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[Guidance Overview]
Possible Further Delay of ERISA Fiduciary Rule
"At this time, the future of the DOL's Fiduciary rule remains unclear.... [F]or now, plan sponsors and named fiduciaries should continue to prepare for full implementation and enforcement ... Many facets of the Fiduciary rule became effective on June 9, 2017. Until the DOL issues further guidance, plan sponsors and named fiduciaries should expect that the remaining portions ... including BICE and the Principal Transactions Exemption will become applicable on January 1, 2018."
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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Standing and Plausibility in ERISA
"A [federal] district court in New York has held that a plaintiff cannot assert claims against a plan in which she did not participate and cannot assert claims of fiduciary breach without plausible allegations of wrongdoing.... [The court] dismissed claims that a stable value fund was depressing returns and pocketing the difference between the amount credited to the investments and the actual return on the investments." [Dezelan v. Voya Retirement Ins. & Annuity Co., No. 16-1251 (D. Conn. July 6, 2017)]
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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Close Is Not Enough When It Comes to the 10% Penalty
"There is an exception to the 10% early distribution penalty for IRA distributions due to an IRS levy. The Pritchards said that even though the IRA distribution was not actually due to a levy by the IRS, it was pretty close because the funds were used to pay taxes and, therefore, this exception to the 10% penalty should apply. Basically, the Pritchards argued that close was good enough. The Court disagreed[.]" [David D. Pritchard et ux. v. Comm'r, T.C. Memo. 2017-136 (July 10, 2017)]
Slott Report
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Reasons to Re-Enroll Your 401(k) Participants
"[1] Fixes poor investment selection at enrollment ... [2] Diversifies appropriately when you re-enroll ... [3] Rebalances participant accounts ... [4] May reduce your fiduciary liability ... [5] Addresses changes in the fund lineup ... [6] Updates QDIA elections ... [7] Ensures age-appropriate investing."
Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants
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Decode Annuities to Find the Best Fit
"[A]nnuities usually don't generate a lot of excitement. They can be shrouded in jargon, and when you look under the hood, you're confronted with a complicated collection of moving parts.... In some situations, the right product could be a good fit for a financial plan, particularly for those who don't have a pension.... The first step: Pinpointing where you fall on the retirement-planning spectrum."
Fidelity
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[Advert.]
SPARK Forum - November 5-7, 2017 -- The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

Join us at the retirement services industry's leading event for top marketing, sales, administration and record keeping professionals. Comprehensive agenda to meet the needs of 401(k) Plan Providers, Financial Advisors and Third Party Administrators.
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Helping Meet Investor Challenges: Dreyfus Investor Survey, July 2017 (PDF)
"When pressed on the matter, only 18% of all retail investor respondents were correct in thinking that it meant 60% of their investment portfolio in stocks, 40% in bonds. 42% of individual investors believe that '60/40' is a strategy for allocating long-term and short-term investments, with one-quarter (23%) saying it means '60% of my assets in short-term investments, 40% in long-term investments.' ... 63% of investors responded that for quicker wealth accumulation and asset growth, you need to be more flexible, innovative and sensitive to changing market conditions than what the 60/40 model provides."
BNY Mellon
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114 Multiemployer Pension Plans Projected to Fail Within 20 Years; More Than a Million Participants Could Lose Benefits (PDF)
"As many as 114 multiemployer pension plans covering nearly 1.3 million workers are underfunded by $36.4 billion and expect to become insolvent within the next 20 years because they do not have money to pay participants the full benefits earned.... All the failing multiemployer plans informed regulator s that they are in 'critical and declining' status in keeping with [MPRA].... They do not include those that have already failed, or those that shut down because all the employers withdrew. Nor do they include plans that are 'safe' or 'endangered' under the law."
Cheiron
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[Opinion]
High Fees Flourish When Good 401(k) Advisors Do Nothing
"The financial media's focus is on the suspension and delay of the [DOL's] fiduciary rule, but tort lawyers are going full out on class action claims against plans that have ... allowed high fee investment options to remain on their platforms while the plan would qualify for lower-cost alternatives. In so many cases, plans now qualify for lower-fee share classes from the exact same provider. As is almost always the case with situations like these, plan sponsors don't know -- or haven't asked -- and the plan's broker doesn't tell."
401K Specialist
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Benefits in General
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Transferring IRA Money to a Health Savings Account
"People who still qualify to make HSA contributions can make a one-time rollover from an IRA to an HSA, which can be a good way to build up the account if you don't have other cash to contribute. You must currently have an HSA-eligible health insurance policy with a deductible of at least $1,300 for single coverage or $2,600 for family coverage. The amount you can roll over is the same as your annual HSA contribution limit[.]"
Kiplinger
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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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