"[T]he best practice is to list on the plan document which non-safe harbor hardship events will be approved consistently. Broad language that puts a plan sponsor in a position to conduct a case-by-case analysis of whether each situation justifies a hardship distribution is not ideal.... Even with a plan provision granting hardship distributions for home repairs that make the home livable leaves our bleeding-heart employer with a big responsibility to assess each case, based on its merits."  MORE >>

"U.S. companies that provide matching contributions on qualified student loan payments for employees in retirement plans that are qualified in the United States and Puerto Rico must do so under the same terms and conditions for participants in both jurisdictions. P.R.-only qualified plans may safely provide such QSLP matching contributions by following the relevant rules of I.R.C. Section 401(m)(4)(D) and (m)(13) ... In either case, the dual- or P.R.-only qualified plan must be amended accordingly, and the corresponding amendment must be filed with the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury (Hacienda)[.]"  MORE >>

"The Secure Choice program works the same way for tipped employees as it does for others. In some rare cases, however, it is possible that a tipped employee's paycheck will not be large enough to fund Secure Choice payroll deductions. In that case, the employee may be able to make arrangements for contributions to be transferred from his or her bank account. This situation is increasingly unlikely, however, as minimum wages continue to rise in many localities."  MORE >>

"Companies that sponsor 401(k) plans rely on their service providers to complete the required annual nondiscrimination testing for the plan. Often the results are presented to the plan sponsor, perhaps just a pass/fail. If failed, results generally include the amount of the refunds that need to be made to certain highly paid employees. However, there may be other options for employers to explore before issuing refunds."  MORE >>

"The $4.5-trillion recordkeeper cites data security as the immediate concern but it also cites a clash between unauthorized, unidentified third-party advisors executing trades -- without plan sponsor oversight."  MORE >>

"The firms were each charged with violating certain recordkeeping provisions of the Securities Exchange Act or the Investment Advisers Act or both. In addition, all but one of the firms failed to reasonably supervise their personnel with a view to preventing and detecting those violations. The SEC's order against [one firm] also found that the firm failed to adopt and implement policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the firm and its supervised persons from violating recordkeeping requirements."  MORE >>

"The updated tables reflect not only the improvement in the PBGC's finances, but also -- for the first time -- information on Special Financial Assistance (SFA) payments."  MORE >>

15 pages; rev. Sep. 2024. "Although hybrid plans have been in place in the public sector for decades, they have received increased attention in recent years as more states established hybrid plans on either an optional or mandatory basis. The growing attention to hybrids has occurred amid the many adjustments states have made to public pension benefits and financing arrangements. "  MORE >>

"[A]bout two-thirds of states explicitly provide funds for teacher pensions, with 15 of these states paying the full cost on behalf of schools. The remaining third of states implicitly help with pensions through basic state aid to schools, but this aid seems to have fallen somewhat behind rising costs."  MORE >>

"[T]here's a common line of thinking that people saving for retirement should avoid pre-tax retirement accounts entirely and contribute (or convert existing pre-tax assets) to Roth instead – regardless of which tax bracket they're in today....  [E]ven if taxes do creep up nationally, individuals who are already in the highest tax brackets today are still likely to be in a lower bracket upon retirement – which makes it better to contribute to a pre-tax account today and then withdraw (or convert) the funds at a lower rate later on!"  MORE >>

"In the updated guidance, the DOL ... indicated that the plan fiduciary should find out if the service provider has any insurance that would cover losses caused by cybersecurity and identity theft breaches ... added additional detail on multifactor authentication (MFA) ... [and] advised that participants should use longer passwords, not common passwords, and change their longer passwords only annually instead of more frequently."  MORE >>

"A recent IRS private letter ruling (PLR) paves the way for a 401(k) plan sponsor to give employees flexibility to allocate an employer nonelective contribution among other tax-favored benefit options.... [E]mployees can't receive the contribution in cash or as another taxable benefit."  MORE >>

"[M]ore than two-thirds of those surveyed said that the availability of Federal Employees Health Benefits, the Thrift Savings Plan and the retirement annuity greatly or moderately influenced their decision to take a federal job. Similarly, more than three-quarters of employees reported that the trio of benefit programs influenced their decision to remain in a government job."  MORE >>