12 pages. "[T]he Final Rule and amendments to exemptions significantly expand who may be considered an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA and the Code and can impose new and expanded requirements on investment firms and professionals that rely on exemptions in their work with retirement investors.... The Final Rule marks a significant shift away from the rigid Five-Part Test and instead focuses on the expectations of a hypothetical reasonable investor in like circumstances."  MORE >>

"Notice 2024-55 [provides] guidance on emergency personal expense distributions and domestic abuse victim distributions ... effective after December 31, 2023 under SECURE 2.0. The Notice details in question-and-answer format what represents an applicable distribution, distribution restrictions, withholding and notice requirements, repayment or rollover details, and exceptions to the 10 percent additional tax on early distributions."  MORE >>

"Participants sued in September 2023 contending that retirees were being shortchanged because the company and its pension plan used mortality data from the 1960s to calculate benefits for certain participants who retired before 2021. The lawsuit said these benefit calculations failed to achieve an actuarial equivalence of their vested benefits." [Holloway vs Kohler Co., No. 23-1242 (E.D. Wisc. proposed settlement Jun. 17, 2024)]  MORE >>

"[T]he average participant deferral rate matched the historic high of 7.4% in 2023. When combined with employer contributions, the average participant total savings rate kept pace with the all-time high of 11.7%, reached the prior year.... In 2023, a record-high 59% of plans offered automatic enrollment ... [M]ore than 3 in 4 participants now have access to advice.... A record-high 64% of all 2023 contributions went into target-date funds[.]"  MORE >>

"[T]arget-date AUM climbed 27.8% last year to $2.92 trillion as of Dec. 31, and it grew by 101.7% over five years ... [M]any of the biggest providers scored substantial double-digit AUM gains, most notably Vanguard Group, the industry leader by a mile, which posted a 44% increase in assets to $1.07 trillion."  MORE >>

"Managed accounts that offer savings advice add value for participants -- but that value declines over time.... However, the cost of savings advice does not decline.... At a minimum, the structure of managed account fees and savings advice should change.... A more effective solution for plan sponsors looking to broadly improve savings lies in enrolling participants in auto-escalation."  MORE >>

"With just a decade until retirement, 55-year-old Americans have less than $50K in median retirement savings.... 'Silver Squatters' to rely more on family for housing, financial support. One-third have already postponed retirement due to persistent inflation. Women face acute challenges, exacerbated by caregiving duties71% say they are interested in annuities, but only 6% currently count them as part of their retirement strategy"  MORE >>

"While most business owners say they're on track for retirement, ... just over a third (36%) have postponed their retirement in the past year.... 57% of small business owners have pushed back their retirement timelines because they're worried about money in their later years. Forty percent of small employers say they have had to reduce the amount they save due to the economic environment."  MORE >>

"[T]he Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Pension Fund ... based in Kensington, Maryland, covers 103,056 participants in the bakery, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries ... The plan was projected to become insolvent and run out of money in 2030."  MORE >>

"The challenge to Milliman's hedging strategy is yet another in a growing list of breach-of-fiduciary duty performance cases filed by the trial bar challenging conservative investment strategies as imprudent.... If allowed to continue, plan fiduciaries will be forced to offer higher risk, aggressive investment strategies to avoid fiduciary litigation and liability -- a perverse incentive that is not consistent with ERISA fiduciary law under which preservation of investment capital is a legitimate investment goal." [Mattson v. Milliman, No. 22-0037 (W.D. Wash. Jun. 17, 2024)]  MORE >>