"Under the proposal, a MEP plan administrator may be required to provide up to three notices to an unresponsive participating employer regarding a failure -- with the final notice also being provided to affected participants and the [DOL]. The unresponsive participating employer can either take appropriate remedial action or initiate a spinoff. The proposal delineates notice requirements for both 'a failure to provide information' and a 'failure to take action', and in situations where a failure by a participating employer is initially a failure to provide information, but becomes a failure to take action, more than three notices may be necessary."  MORE >>

"[For] retirees who turned 72 during the last half of 2021 ... Friday, April 1, 2022, is the last day to begin receiving payments from [IRAs], 401(k)s and similar workplace retirement plans.... [RMDs] are normally made by the end of the year. But anyone who reached age 72 after June 30, 2021, is covered by a special rule that allows IRA account owners and participants in workplace retirement plans to wait until as late as April 1, 2022, to take their first RMD.... [T]he special April 1 rule applies to IRA owners and other participants in these plans who were born after June 30, 1949."  MORE >>

"Since the arguably unfair windfall to improperly excluded participants can be costly, it is important for employers to avoid the mistake. Establishing procedures to ensure notification of plan eligibility to employees, as well as keeping a record of both, the notification and the employee's election is important."  MORE >>

"The Proposed Rule reconfigures how ERISA's core fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty apply to the use of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors in connection with investment decision-making and the exercise of shareholder rights appurtenant to investments in shares of stock held by ERISA plans. The changes are intended to address what DOL viewed as the 'chilling' effects of the 2020 changes in the Current Rule."  MORE >>

5 pages. Topics include: [1] Reportable events; [2] Standard termination: [a] Establishment of plan termination final distribution date due to stop payment/reissue process. [b] Conditioning of lump sum timing on securing an annuity provider in connection with a request to extend final asset distribution date in plan termination. [c] Effect of [ARPA] on ERISA Section 4010 Reporting [3] Other PBGC topics: New standard termination audit participant count threshold.  MORE >>

"This article discusses reviewing your plan document for plan termination readiness. Key opportunities include simplifying the benefits, rights, and features offered by a defined benefit plan. Simplifying these provisions reduces plan complexity, which in turn may make your plan more favorable to insurers and thus reduce annuity placement costs."  MORE >>

"Potential additions to 'SECURE 2.0' legislation would encourage defined contribution (DC) plans to include annuity contracts as a default investment option and effectively require automatic re-enrollment of eligible employees in certain situations. Other proposals in the mix would help DC plan participants save for short-term emergency needs and would require spousal consent for many DC plan distributions. While none of these ideas are in the SECURE 2.0 bill headed for a House vote next week, they will be in play as the Senate ramps up work on counterpart legislation."  MORE >>

"This report ... is organized as a response to a question posed by a hypothetical [governmental DB] plan sponsor who asks why their town uses a lower interest-rate assumption compared with that of a municipality nearby. The explanation covers the factors affecting the interest rate assumption, and discusses the following: [1] Public pension funding sources; [2] Impact of investment returns; [3] Hypothetical asset allocation; [4] Distribution of expected returns over time."  MORE >>

"Some investors consistently pay lower fees relative to others within their funds. Investor size, experience, and past performance explain some but not all of this effect, suggesting that unobserved traits like negotiation skill or bargaining power materially impact the fees that investors pay to access private markets."  MORE >>

"Under the federal bankruptcy law, IRA assets up to a certain dollar limit cannot be reached by creditors. That dollar limit is indexed every three years based on the cost-of-living. The current dollar limit is currently $1,362,800, but on April 1 it goes up to $1,512,350 until March 31, 2025. That limit is especially generous because it doesn't take into account rollovers from employer plans like 401(k) plans."  MORE >>

"Because of the pandemic and other factors, we have seen a significant increase in the number of individuals who have left employment. Some of these older workers are now considering whether they can or should fully retire. We believe the Actuarial Financial Planner provided in this website can provide useful quantitative information to these individuals (or their financial advisors) that can help them make the important decisions described in this post."  MORE >>

"[L]eaders of high-performing organizations think expansively and incorporate company stock or other long-term incentive programs, career growth initiatives, retirement and wealth-building benefits, flexible work, voluntary benefits, skill building, caregiving support, and other programs into their core offering as appropriate, supported by a strong employee experience."  MORE >>

"Courts that have sealed claim files in ERISA cases have done so thoughtfully and with good reason....  The most meticulous effort to scrub such information from claim records is beyond a herculean task and is close to impossible ...  Identity theft is rampant nowadays, and the ease with which court records can be downloaded heightens such risks."  MORE >>