"This notice provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve, the corresponding spot segment rates ... and the 24-month average segment rates ... [as well as] the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities ... as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008 and the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate[.]"  MORE >>

"[P]ayers and individuals will have a new process for calculating and electing federal income tax withholding on retirement distributions. Although the IRS will not require payers to use the new [Form W-4R] and revised [Form W-4P] until January 1, 2023, payers may start using them in 2022."  MORE >>

"The door is not closed to plan fiduciaries who are considering adding designated investment alternatives with private equity exposure to their 401(k) or other defined contribution plans, but it is less open than it was before issuance of the Supplemental Statement. Only plan fiduciaries ... who also have experience evaluating private equity in a defined benefit context should conclude that they have the necessary expertise to consider such option.... Any decision to offer such a fund should be made through a rigorous and prudent process that should be fully documented."  MORE >>

"Your 401(k) plan document is always the starting point to determine who is authorized to make plan decisions.... Most plans allow the decision-maker to delegate its authority to someone else, whether it be an individual, committee or third-party vendor.... [P]roper delegation documentation is also necessary to establish decision-making authority in others.... [I]dentify who is actually making those decisions in practice and look for discrepancies between the two."  MORE >>

"In many of the cases, the challenge focuses on allegedly outdated mortality tables that do not take improved life expectancy into account. In some situations, the actuarial factors (including mortality table assumption) were established decades ago and have never been updated. In essence, the lawsuits allege that the plan (by not using updated factors and tables) is not paying out the full value of the participant's benefit when the participant has elected payment in an alternate payment form."  MORE >>

"[W]hile most teachers are taking steps to prepare for retirement, many teachers lack the basic retirement knowledge necessary to plan effectively. Teachers struggled to identify their plan type, how much they are contributing to their plans, retirement eligibility ages, and who contributes to Social Security. These results suggest that teacher retirement reform may not be disruptive for teachers and that better, simpler, and clearer information about teacher retirement plans would be beneficial."  MORE >>

"[Analysts] predicted that the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and in particular upcoming rules redefining fiduciary and expanding how environmental, social and governance issues may be considered in retirement plans, will keep the retirement and benefits industry busy. The regulatory agencies may be busier than Congress, as members focus on their reelection campaigns"  MORE >>

"[PBGC] has approved the [SFA] application submitted by the Road Carriers Local 707 Pension Plan ... [which] covers 3,804 participants in the transportation industry. The Local 707 Plan became insolvent in 2017.... PBGC's approval of the SFA application enables the plan to restore all benefit reductions caused by the plan's insolvency and to make payments to retirees to cover prior benefit reductions.... The plan will receive $725.6 million in SFA[.]"  MORE >>

"No matter how the buyer seeks to limit its potential liability, ... the days of ignoring employee benefits and other employment-related issues in the diligence process are history. These issues matter in terms of legal liability, deal valuation (and evaluation) and post-acquisition integration of operations/policies/assets."  MORE >>

"Nearly a third of people don't want to give up the freedom of remote work that was prompted by the pandemic, saying they would quit before returning to traditional office life ... Workers are also eager to retire, with 48% indicating they would hang up their hats sooner than expected if they weren't dependent on employers for health care insurance ... Nearly as many, 44%, said they plan to take Social Security payments as early as possible, even if that meant having less income."  MORE >>