"There are no entries listing changes in qualification requirements on the 2022 RA List.... The 2021 RA List included entries for section 9704 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) ... relating to special financial assistance for certain eligible multiemployer plans.... Beginning in 2022, an amendment made pursuant to section 9704 of the ARP will be treated as a discretionary amendment, and the plan amendment deadlines applicable to discretionary amendments as set forth in Rev. Proc. 2022-40 will apply."  MORE >>

"Instructions for Participant: The information on Form 5498 is submitted to the IRS by the trustee or issuer of your individual retirement arrangement (IRA) to report contributions, including any catch-up contributions, required minimum distributions (RMDs), and the fair market value (FMV) of the account.... Instructions for Trustee or Issuer: To complete Form 5498, use: [1] The 2023 General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, and [2] The 2023 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498."  MORE >>

2-page calendar lists notable deadlines for retirement plans with calendar-year plan years.  MORE >>

"[If] a plan is audited, and the plan sponsor is able to quickly produce all of the items the auditor is requesting, the audit itself is usually pretty fast and painless.... So what does your process look like to onboard your plan sponsor clients, then help gather and organize the important plan documents that demonstrate prudence in the management of their plan?"  MORE >>

"An MOU provision that provides for pre-tax employee mandatory contributions to a pension plan (such as CalPERS) will most likely not satisfy the documentation requirements for a pick-up.... A properly adopted pick-up resolution that is adopted now, cannot have retroactive effect -- that is, previous employee contributions that were not properly picked-up should have been treated as after-tax."  MORE >>

"Senators Richard (Dick) Durbin, Elizabeth Warren, and Tina Smith sent a letter to Fidelity on Monday, November 21st, urging Fidelity to reconsider its exposure to cryptocurrencies. Their primary concern is with Fidelity's inclusion of Bitcoin into some of its 401(k) pension plans."  MORE >>

"With these large increases set to take effect, there is no better time to do a death audit of your participant population to ensure that premiums are not being paid for deceased individuals who do not have a future benefit entitlement.... For many multiemployer plans, the premiums paid annually are not a meaningful share of the overall expenses ... The move to $35 per participant for 2023 creates a shorter-term problem ... than the longer-term implication of the big jump coming in 2031 under ARPA."  MORE >>

"[PBGC] has approved the application submitted to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program by the Teamsters Local Union No. 52 Pension Plan.... The plan, based in Valley View, Ohio, covers 769 participants in the transportation industry. The Teamsters Local 52 Plan will receive approximately $84.9 million in special financial assistance ... The plan was projected to run out of money in 2023."  MORE >>

"In FY 2022, public pension plans experienced negative asset returns, and some say it could have been even worse without alternative investments. But the real question is have alternatives (private equity, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities) helped or hurt over the long term? The results suggest that, from 2001-2022, alternatives have not helped overall returns -- although they may have reduced volatility."  MORE >>

"[P]lan sponsors should take an 'institutional approach' ... that leverages the scale and fiduciary oversight offered by the DC retirement system.... [M]any plan sponsors are instead taking a 'simple approach,' where the primary focus is minimizing fees and maximizing investment simplicity, with a heavy or exclusive use of passive management.... [T]aking this simple approach merely to avoid litigation risk is a mistake, and one that is pointed out in some of the complaints in the recent lawsuits."  MORE >>

"The Barrick Gold district court dismissed nearly every aspect of the excessive fee complaint by going outside the complaint and reviewing the trust agreement.... The Tenth Circuit now has a choice: follow the Ninth Circuit and allow plaintiff law firms to create false issues of fact with false investment and recordkeeping fees, or review the alleged excessive fees in the correct context of the trust agreement and possible credits and discounts.... The ICI brief captures the harm that has been caused by the over 400 excessive fee cases and the incoherent responses by courts in which the plausibility standard is disparately applied. " [Matney v. Barrick Gold of N. Am., Inc., No. 20-275 (D. Utah Apr. 21, 2022; recon. denied Jun. 21, 2022; on appeal to 10th Cir. No. 22-4045)]  MORE >>

"This article examines a major transformation public employee pension investment in the United States, from investing public funds in public infrastructure in the 1940s and 1950s, to investing public funds in private securities -- corporate bonds, stocks, and mortgages -- in the 1960s and 1970s.... Ultimately, this article argues, financialization was not the product of a radical break or crisis in the 1970s, but was a continuous process in the post-World War II era[.]"  MORE >>

"This checklist addresses plan amendments, notices and other considerations for qualified retirement plans, welfare plans, and stock-based and performance-based plans. A chart showing benefit and contribution limits for 2023 is included."  MORE >>