"Starting with tax years beginning after December 31, 2022, a small employer can take advantage of significant tax credits ... for establishing a new retirement plan.... [T]he tax credits are available for plan administrative and contribution costs. The full tax credit is available to employers with 50 or fewer employees and there is a partial credit available to employers with 51 to 100 employees."  MORE >>

"This proposed rule clarifies how and when defined contribution plans must use forfeitures, provides a transition rule for defined contribution plans that have accumulated forfeitures over several plan years, and removes a requirement that conflicts with the minimum funding rules for defined benefit plans. The IRS proposes that the forfeiture regulations apply for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2024."  MORE >>

"The DOL had to prove its lawsuit was justified to avoid being responsible for the architecture firm's attorney fees. The Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical that the lack of substantial evidence to support the DOL's case justified the suit. As one judge pointed out, it was questionable that the DOL could justify proceeding with the suit when it had the erroneous expert opinion before trial." [Walsh v. Bowers, No. 22-15378 (9th Cir. oral arg. Feb. 15, 2023)]  MORE >>

"The Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act of 2023, HR 3063, [would amend] federal securities law to authorize the use of collective investment trusts (CITs) and unregistered insurance company separate accounts within 403(b) retirement savings plans."  MORE >>

24 pages. "Many of the greatest investment mistakes occur due to investors acting from emotions or irrational thinking. Those investors who understand behavioral economics and how to counter our human tendency toward illogic are better equipped to avoid those mistakes."  MORE >>

"Bond yields are the highest they've been in 15 years, and stocks appear less expensive than before. The odds are now in favor of the balanced portfolio."  MORE >>

"Having control of your pension assets is not the end all or be all of financial planning in retirement. If you need to use the pension assets to fund your essential expenses, electing the lump sum option and investing the proceeds in non-risky investments ... will generally be less efficient than electing the annuity option, and ... there will be no greater 'true liquidity' or spending flexibility in doing so."  MORE >>

"From a pure asset-allocation perspective, higher yields don't necessarily change the picture, in and of themselves. The bonds that do the best work of protecting against the sequence-of-return risk are the most boring, lousy-yielding bonds.... Why have investors without TIPS done fine through a range of inflationary environments? Inflation gets reflected in a whole bunch of other parts of the portfolio as well, in a way that still moves us at least reasonably in tandem over time."  MORE >>