"Plan sponsors will want to consider: [1] The limited tax savings of the emergency personal expense distribution likely makes it of limited utility to individuals and [2] The domestic abuse victim distribution raises the question of how many individuals would be willing to volunteer such information to receive a distribution.... [T]here is no meaningful need to adopt plan amendments and procedures for either emergency personal expense distributions or abuse victim distributions because otherwise eligible individuals are permitted to self-claim a tax deduction for amounts they are otherwise able to withdraw from the plan."  MORE >>

"The [DOL] appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court on [September 20] to reverse a ruling from the District Court for Eastern Texas that temporarily suspended the implementation of the 2024 Retirement Security Rule, also known as the fiduciary rule. The move comes three days before its original effective date."  [Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc. v. DOL, No. 24-0163 (E.D. Tex. Jul. 25, 2024; notice of appeal filed Sep. 20, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has granted plan sponsor Genworth Financial Inc. the chance to appeal a decision to give class action status to a group of participants who were invested in BlackRock Inc. target date funds through a workplace retirement plan.... [Genworth] argued that giving class action status in the case would have far-reaching consequences for ERISA fiduciary-breach cases, making such class certification a 'fait accompli,' according to the appeal." [Genworth v. Trauernicht, No. 24-220 (4th Cir. appeal granted Sep. 13, 2024)]  MORE >>

"What started as a small law firm filing a handful of suits against 401(k) plans' use of forfeited funds has metastasized into a broad attack on sponsors that raises questions about reducing participants' expenses.... The eruption of lawsuits has been accompanied in the early stages by divergent federal court decisions that don't give plan sponsors -- and their ERISA attorneys -- a clear picture about how to defend against the lawsuits."  MORE >>

"More than a third of respondents are very happy with their provider’s website with forty percent stating its pretty good for a website. Comments by ranking follow."  MORE >>

"In 2023, almost 75% of Vanguard plans let workers contribute to a 401(k) immediately after getting hired. Not only that, but almost 50% of plans allowed participants to immediately vest in employer matching contributions in 2023.... Among plans with automatic enrollment, 33% enrolled workers at a contribution rate of 3% of their salary. But 29% of plans chose a default contribution rate of 6% of salary or more — nearly double the proportion from 2014."  MORE >>

"Christine Benz explains how the Bucket approach can help retirees, the pushback against this strategy, and how a fourth bucket can help you in retirement."  MORE >>

"As the retirement industry evolves from pension plans to 401(k) plans, PRTs allow firms to offload the burdensome administration of allocating pension plans. PRTs have helped firms bridge the transition, however, there [has] been a rash of class action lawsuits filed by former employees and retirees that claim their employers chose a risky insurer.... Increasingly, private equity firms are seeking to purchase stakes in annuity assets to gain access to a permanent capital stream."  MORE >>

"[T]he Milliman PPFI funded ratio improved from 80.8% as of July 31 to 82.0% as of August 31. The PPFI plans saw estimated aggregate market returns of 1.5% in August, with individual plans' estimated returns ranging from 0.8% to 2.5%.... The deficit between estimated plan assets and liabilities shrank from $1.210 trillion at the beginning of August to $1.138 trillion at month's end, representing a $72 billion increase in funded status."  MORE >>

The tables summarize information on PBGC"s Single-Employer and Multiemployer Insurance Programs and the defined benefit pension system, which includes time-series data on PBGC"s finances and operations. The data on PBGC-insured defined benefit plans includes information on the number of plan participants, plan funded status, hybrid plans, frozen plans, risk transfer activity and Special Financial Assistance payments. Excel (XLSX) format also available.  MORE >>

"This annual notice provides the 2024-2025 special per diem rates for taxpayers to use in substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred while traveling away from home, specifically [1] the special transportation industry meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) rates, [2] the rate for the incidental expenses only deduction, and [3] the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method."  MORE >>

"[T]he basic fiduciary requirements of ERISA apply to health and welfare plans too. Unfortunately, health and welfare plans are often left to insurers, and employers are unaware of the other requirements that can't be delegated to a vendor.... While much of cybersecurity best practices will involve the plan sponsor's IT personnel and third-party vendors ... [f]iduciaries must ensure that these policies and procedures are in place and being followed[.]"  MORE >>