"[A] Plan Sponsor must pay a 50% excise tax on excess assets that are reverted to the Plan Sponsor at a defined benefit plan's termination.... [A qualified replacement plan (QRP)] must meet certain requirements ... [1] The replacement plan must cover at least 95% of the participants of the terminating plan; [2] At least 25% of the excess assets must be transferred to the replacement plan; and [3] The transferred excess assets must be allocated as contributions over a period not longer than seven years in the replacement plan."  MORE >>

"U.S. plans allocate about 1.1% of assets in target-date funds to alternatives and 1.9% of assets in balanced options to alternatives. In comparison, Australian DC plans -- the most competitive DC market in the world -- allocate about 25.3% of assets under management in alternatives. Defined benefit plans ... tend to have higher allocations to alternatives."  MORE >>

"[B]ecause they appear similar, some incorrectly assume there's no practical difference between CITs and mutual funds. This is not correct.... CITs can only be offered within the confines of a trust relationship. That means the plan itself might be structurally different than one that has an investment menu limited to mutual funds. In the end, there are pros and cons to both CITs and mutual funds."  MORE >>

"Pension finances were mixed in November, as lower interest rates pushed up liabilities while higher stock markets increased asset values. Both model plans ... were close to even on the month. [T]raditional Plan A ended November up 9% for the year, while the more conservative Plan B is up almost 2% through the first eleven months of 2023."  MORE >>

"[V]ery few plan advisers provide any sort of fiduciary training to plan sponsors.... [P]lan sponsors are often left with no ideas and no tools on to to conduct their legally required independent investigation and evaluation of potential plan investment options.... [This article discusses] three common situations that plan sponsors typically encounter."  MORE >>

"[1] Long-term part-time administrative changes ... [2] SECURE 2.0 Optional changes.... [3] Pre-approved plans with discretionary match ... [4] Qualified retirement plan routine year-end maintenance ... [5] Gag clause prohibition compliance ... [6] [MHPAEA] comparative analysis ... [7] Cafeteria plan 'family glitch' amendment."  MORE >>

"During open enrollment season, an AI platform could send out personalized reminders and help employees learn about their benefits.... Employers can use AI to sift through employee data ... and make recommendations for all kinds of benefits applications.... A chatbot could potentially answer basic questions about benefits and be used during onboarding for new employees or for all employees throughout the year.... What are the risks?"  MORE >>

"Eligibility errors introduced during implementation can result in employees not getting the right benefits at the right time.... 'What if' scenarios challenge the standard operation of your platform by introducing rare, specific or nuanced situations ... Look at the full end-to-end spectrum and test how your requirements interact with each other in your system to avoid a domino effect when making changes to certain benefits.... Develop onboarding templates to help ensure there is no missing information when adding new employees to your system."  MORE >>

"Most of a target company's employees will not be aware that their company will be part of an add-on acquisition until it has already happened.... Effective harmonization involves creating a seamless integration process that educates participants about the program's features and addresses their individual needs and concerns."  MORE >>