"$145,000 wage threshold ... All Roth contributions count ... Deemed elections or automatic discontinuance ... Reclassifications to Roth catch-up due to exceeded limit ... Rothification complications: short-term revenue, long-term loss."  MORE >>

"A new temporary enforcement policy lets fiduciaries of ongoing retirement plans transfer small benefits owed to missing participants to a state unclaimed property fund without fear of [DOL] enforcement action. Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01 explains that this policy only applies to benefits -- including uncashed checks -- with a present value of $1,000 or less. The FAB requires fiduciaries to meet a series of other conditions to qualify for this relief.... [T]his is the first piece of agency guidance specifically addressing transfers from ongoing retirement plans."  MORE >>

25 presentation slides from ABA 2025 Midyear Tax Meeting. Topics: [1] Inadvertent overpayments; [2] Actuarial equivalence; [3] Cybersecurity; [4] Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database; [5] Annual funding notice: SECURE 2.0; [6] FAB 2025-1 re State Unclaimed Property Funds; [7] Pension risk transfers: DOL Report to Congress, litigation; [8] Actuarial Equivalence: litigation, DOL amicus brief.  MORE >>

"This In Focus provides data on the distribution of retirement account balances in 2022 among [1] all U.S. households and [2] households based on age group. As Congress considers various retirement-income-related bills, data on how retirement account assets are distributed among households could help inform discussions about whether and how to promote greater savings in these accounts." [IF12928 Feb. 26, 2025]  MORE >>

"In addition to asking about 403(b) plans' use of CITs, the lawmakers requested comments on whether private asset classes should be more available to defined contribution plan investors."  MORE >>

32 pages. "One-year investment returns reached an average of 9.47% for responding systems with a fiscal year-end date in the first half of 2024.... Combined investment manager and administrative expenses have risen from 57 basis points (or 0.57%) for systems with fiscal year ends in the first half of 2020, to 73 basis points (or 0.73%) for first half 2024 fiscal year systems.... Top priorities for 2025 include improving cybersecurity and fraud prevention systems, sustaining target funding levels, and updating/acquiring a pension administration system."  MORE >>

"About three-fifths of the revenue from taxing Social Security benefits is devoted to the two Social Security trust funds.... Over the next ten years, the taxation of benefits will provide over $1½ trillion to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Without that income, the programs would face greater funding shortfalls, and the dates on which the trust funds would be depleted -- meaning that benefits would need to be funded entirely by incoming payroll taxes and other revenues -- would occur earlier."  MORE >>

"[If] claims like this are not swiftly dismissed, then the actual harm lies in the impact this could have on current and future pension programs. If employers are continually forced to divert limited resources into endless legal battles, they won't have the means to invest in the voluntary retirement plans that so many employees rely on for their financial security in retirement." [Bueno v. General Electric, No. 24-0822 (N.D.N.Y. complaint filed Jun. 28, 2024; amicus brief filed Feb. 26, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Deregulation is not always helpful for benefit plans.... Determining which regulations are helpful and which are not won't always be easy.... [1] Environmental, Social or Governance investing ... [2] Cryptocurrency ... [3] ESOPs ... [4] Fiduciary investment advice ... [5] Mental health substance use disorder parity."  MORE >>

"Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to favorably report the nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor by a vote of 14 to 9. Her nomination will now move to the Senate floor for a final vote at a later date."  MORE >>

"ERISA permits the use of actuarial assumptions to calculate the benefits due to participants and beneficiaries of defined benefit pension plans. Despite this longstanding principle of ERISA, the Appellants in Watt urged the court to rewrite ERISA and impose their own evolving standards to calculate these benefits." [Watt v. FedEx, No. 23-2593 (W.D. Tenn. Sep. 18, 2024; on appeal to 6th Cir. No. 24-5945; amicus brief Feb. 26, 2025)]  MORE >>