"This post summarizes the new distribution options, including penalty-free withdrawals, applicable to defined contribution plans ... and provides a timeline of their effective dates. The new options further evidence Congress's growing appetite for approving legislation that allows greater pre-retirement access to funds intended for retirement."  MORE >>

"Recent [DOL] changes to the Form 5500 will allow now allow plans to count fewer participants when determining the need for an audit.... The new participant counting method is effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023. It's important for small businesses to understand how the method will impact their plan's audit requirements."  MORE >>

"Even if some NFTs would not be treated as collectibles by the IRS, not every IRA custodian or trustee will choose to offer them. When NFTs that are not collectibles are offered as an IRA or plan investment, IRA owners and plan participants should carefully review the terms of the IRA custodial or trust agreements to ensure they fully understand how these assets will be treated under the agreements."  MORE >>

"Plan fiduciaries that utilize private equity funds, and regulated entities that serve these plan sponsors, should take note of [recent SEC changes to Form PF], as some have the potential to materially alter and increase reporting costs.... [T]he SEC's comments in the preamble reflect a concern for individual and real estate investors given a perceived lack of transparency and increased complexity in the private fund space when compared to other asset classes such as publicly traded equities."  MORE >>

17 pages. "This report explains the programs under [the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA)], including how each program is financed, the eligibility rules, and the types of benefits available to railroad workers and family members. It also discusses how railroad retirement relates to the Social Security system. " [RS22350 updated May 23, 2023]  MORE >>

"The clearinghouse alerted more than 10,000 people that private information, including IRA account data, may have been stolen.... The Retirement Clearinghouse's auto-portability network ... includes financial firms such as Empower, Fidelity Investments, TIAA and Vanguard and represents about 62 million workers and 139,000 employer-sponsored retirement plans."  MORE >>

"Whether it was from the point of view of the professional fiduciary or the plan sponsor, ChatGPT said the biggest fiduciary challenge was picking investments. For real-life professional fiduciaries who have a much bigger picture of things, investment options represent merely one aspect of a broader challenge facing 401k plan sponsors. Even so, these retirement plan concerns pale in comparison to everyday operating priorities."  MORE >>

27 pages. "Employees are more than twice as likely to engage in virtual financial coaching than live financial coaching ... Virtual coaching ... should not be relied upon as a sole means to improving employee financial behavior. Employers should evaluate organizational obstacles that may limit employee utilization of live services and develop strategies that encourage engagement with human financial coaches."  MORE >>

"Despite reporting extremely high levels of efficacy with existing stress testing and scenario modeling -- 44% say they are very effective and 56% say they are quite effective at asset liability management (ALM) -- over the next two years 90% of the public sector pension professionals interviewed say the plans they work for will spend more on tools in this area."  MORE >>

"On [May 23], Congress sent a letter to the Treasury Department informing Secretary Janet Yellen and [IRS] Commissioner Daniel Werfel that it will introduce legislation to fix several technical errors contained in SECURE 2.0."  MORE >>