[Guidance Overview]
SECURE Act Changes the Rules for Employers on Retirement Plans
"Greater access to multiple employer plans ... Looser notice and amendment rules on safe harbor plans ... Annuity options ... Participation by part-time employees ... Expanded tax credits ... Higher automatic enrollment safe harbor cap ... Adoption deadlines ... Costlier penalties."
Meaden & Moore
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[Guidance Overview]
Taking Advantage of Governmental Retirement Plan Contribution Limits
"[An] agency could make the full $26,000 contribution to a 457(b) participant who is eligible for the age-50 catch-up, and make a $57,000 employer contribution to its 401(a) -- a total of $83,000 for the year! ... [M]ost cities and special districts have several options for better 'limit' utilization."
Best Best & Krieger LLP
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Required Minimum Distributions and 'Lost' Participants
"Even if your efforts to find lost participants are not bearing fruit, do not give up easily. Demonstrating persistence can also help establish that you are acting in good faith if your plan is audited. And remember: As plan sponsor you're always responsible for RMDs, even if you have a third-party administrator that handles your plan."
ORBA
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Massachusetts Dealing with Flood of Comments on Fiduciary Proposal
"The Securities Division posted 227 comment letters last week, three weeks after the comment deadline.... The comments came from around the country and many included this line: 'I am concerned that if the proposed fiduciary duty is adopted it will have the unintended consequence of severely limiting access to high-quality, individually-tailored advice for many of my hard-working clients in Massachusetts.' "
InsuranceNewsNet.com
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Serco 401(k) Participant Claims Fiduciary Breaches in Lawsuit
"A former participant in a 401(k) plan offered by Serco Inc. sued the company alleging that plan managers breached their fiduciary duties by offering high-fee investment options, failing to offer less-expensive share classes and failing to monitor investments in the plan's lineup." [Glasscock v. Serco, Inc., No. 20-092 (N.D. Va. complaint filed Jan. 28, 2020)]
Pensions & Investments
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Lawsuit Alleging CBIZ Actuarial Error Moves Ahead
"At the core of this litigation are allegations that the defendants -- including some named individuals as well as CBIZ Inc. and CBIZ Benefits and Insurance Services Inc. -- made critical actuarial errors while conducting certain analyses for UPMC. According to plaintiffs, the errors allegedly cost UPMC more than $100 million dollars in unanticipated pension obligations after the UPMC Altoona acquisition." [UPMC v. CBIZ, Inc., No. 16-204 (W.D. Penn. Jan. 30, 2020)]
PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required
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Views of Millennial State and Local Government Employees on Their Jobs, Compensation and Retirement (PDF)
22 pages. "[1] Despite knowing they could earn a higher salary in the private sector, Millennials working in state and local government are satisfied with their jobs and total compensation. [2] State & local government Millennial employees are planning to stick with their current job, but changing their benefits might push some out the door. [3] Millennials working in state and local government are highly supportive of pensions, and they see the advantages of their benefits beyond retirement. [4] State and local government Millennial employees feel confident about their retirement, but worry about cuts or changes to benefits. [5] State and local government Millennial workers say eliminating pensions has negative consequences."
National Institute on Retirement Security [NIRS]
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Driving Retirement Plan Participation and Engagement in the Government Market
"[T]here are only 11 states that allow plan sponsors of state and local governmental supplemental savings plans to implement automatic plan features. So how can governmental plan sponsors and retirement plan service providers achieve optimal plan results without the ability to implement the best plan design features available?"
Voya
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[Opinion]
Suggested Changes to 402(f) Notice Because of SECURE Act (PDF)
19 pages. "This document contains suggested edits to the explanation required by Internal Revenue Code section 402(f), to reflect changes made to the Code by [the SECURE] Act... The document uses the most recent safe harbor explanation contained in IRS Notice 2018-74 as a base. Only those changes made by the SECURE Act that directly affect language in the safe harbor explanation have been included. For example, the current safe harbor explanation does not provide any detail on the after-death required minimum distribution rules, and thus no changes are suggested to reflect section 401 of the SECURE Act."
The SPARK Institute
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Executive Compensation and Nonqualified Plans
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Using Nonqualified Plans to Reduce 401(k)/403(b) Costs
"You can establish an NQP anytime, but if you have a calendar year plan that must distribute excess contributions by March 15 to avoid an excise tax, then you might prefer to establish an NQP to receive those excess contributions."
Carlton Fields via National Law Review
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