] $211,000 with Medicare Advantage plus Part D (MAPD), an increase of $28,000 (+15.3%) from 2025. The couple is projected to spend an average of $320,000 on healthcare expenses over the course of their remaining lifetime." MORE >>
"President Trump signed an executive order this spring designed to enhance the options for workers who don't have access to an employer-provided retirement plan ... The White House initiative coincides with a government matching-contribution program that also starts next year, known as the Saver's Match ... Some states are also taking measures to help workers who lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans by providing automatic IRAs." MORE >>
"In a combo design the employer's defined benefit and profit sharing contributions are aggregated and tested on a benefits basis ... The idea is for the owner/key employees to receive more of their retirement value in a DB plan, while rank-and-file employees receive more through a DC plan ... For 2023, Form 5500-SF included a new compliance question: [14a] Does the plan satisfy the coverage and nondiscrimination tests of Code sections 410(b) and 401(a)(4) by combining this plan with any other plans under the permissive aggregation rules? So how prevalent is a design that warrants this question?" MORE >>
"[OPM] is providing notice of adjusted present value factors applicable to certain retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS): [1] Retirees who elect to provide survivor annuity benefits to a spouse based on a post-retirement marriage; [2] retiring employees who elect the alternative form of annuity, owe certain redeposits based on refunds of contributions for service ending before March 1, 1991, or elect to credit certain service with nonappropriated fund instrumentalities; or [3] for retirees with certain types of retirement coverage errors who can elect to receive credit for service by taking an actuarial reduction ... This notice is necessary to conform the present value factors to changes in the economic and demographic assumptions adopted by the Board of Actuaries of the Civil Service Retirement System." MORE >>
"All employers with 100+ covered employees must set up a Minnesota Secure Choice Employer Account by June 30, 2026, and either enroll their workers in the state's payroll‑deduction IRA program or certify their exemption by the required date. Noncompliant employers face graduated fines of up to $500 per employee after an initial warning period." MORE >>
Topics include: [1] Important terminology for reference on key topics; [2] Stock purchase plan options and amendments; [3] Asset purchase plan options and amendments; [4] CG/ASG transition period for coverage testing under IRC 410(b)(6)(C); [5] Comparing and unifying plan designs. MORE >>
"In the current environment, the focus for many plan sponsors is on the considerations and implications related to guaranteed lifetime income because this is still new territory for them, and many also will want to consider at least one other non-guaranteed option for their plan lineups. At a high level, the [steps] explained in [this article] can help identify the plan's specific goals and needs and guide the design of an effective program[.]" MORE >>
"An annuity buyout for active participants that will remain employed is not the type of event that the statute or regulation were designed to capture. Though the annuitized individuals will cease to be participants in the Plan, the change in status does not result because of a workforce reduction event of the type contemplated by PBGC's regulations, such as 'a reorganization or restructuring, the discontinuance of an operation or business, a natural disaster, a mass layoff, or an early retirement incentive program.' " MORE >>
