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Retirement Plans Newsletter
August 20, 2021
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► 6 New Job Opportunities
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[Guidance Overview]
Are You Ready to Comply with the New Lifetime Income Disclosure Requirement for Benefit Statements?
"[A] calendar year plan that issues statements annually must start including the lifetime income disclosure in the statement for the plan year ending December 31, 2021 ... Plan administrators will likely rely on their recordkeeper or third-party administrator to both calculate the annuity amounts for each participant and beneficiary and draft the lifetime income disclosure.... [P]lan administrators [should] follow a prudent process of oversight[.]" MORE >>
Verrill Dana LLP
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Mercer Projects 2022 Retirement Plan Limits Will Soar Due to Inflation
"Almost every key Internal Revenue Code limit for qualified retirement plans will increase significantly in 2022, Mercer projects. The 2022 limits will reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) from the third quarter 2020 to the third quarter 2021. Using this measure, inflation will likely reach its highest level since 2008 -- possibly since 1990 -- and cause some limits to rise by the equivalent of up to three years' worth of ordinary increases." MORE >>
Mercer
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Workplace Financial Wellness User Experience: Three Best Practices
"[T]he workplace finance user experience must match the intuitive design and ease-of-use that people now expect from any digital experience.... [1] Firms should offer financial wellness content that is engaging, easy to find and easy to use ... [2] Firms should employ financial wellness assessments to help users quantify and track their financial well-being ... [3] Platforms should allow for account aggregation and benefit integration" MORE >>
Corporate Insight
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Defined Contribution Plans: Challenges and Opportunities for Plan Sponsors
"[The authors] address key challenges facing DC plans and offer associated design and policy recommendations for plan sponsors and other interested parties to consider.... Plan sponsors individually will make the important decisions that have lasting consequences for participants and for society.... [The authors] believe the DC system will be strengthened by informed sponsors advocating for and implementing thoughtful strategic changes to their plans." MORE >>
Jeffery V. Bailey and Kurt D. Winkelmann, via SSRN
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Retirement Savings Tax Incentives and 2021 Tax Legislation
"[This article reviews] the retirement savings tax incentive basics of the current system and how Democrat-proposed changes in basic tax policy, e.g., increases in income and capital gains taxes, might affect them. [It also considers] some proposals that may directly affect retirement policy and briefly note some non-tax retirement policy initiatives that might be included in the budget package." MORE >>
October Three Consulting
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'Cover Me' with the PBGC
"[ERISA included] a provision that allowed small professional companies to be excluded from PBGC coverage.... Recently, professions that did not always qualify for the exclusion have received a notice of non-coverage from the PBGC. The determination is based on a rather long list of variables, but the most important seems to include the level of difficulty required to obtain the credentials necessary for the services provided." MORE >>
DWC
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Baltimore Police, Fire Unions Frustrated by Ruling Raising Retirement Age
"Leaders of the Baltimore police and fire unions say they are disappointed by a Court of Appeals ruling upholding changes to the city's pension plan ... The Court of Appeals ruling affirmed the lower court's computation of $31 million in damages to retirees who had already earned their pensions....The lawsuit came after the city, facing a staggering budget shortfall following the 2008 financial crises, changed its pension plan to require police and firefighters to serve 25 years instead of 20 to retire and get benefits." [Cherry v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, No. 36 (Md. Aug. 16, 2021)] MORE >>
The Washington Post; subscription may be required
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Supreme Court to Weigh in on Retirement Plan Fiduciary's Duty to Manage Plan Fees
"This [CRS Legal Sidebar] provides background on ERISA's requirements for retirement plans and plan fiduciaries, discusses the issues before the Court in [Hughes v. Northwestern University], and concludes with select legal considerations for Congress.' [LSB10636, Aug. 19, 2021] MORE >>
Congressional Research Service [CRS]
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[Opinion]
Cryptocurrency Fund: Should You Add One to Your 401(k)?
"If there is one thing that 401k plan participants need a lot of help in understanding, it is volatility. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are probably the most volatile of all 'investments.'... What is different with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is the magnitude of the movements.... No one knows what these 'investments' are really worth and there is nothing to provide a floor value. So prices drop like a stone." MORE >>
Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants
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[Opinion]
Pioneer Institute Statement on the Massachusetts Legislature's Blanket Pension Giveaway
"On its face, House Bill 2808, otherwise called 'An Act relative to providing a COVID-19 retirement credit to essential public workers,' sounds reasonable. It calls for adding three years of additional retirement credit to state 'employees who have volunteered to work or have been required to work at their respective worksites or any other worksite outside of their personal residences during the COVID-19 state of emergency…' But upon reading the brief bill, it quickly becomes clear that this legislation is irresponsible in the extreme." MORE >>
Pioneer Institute
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Benefits in General |
[Guidance Overview]
How DOL's Cybersecurity Guidance Impacts Retirement and Health and Welfare Plans
"[T]he DOL did not provide a delayed effective date but considers this guidance enforceable now.... Note that the DOL cybersecurity guidance is very high-level and does not include a lot of detail. That can make it difficult to determine what, exactly, a plan sponsor and a vendor must do." MORE >>
Quarles & Brady LLP
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Employee Benefits Jobs |
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Selected New Discussions |
Still Time to Establish a Sole Proprietor 401(k) Plan for 2020?
"I know that the SECURE Act says that a PS or DB plan can be adopted for the previous year up to the time the plan sponsor files its taxes. The Act did not change the 401(k) rule that says you need to give the NHCEs time to defer for that initial year. But what if it's a single member plan -- a sole proprietor?"
BenefitsLink Message Boards
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Employer Failed to Recognize Employees as Eligible for the 401(k)
"I have an employer who failed to notify employees that they were eligible for the 401(k) plan. They thought they had an owner-only 401(k) plan (so they say!). I'm trying to determine the steps now to correct. I've reviewed EPCRS. I'm having trouble determine the corrective contribution because no NHCEs were able to defer so I have no average to give them and I can't find a default percentage when this occurs."
BenefitsLink Message Boards
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Nonqualified Plan with Benefits Reduced in Case of Future Employment
"I have a governmental client (not state or local, so 457 doesn't apply) that wants to implement a nonqualified plan for an official. Without getting too far into the details, the plan would provide that the basic benefit is $X per year, but that a supplemental benefit of another $X a year is payable if the official doesn't engage in a paid activity (employment or self-employment) for as much as six months of the year. Note that any paid activity (not just employment with the original employer) for six months would eliminate the supplemental benefit for that year. Leaving aside for the moment the question of interpretation (e.g., how do you measure the number of months in the case of self-employment?), does this violate 409A?"
BenefitsLink Message Boards
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Webcasts and Conferences (Retirement Plans / Executive Compensation) |
Spouses Dividing Retirement Assets During Life
August 26, 2021 WEBCAST
American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits [JCEB]
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Last Issue's Most Popular Items |
Considerations for Sponsors of Qualified Plans for Year Ending 2021, Year Beginning 2022
Morgan Lewis
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IRS Updates the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System
Trucker Huss
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District Court Rejects $79 Million Settlement Agreement for DST Plan Fiduciary Breach Claims (PDF)
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587.
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