"A 'designated beneficiary' is any individual designated by the participant as a beneficiary who is not an eligible designated beneficiary. If the beneficiary is not an individual, such as a trust that is not a 'see-through' trust, the beneficiary is a 'nondesignated beneficiary.' These beneficiary classes dictate the timeframe during which benefits must be distributed if the participant dies.... If the final rule is not altered, complying with these new rules could prove to be quite challenging from an administrative standpoint."  MORE >>

"For plan years beginning after December 31, 2022, SECURE 2.0 would mandate automatic enrollment in 401(k) and 403(b) plans at the time of participant eligibility ... For certain retirement plan distributions required to be made after December 31, 2021, for participants who attain age 72 after such date, the required minimum distribution age is raised ... For plan years beginning after December 31, 2021, employers may amend their plans to make matching contributions to employees based on an employee's qualified student loan payments."  MORE >>

"[1] Matching student loan repayments ... [2] Expanded access for part-time employees ... [3] New plans: mandated automatic enrollment & automatic escalation ... [4] Later RMDs ... [5] Simpler hardship procedures ... [6] Expanded Roth capabilities ... [7] Expanded access to lifetime income."  MORE >>

"While the lifetime income illustrations under the DOL's regulations are far from perfect, they do press the issue of helping participants understand how their retirement plan balances translate into monthly retirement income. Plan sponsors and advisors can use this impetus to carefully craft their participant communications and messaging. A key differentiator for advisors, moving forward, will be the ability to effectively support participants in transitioning to a true retirement income mindset."  MORE >>

"If you've tried contacting your 401(k) plan administrator or former employer to no success, you may be able to find old retirement account funds on the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits. Upon entering your Social Security number, the secure website (which is updated weekly) allows you to conduct a free database search to see if there's any unpaid retirement money in your name. Another search database is the FreeERISA website, which indicates if your former employer rolled your 401(k) funds into a default participant IRA account on your behalf."  MORE >>

"This paper investigates the impacts of defined-benefit (DB) pension plans on the corporate investment choices between diversifying and non-diversifying investments.... [A] firm's DB plan coverage is negatively associated with its propensity of making a major investment. Subject to a major investment decision, however, the firms with higher DB plan coverage [are] more likely to diversify, i.e. acquire firms abroad or in other industries, rather than invest in fixed assets or make non-diversifying (i.e. domestic horizontal) acquisitions. Moreover, in diversifying acquisitions, they are more likely to invest in countries or industries with strongly unionized workforce."  MORE >>

"Examination of relationships between unfunded pension liabilities and fiscal or financial stability of sponsoring organizations suggests unfunded State pension plans are more likely to be sponsored by financially struggling sponsors measured by general obligation bond ratings. Local governments and Corporations with unfunded pension plans are less likely to be struggling financially."  MORE >>

"[The authors] evaluate the impact of state pension reform on public and private workers, and apply this analysis to all fifty U.S. states. [They] consider [1] closing the pension plan to new entrants, [2] reducing pension benefits together with wage increases and [3] suspending cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs).... Closing the plan to new entrants generates the most even distribution of welfare gains across job sectors and age cohorts, while COLA suspensions prove particularly harmful to public workers."  MORE >>

"Once again, these lawyers have asked the court to infer that the plan was filled with high-cost investments when in fact the plan has a low all-in fee structure with mostly index investment options. The law firm has also mispresented the recordkeeping fees based on faulty estimates when they had fee disclosures from which to cite truthful information.... The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic purported excessive fee case is another strike lawsuit designed to shake down the sponsors of America's sponsors of quality defined contribution plans." [Adams v. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic, No. 22-0099 (D.N.H. complaint filed Mar. 18, 2022)]  MORE >>

20 pages. "This memorandum addresses a 2012 private letter ruling, PLR 201246039 ... [which] was issued ... prior to a significant court case on the issue and does not reflect the current position of our office. In the PLR, dated August 21, 2012, the IRS issued a favorable ruling to an IRC 501(c)(6) Business League that provided pension and health benefits to its eligible members.... [T]he 2012 PLR has been called into question because of the reasons cited in this memorandum[.]" [Program Manager Technical Advice dated Oct. 26, 2021; published Apr. 5, 2022.]  MORE >>

"The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015 directs the US [DOL] to make annual inflation adjustments to specified [ERISA] violations.... [A table] compares penalty amounts assessed for violations after January 15, 2021, through January 15, 2022, to penalty amounts assessed after January 15, 2022."  MORE >>