"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 >>

19 pages. "The windfall elimination provision (WEP) ... reduces the Social Security benefits of certain retired or disabled workers who are also entitled to pension benefits based on earnings from jobs that were not covered by Social Security ... Recent legislation has generally proposed either to eliminate the provision for all or some affected beneficiaries, or replace the current-law provision with a new proportional formula based on past earnings from both covered and noncovered employment." [98-35 updated Sep. 19, 2022]  MORE >>

"A federal judge has ruled in Goldman Sachs' favor in a summary judgement that holds that the firm was not in breach of the fiduciary duty under ERISA to its employees invested in defined contribution retirement plans maintained by the firm." [Falberg v. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., No. 19-9910 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 14, 2022)]  MORE >>

"A U.S. District Court judge in Rhode Island ruled that the St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island Retirement Plan does not have a church-plan exemption from ERISA because it is no longer affiliated with a relevant sponsor....[The judge] denied the remaining defendants motion to dismiss, and ordered the parties to return to mediation." [Del Sesto v. Prospect CharterCare, No. 18-328 (D.R.I. Sept. 13, 2022)]  MORE >>

"[Recent] Seventh and Sixth Circuit decisions collectively call for pleadings by plaintiffs that show the specifics of how a bad process was involved in fiduciary choices about vendors or investment vehicle offerings ... That may be welcome news to plan fiduciaries at a time when plaintiffs' attorneys are inundating employers with lawsuits alleging excessive fees and poorly performing investments in defined contribution plans based only on market comparators."  MORE >>

"In times of extreme market volatility such as we are experiencing currently, past performance could turn on a dime. It's not uncommon for non-index funds to perform several percent below their benchmark due to their security selection and sector weightings. We have seen category ranking moves from mid-30's to mid-70's within one quarter. Looking solely at past investment returns may lead to premature decisions which could negatively impact a plan's long-term investment strategy."  MORE >>

"A typical platform might use age and salary to generate investment recommendations. However, additional factors [could] lead to more customized solutions ... Tailored content and delivery may have the added benefit of keeping people engaged even as attention spans become ever shorter ... [S]tart embedding customization options where possible and aligning them with goals and overall strategy."  MORE >>

"When the 401k plan blossomed in the 1980s, ... [p]lan sponsors understood they needed to offer an education program to their employees. What started as simple enrollment meetings quickly evolved into makeshift investment training.... If plan sponsors remain responsible for education, then they need to adopt audit and control procedures to ensure the program is executed properly."  MORE >>

"During August 2022, average accounting discount rates increased by 43 basis points (bps), while competitive annuity purchase rates increased by 58 bps. This caused the estimated competitive retiree buyout cost as a percentage of accounting liability to decrease from 98.0% to 96.9%."  MORE >>

19 pages. "[P]ublic-sector DC plan participants' spending and savings behaviors are examined to see if cohorts of workers who have different primary plans (DB vs. non-DB) or different generosity of DB plan benefits have differences in these behaviors."  MORE >>

"[H]ow much of their paycheck will participants retiring in the future have to save to finance the same adequate retirement as those who have retired in the past? ... A current 55-year old female, born in 1967 and expecting to retire in 2032, will need to have saved 11.5% of pay, year in and year out from age 25, and invested those savings in a target date fund, in order to enjoy an 'adequate' standard of living in retirement comparable to what a female born in 1950 could achieve by saving 5.8% of pay, a doubling of the cost of retirement over a 17 year period."  MORE >>

"Most investment allocation rules of thumb ignore the existence of non-financial household assets such as Social Security, pension benefits and life annuities in the calculation of a portfolio's target investment allocation. As a result, such allocations frequently fail to properly measure the amount of risk being assumed by the retired household in its overall retirement asset allocation."  MORE >>

"[T]he average institutional investor allocates 10.1% to private commercial real estate. By comparison, Large US DC plans are dramatically underweight to alternative investments with just a 0.26% allocation within their target-date and balanced funds as of 2020."  MORE >>

"Victims of Hurricane Fiona beginning September 17, 2022, now have until February 15, 2023, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments ... Individuals and households affected by Hurricane Fiona that reside or have a business in all 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>