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Retirement Plans Newsletter

April 21, 2022

4 New Job Opportunities 4 New Job Opportunities

 

401(k) Compliance Check: Required Participant Notices

"Notice failures can result in penalties imposed by the [IRS] or [DOL], or lawsuits from participants who were not informed about important information that affected their decision-making.... [E]nsuring that all of your plan's required notices have been timely provided makes for a smoother audit process, whether it be the plan audit for your Form 5500 or a governmental audit of your plan."  MORE >>

Foley & Lardner LLP

Challenges for DC Plan Sponsors Implementing ESG Investments

"Examining and adding ESG is a challenge for DC plans because participants may not understand the terms and the underlying process, nor how the funds invest. The challenges for plan sponsors are educating retirement plan participants on ESG funds, communicating appropriate allocations to ESG funds and explaining terms and how sustainable funds invest[.]"  MORE >>

PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required

Ninth Circuit Revives Two 401(k) Fee Cases, Potentially Making It More Difficult for Plan Fiduciaries to Obtain Early Dismissal (PDF)

"After little analysis, the panels in both cases held that the plaintiffs adequately pleaded fiduciary breach claims based on allegations that plan fiduciaries should have offered lower-cost share classes of certain challenged funds.... [B]oth decisions appear to contradict a prior Ninth Circuit decision in White v. Chevron, Corp. where the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal of strikingly similar claims." [Davis v. Salesforce.com, Inc., No. 21-15867 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2022; unpub.); Kong v. Trader Joe's Co., No. 20-56415 (9th Cir. Apr. 15, 2022; unpub.)  MORE >>

Trucker Huss

Pension Risk Transfer in Canada and the U.S. (PDF)

"This report was prepared to provide an overview of pension risk transfer for use in the educational curriculum of the Society of Actuaries. It presents general principles and highlights major differences between Canada and the U.S. from a life insurer's perspective. The focus is on group annuities, which are the most common solution for pension risk transfer."  MORE >>

Society of Actuaries

Inside the Post-Pandemic Retirement Benefits Landscape for Small Businesses

"Employee demands for improved benefits have coincided with an increase in legislation combatting the elusive retirement crisis. It's particularly pronounced at the state level, with automatic IRA provisions increasingly adopted across the country."  MORE >>

401(k) Specialist

Serenity Now, Save Later? Evidence on Retirement Savings Puzzles from a 401(k) Field Experiment

"A survey of leading stakeholders suggests that the prescriptions for increasing saving, implied by [these] findings, depart from those currently prioritized within the industry.... [The authors] propose an alternative model of anxiety-based present focus and delayed optimism that does explain our findings -- and possibly other retirement savings puzzles -- and offers a psychological rationale for reforms that link traditional 401(k) accounts to more liquid accounts designed to relieve near-term anxiety."  MORE >>

Saurabh Bhargava and Lynn Conell-Price, via SSRN

[Opinion]

Public Policy Considerations for Changing Single Employer Pension Plan Funding Rules (PDF)

"While the overarching goal of prefunding is relatively straightforward -- to assure the payment of all promised benefits -- there are many ways to define minimum funding rules, with a multitude of considerations.... This issue brief presents high-level observations surrounding the current funding rules for single-employer pension plans and notes key considerations and challenges for policymakers when contemplating future legislation."  MORE >>

American Academy of Actuaries

Benefits in General

Cybersecurity Risks for Employee Benefit Plans

"Since most of the activity and basic plan operations are outsourced to service providers ... it can be easy to overlook the importance of assessing cybersecurity risks and the potential for cybersecurity breaches impacting employee benefit plans. However, this significant amount of outsourcing elevates cybersecurity risk ... [P]lan sponsors must ensure that plan data is being protected by all parties involved as part of their fiduciary responsibility.."  MORE >>

EisnerAmper

Employee Benefits Jobs

View job as Assistant Retirement Plan Administrator / Distribution Processor
          for Columbia Benefits, LLC Assistant Retirement Plan Administrator / Distribution Processor

Columbia Benefits, LLC

Denver CO

View job as Assistant Retirement Plan Administrator / Distribution Processor
          for Columbia Benefits, LLC

View job as Senior Implementation Analyst
          for BlueStar Retirement Services Inc. Senior Implementation Analyst

BlueStar Retirement Services Inc.

Remote / Ponte Vedra Beach FL

View job as Senior Implementation Analyst
          for BlueStar Retirement Services Inc.

View job as Plan Consultant II - RKO Team
          for CUNA Mutual Plan Consultant II - RKO Team

CUNA Mutual

Remote

View job as Plan Consultant II - RKO Team
          for CUNA Mutual

View job as Retirement Planning Consultant
          for Transamerica Retirement Planning Consultant

Transamerica

CA / IA / MO / NE / TX

View job as Retirement Planning Consultant
          for Transamerica

Selected New Discussions

Statements Required for Terminated Unvested Participants?

"I have a client who doesn't want to provide statements for terminated participants who are 0% vested but have not yet been out 5 years. Hence the money in their accounts has not yet been forfeited (it's all profit sharing money). Is there something in the regs that requires statements be sent to these participants? Can someone point me to it so I can provide it to the client?"

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Avoid Two Restatements by Merging Money Purchase Plan Into Profit Sharing Plan?

"Can a money purchase plan be merged with a profit sharing plan before 7/31/22, so that only one plan document must be amended for Cycle 3 restatement?"

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Press Releases

WTW Receives Highest Recognition for Innovation in Benefits Outsourcing

WTW

Webcasts and Conferences
(Retirement Plans / Executive Compensation)

Strategies for Concentrated Positions in Company Stock

May 4, 2022 WEBCAST

myStockOptions.com

Fiduciary Considerations for Collective Solutions: MEPs, PEPs, GOPs, Clone Plans and CITs

June 1, 2022 WEBCAST

American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits [JCEB]

Last Issue's Most Popular Items

We're In a Controlled Group. What Happens to Our 401(k) Plan Now?

Employee Benefits Law Group

Cut Your Retirement Spending Now, Says Creator of the 4% Rule

The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required

When Might a Cash Balance Plan Be a Good Fit?

Retirement Learning Center, LLC

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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587.

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