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[Guidance Overview]
DOL Releases Final Extension of Fiduciary Rule Applicability Date (PDF)
"Because the Fiduciary Rule will be applicable prior to the completion of the analysis required by the President's Memorandum, DOL may be able to take the position that the retirement services industry is able to comply with the Fiduciary Rule. Additionally, because there is no delay to the end of the Transition Period from January 1, 2018, DOL may be able to argue that making changes to the Fiduciary Rule or related exemptions would drive up compliance costs at no industry savings. That is, by January 1, 2018, the financial services industry will be expected to have finished spending the $5 billion in anticipated start-up costs."
Groom Law Group
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Fiduciary Rule Delayed by 60 Days
"During the 15-day comment period on whether to delay implementation, the [DOL] received approximately 193,000 comments ... In that deluge, wealth management firms and some advisers pushed for the rule to be postponed lest they have to make changes to client relationships multiple times. [Some] firms, fearing costly disruption to their business strategy, went further, requesting an even longer delay of up to a year or more."
Financial Planning
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Advisers Get Stay of Execution with Fiduciary Rule Delay
"The 60-day delay is likely to be followed by another one to allow the agency adequate time to fully vet the rule. Many stakeholders asked for a longer delay, arguing that 60 days isn't enough time to finish a review of the beleaguered rule.... The DOL also will have comments to sift through on the presidential memorandum, which are due by April 17."
Bloomberg BNA
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Fee Study of 525 401(k) Financial Advisors Shows Why Trump Can't Reverse Tide of Fiduciary Advice
"Even if this ban on conflicted retirement plan advice is squashed, ... the die is cast. Following several high-profile excessive fee lawsuits, more 401(k) plan sponsors than ever are hiring fiduciary-grade financial advisors to lower their liability. The kicker? Their impartial advice is often cheaper than potentially-conflicted, non-fiduciary advice. And [here are] the numbers to prove it!"
Employee Fiduciary
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Baby Boomer Expectations for Retirement 2017
"Only 54 percent of Boomers have any retirement savings, and only four in 10 have tried to calculate how much they need to save to retire. Unsurprisingly then, only 23 percent of Boomers believe that their savings will last throughout retirement, or that they have done a good job preparing for retirement. Paradoxically, however, six in 10 Boomers believe their retirement income will cover their basic expenses, with at least some leftover for travel and leisure activities."
Insured Retirement Institute [IRI]
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Helping Employees Retire Well: Here's What Works Best
"Make enrollment automatic ... Use plan design to drive savings higher ... Setting a higher default rate means employees will start saving more, sooner, and they will likely keep saving at that rate or higher over time ... Encourage adoption of low-cost, diversified investments."
Vanguard
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Women Face Obstacles in Planning for Retirement
"Thirty-nine percent of women-headed households considered saving or investing for the next few months to a year to be their priority, compared to 32% of investors as a whole. Only 31% of these households reported prioritizing the next five to 10 years or 10-plus years in investing decisions, compared to 43% of investors as a whole.... 36% of women-headed households reported being unwilling to take on any risk at all, compared to 25% of all investors."
Morningstar Advisor
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U.S. Pensions Aim to Be More Like Canadian Funds
"[T]he largest Canadian pensions tended to exhibit three distinct characteristics: an emphasis on cost savings, a well-diversified investment portfolio, and a large appetite for illiquid alternative investments, such as infrastructure and real estate."
Institutional Investor
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[Opinion]
Economic Anxiety Extends to Retirement
"In 2013, the [GAO] identified seven ways the [DOL] could reduce obstacles and disincentives to keeping retirement savings in 401(k) plans. These are common-sense regulations, such as increasing standardization for plan-to-plan rollovers. While progress has been made, five of those recommendations are still open."
Morningstar Advisor
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[Opinion]
Updated Website Aims to Simplify Teachers' Retirement Choices
"[CalSTRS] has finally upgraded the website where public-school employees can get educated about their 403(b) retirement plan options, making it easier to compare fees and performance and sign up for a plan. While the upgrade of 403bcompare.com could save teachers some serious bucks, it's still not perfect because there is no easy way to compare the thousands of options available in the public schools. What it does do is highlight the shamefully daunting task teachers face trying to save for retirement."
Kathleen Pender, in San Francisco Chronicle
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Benefits in General
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Personal Jurisdiction Under ERISA: Forget About Minimum Contacts
"The rules governing general jurisdiction over corporations have changed in the last five years, and most corporations may be subject to general jurisdiction in, at most, two states. Though it is debatable whether, or how much, this change benefits defendants in ERISA cases, there is no question that counsel for corporations in general, and ERISA fiduciaries in particular, need to carefully consider personal jurisdiction when confronting a new case."
Robinson & Cole LLP
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Executive Compensation and Nonqualified Plans
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Restricted Stock/RSUs and Tax Returns: Eight Costly Mistakes to Avoid
"Special issues on tax returns arise with restricted stock and restricted stock units (RSUs). Mistakes can be painful not only because they can cause you to overpay your taxes but also because they may draw unwanted attention from IRS auditors. (Ouch, right?) [This article provides] a brief review of the necessary tax documents and forms, followed by eight big tax-return mistakes to avoid with restricted stock and RSUs."
myStockOptions.com
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2017 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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