"[The IRS said in Notice 2022-53 that] it would delay enforcement of new rules for taking required withdrawals from some inherited retirement accounts until 2023 ... The relief applies to taxpayers who inherited retirement accounts in 2020 or 2021 ... The new guidance doesn't say that the annual required minimum distributions are waived, but by offering penalty relief, it essentially means that this group of taxpayers doesn't have to take RMDs for 2021 and 2022, an IRS spokesman said."  MORE >>

"The DOL's guidance tracks several data privacy and cybersecurity laws enacted throughout the U.S.... [T]he New York SHIELD Act's Cybersecurity mandate, effective in March 2020, requires all organizations holding New York resident electronic data to implement the same administrative, technical and physical safeguards couched as 'best practices' in the DOL's guidance."  MORE >>

"[The court] rejected claims that TIAA-CREF acted as an ERISA fiduciary in connection with soliciting, as part of a sales campaign, participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans for which TIAA-CREF served as recordkeeper to roll their balances out of the plans and into individual, fee-paying TIAA-CREF products. While the case deals with events that occurred prior to the DOL's most recent pronouncements, the decision provides a lengthy, fully reasoned analysis of ERISA's governing statutory and regulatory provisions and may affect how courts assess both current conduct and DOL's restrictive position." [Carfora v. Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, and TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, No. 21-8384 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 27, 2022)]  MORE >>

"Some courts have accepted evidence of the disparity between a fund's costs and returns as providing sufficient evidence of the plausibility that a plan sponsors failed to properly perform their fiduciary duties. [In one] such case ... Judge Sidney Stein denied Citigroup's motion to dismiss ... citing the fact that the plan participants had shown that in some cases the expense ratios of the funds in question were 200 percent of more higher than the expense ratios of comparable Vanguard funds. Judge Stein's recognition of both the impact of a disparity in expense ratios and the legitimacy of Vanguard funds as comparators in 401(k) and 403(b) cases should not go unnoticed."  MORE >>

"What's the right number of investment options for participants? ... [F]iduciaries may consider whether the core funds list has grown larger than necessary.... What is your organization's primary goal with target date funds? ... Market-related education is more important for fiduciaries and participants now than at any time in the last decade."  MORE >>

"The required withdrawals in down markets are frustrating for retirement-account owners who don't want to reduce their balances further and lose out on growth. But there are some strategies to lessen the impact ... [1] Build a volatility buffer ... [2] Set up monthly withdrawals ... [3] Take distributions 'in kind' ... [4] Donate your retirement dollars ... [5] Take money out at low tax rates."  MORE >>

"[A]bout 1% of plan participants, or roughly 250,000 workers, tapped their retirement savings because of natural disasters since January 2021. For comparison, 1.6 million people, or 6.3% of eligible participants in Fidelity plans, took some money out in 2020 in response to COVID-19 relief measures enacted by Congress."  MORE >>

"[A recent] report clearly indicates that many retired households are making important decisions without a great deal of reasonable input ... [A] good personal retirement planning process (or tool) will suggest actions relating to spending and investing that should be considered when considering retirement or when actual experience in retirement is more or less favorable than assumed (like during the current year)."  MORE >>

21 pages. "The widespread lack of forward-looking planning has vexed retirement planners and researchers for many years. Many problems in later years could have been prevented with planning ahead.... [This] research identified interventions and messaging that could be used by practitioners and researchers to help people anticipate future challenges and be proactive to address these challenges."  MORE >>

"[T]here are now a handful of consultants that, each year, publish a ranking of how the world's retirement systems rate -- and year after year the United States generally comes in about the middle of the pack.... The reality is that what 'works' in Iceland (or Denmark or New Zealand) might not be practical here for a variety of factors.... [T]he private retirement system we have in place, however patchwork in its designs, works pretty well -- at least for those who have access to it. And THAT is something we can perhaps do something about."  MORE >>

"[D]uring ERISA's existence, the [DOL] has promulgated a significant amount of regulatory and sub-regulatory guidance concerning the statute. Going forward, whether such guidance will pass judicial scrutiny will be profoundly impacted by the Supreme Court's recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA."  MORE >>