"The DOL regulation is clear that the SMM deadline is based on the actual adoption of the plan amendment and not the date that a provision applied to the plan in operation.... There are a number of reasons as to why this might not be correct.... [T]here is an overriding ERISA fiduciary requirement to communicate current plan provisions regardless of the specific deadlines for distributing SPDs and SMMs."  MORE >>

"Notice 2022-33 does not extend the deadline under the CARES Act for adopting plan amendments reflecting special COVID-related relief for qualified individuals involving loans and in-service withdrawals.... The CARES Act provision permitting the waiver of RMDs for defined contribution plans for 2020 is eligible for the extended adoption date."  MORE >>

"The proposed changes to the QPAM Exemption include three very substantive new hurdles ... It is likely that each one of the new requirements will have new monetary costs associated with compliance for any investment manager as well as administrative burdens.... [H]as the DOL overshot the intended purpose of protecting ERISA plans, so that ... the additional administrative burdens actually make it harder or more expensive for ERISA plans to use outside investment managers to invest plan assets for participants and beneficiaries of the plans?"  MORE >>

"The fiduciaries of yet another multi-billion dollar 401(k) have been sued for an alleged breach of its fiduciary duty—ostensibly for causing the plan to pay “unreasonable and excessive fees for recordkeeping and other administrative services”—including a new type of allegation." [McDonald v. Laboratory Corp. of Am. Holdings, No. 22-0680 (M.D. N.C. complaint filed Aug. 18, 2022)]  MORE >>

"Virtually the only thing left for the [DOL] to do with its fiduciary definition rewrite is to essentially make all first-time advice fiduciary.... If it happens, that change would be significant and basically return the DOL to its initial 2016 fiduciary rule ... As it stands, the DOL's package known as the investment advice rule makes rollover advice fiduciary."  MORE >>

"[F]or developed countries experiencing increased inflationary pressures for the first time in decades, ... it will be important to study the adverse impacts on the purchasing power of salaries and pension benefits and how public retirement schemes can adjust to such circumstances."  MORE >>

"In 1991, the average retirement age was 57, and in 2022 it is 61. In addition, the age at which people expected to retire was 60 in 1995, and in the latest survey was 66. It peaked at 67 in 2012 in the wake of the financial crisis but has held steady between 65 and 66 since, except for a drop to 64 in 2021."  MORE >>

"If the Proposed Amendment is adopted as currently proposed, virtually all ERISA plan and IRA investment managers relying on the QPAM Exemption would need to draft and send out amendments to their current agreements, which would require plans to have consultations with each manager, along with costs for consultant and legal review. Larger plans could have to interface with hundreds of managers of separate accounts and pooled funds."  MORE >>