Sep. 13, 2024. "Complete this part only if one or more of the following apply. [1] You made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA for 2024. [2] You took distributions from a traditional, traditional SEP, or traditional SIMPLE IRA in 2024 and you made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA in 2024 or an earlier year.... [3] You converted part, but not all, of your traditional, traditional SEP, and traditional SIMPLE IRAs to Roth, Roth SEP, or Roth SIMPLE IRAs in 2024 and you made nondeductible contributions to a traditional IRA in 2024 or an earlier year."  MORE >>

"A 'qualified disclaimer' is a tax-effective way to refuse a transfer of property that would otherwise occur on someone's death. From time to time, retirement plan administrators may be contacted by a beneficiary who wants a deceased participant's benefit to go to a contingent beneficiary or the participant's estate. The way to make that happen is a qualified disclaimer."  MORE >>

"Correcting any qualification failure swiftly is important, but it is particularly crucial in the case where there is a mistake in plan compensation when determining plan contributions.... [E]ven a small error can have significant ramifications if left unchecked, including the amount of the correction, the earnings that will apply to the correction, and whether it can be self-corrected. Having tight procedures in place, and following those procedures, can reduce, or even eliminate this type of costly failure."  MORE >>

"[E]ffective preparation for plan committee meetings is a multifaceted endeavor, but doing so in a careful and structured manner should enable the committee to cover the many areas of plan administration, functionality, regulation changes, and investment evaluation.... [1] Prepare a structured agenda ... [2] Assign pre-meeting homework to committee members ... [3] Plan meeting topics out a whole year ahead."  MORE >>

"ERISA fiduciaries lack clear answers on how Loper Bright might impact their role in selecting plan investments, especially when selection leans towards environmental, social, and governance marketplace participation. Investment data used in decision-making must be reliable and accurate, especially when financial factors can be considered in a tiebreaker."  MORE >>

"[A recent study] analyzes how plan size, managed accounts, and choice of investment manager affect recordkeeping costs.... [The key] finding is that the number one way to discount recordkeeping fees is by offering the investment options sponsored by the recordkeeper.  ... This means that it is not meaningful to compare the recordkeeping fees of individual jumbo plans, particularly for the purpose of inferring fiduciary malpractice, because there are material differences in how fees are calculated."  MORE >>

"457 plans are outside the governance of ERISA jurisdiction, but municipal retirement boards and their members should still pay heed to certain areas of this legislation. Retirement boards have a responsibility to act exclusively in the best interest of plan participants.... [O]ne does not have to make decisions to be a fiduciary, and simply having authority to make decisions makes you a fiduciary. Additionally, your domicile state may place additional obligations on you and your fiduciaries."  MORE >>

"During August, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process dropped nearly two percentage points, from 102.5% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO) to 100.8% of those liabilities.... During the same time period, the average annuity purchase cost across all insurers in our index also decreased, from 104.9% to 104.1%."  MORE >>

"[If] your spending liabilities are calculated based on the assumption of living longer than your 'expected' lifetime, your lifetime income assets should be calculated on the same consistent basis.... if your personal financial plan in retirement involves living 5 or 6 years longer than you expect, the value of lifetime income sources increases significantly relative to your spending liabilities, and this fact should not be ignored when making planning decisions."  MORE >>

10 pages. "TDFs are not providing the level of protection near retirement that ... participants want and need. The Department should address this departure of common TDF practice away from the best interests of participants.... [T]he risk in most TDFs [is] excessive near their target date. It has benefited performance for the past 16 years because this has been the longest bull market on record."  MORE >>

"For decades critics have argued that the bundle of goods in the CPI-W does not represent the spending patterns of retirees and therefore understates the inflation actually experienced by older Americans.... Economists ... argue that the current CPI overstates inflation, because it does not account for how people change their buying habits in response to a price increase.... Shifting from the CPI-W to either the CPI-E or the chained CPI would have a noticeable effect on the cost of Social Security benefits over the next 75 years."  MORE >>

"The passage of [ERISA] in 1974 launched a new era of financial security for America's workers, providing critical protections that have safeguarded their retirement, health, and other job-based benefits for 50 years.... This landmark legislation protects the interests of participants and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans. Title I of ERISA is enforced by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)."  MORE >>

Sep. 13, 2024. "Instructions for Employee: You have received this form because [1] your employer (or its transfer agent) has recorded a first transfer of legal title of stock you acquired pursuant to your exercise of an option granted under an employee stock purchase plan, and [2] the exercise price was less than 100% of the value of the stock on the date shown in box 1 or was not fixed or determinable on that date."  MORE >>