"[T]he State Controller's Office (SCO) confirmed that the SCO indeed expects all California public employee retirement systems to annually furnish it with a 'Financial Transactions Report' (FTR) and audited financial statements. According to the SCO, the term 'public employee retirement systems' ... includes all independently maintained public agency Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a) plans, whether they are defined benefit or defined contribution."  MORE >>

"The [SECURE Act] enacted at the end of 2019 established new retirement plan types, including Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) and Defined Contribution Group of Plans (GoPs). It also ratified the existence of 'open' Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs), which had been used by many service providers without formalized reporting requirements.... [T]he Form 5500 series was updated to accommodate reporting requirements for plans maintained by more than one employer."  MORE >>

57 pages. "The DOL should issue guidance to [retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries] making clear that ... they should retain [specified] documents in a retrievable electronic or paper format for no less than seven years after the plan has terminated and the last participant, beneficiary or alternate payee has received all accrued benefits under the plan.... The DOL should encourage the maintenance of a written records retention policy ... [and] consider offering a model records retention policy for plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries to customize and adopt.... The DOL should update regulations under ERISA Sections 107 and 209 ... to include a comprehensive list of plan documents and their applicable retention periods[.]"  MORE >>

"From tabulations of tax filers with W-2 income, 69.0 million had incomes eligible for the Saver's Match.... 18.9 million workers contributed to an employment-based retirement plan and had incomes that would qualify for the Saver's Match."  MORE >>

"This year's data shows that the tools needed to solve the 'retirement crisis' already exist, with 86% of respondents currently offering their participants a retirement income solution -- most often in the form of a Target Date Fund (TDF) paired with systematic distribution. The survey also highlights: An older contingency of plan participants than previously imagined, with 53% of participants over the age of 65 contributing to a TDF. Close to 30% of plans have less than 10 core options, and that group is growing since TDFs represent 47% of plan assets."  MORE >>

"Cash balance plans made up 42% of all defined benefit plans in 2018, up from 2.9% in 2001, and this market continues to see double digit annual growth each year, primarily for small to mid-size companies (defined as those with less than 100 employees) compared to relatively flat growth in other qualified plans."  MORE >>

"Though employment data does not suggest that the defined contribution reform had an observable impact on the retention of public employees in Oklahoma, it did positively affect their overall retirement security.... [T]here was no observable short or long-term impact -- either positive or negative -- on the education (or quality) of West Virginia teachers after the switch in retirement plan structure."  MORE >>

"The 2022 [National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI)] shows that ... between 2019 and 2022, the share at risk dropped from 47 percent to 39 percent.... Two major contributors to the stunning improvement in the NRRI seem unlikely to persist. First, housing prices are about 14 percent above their long-run trend for the last 30 years, and may well revert to trend over time. Second, 'new saving' is almost certainly a one-shot COVID phenomenon. Indeed, personal saving rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels and so has credit card borrowing."  MORE >>