"How will the payroll system calculate the FICA wage threshold of $145,000 for purposes of identifying employees subject to the new Roth catch-up mandate? ... Does the 401(k) plan provide for a 'spillover' catch-up election? Or does the plan require participants to make a separate catch-up election? ... Will the employer [1] implement a deemed Roth catch-up election, or [2] cancel existing elections and require that participants subject to the Roth catch-up mandate make a new Roth catch-up contribution election? ... Communications will be needed to educate employees ... Amendments are generally required by December 31, 2026, but it may be advisable to record the design decisions as they are made."  MORE >>

"Plan sponsors will have to work with their recordkeeper and payroll providers to determine where the deemed Roth election happens ... However the deemed Roth election is implemented, the participant's election needs to be re-applied on January 1 of the year that follows the year a deemed Roth election is implemented, and the payroll and recordkeeping services need to communicate these changes as well."  MORE >>

"[If] a worker does not have FICA wages (e.g., a governmental agency employee not covered by a Section 218 Agreement), Section 603 does not apply.... If your plan's service providers cannot confirm they have appropriate systems in place to comply with Section 603's requirements, and you are considering prohibiting catch-up contributions until they do, this would require an advance amendment prior to January 1, 2026. "  MORE >>

" 'Fishing expeditions' and 'cookie-cutter cases' are just two phrases used to predict coming litigation in the wake of Cunningham v. Cornell University.... Pursuing both a fiduciary breach allegation and a prohibited transaction allegation is more likely, now that the burden of proof has shifted away from the plaintiff ... Risk mitigation focuses on having the documentation to mount a good defense if a prohibited transaction lawsuit does move forward to the discovery and trial phases."  MORE >>

"If included in a plan menu, a participant will only be able to access private markets through a professionally managed participant investment option ... While some managers plan to maintain quarterly liquidity in their underlying private market strategies, plan participants themselves will likely still have daily liquidity via the other underlying funds.... [P]rivate market assets can be valued on a daily basis, even though that's not currently the case."  MORE >>

"New research ... argues that protected income should be viewed as an asset class. This framework helps to show how annuity investments can significantly boost 'safe' retirement spending. Considering annuities is especially important as employer-provided pensions grow increasingly rare."  MORE >>

"Competition is expected to intensify in the mid-market defined contribution (DC) plan market in the coming years as asset managers seek to gain a foothold in an 'attractive market' ... To maintain and grow their presence in this segment, asset managers will need to remain focused on the advisors and consultants working with these plans, namely independent DC specialist practices and the retirement aggregators that are acquiring specialist practices, the report suggests."  MORE >>

"More than a year after first circulating a draft guidance on compliance expectations for its best interest standard for annuity sales, [the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is] nearing a final version.... The guidance addresses insurers' reliance on the safe harbor and on third parties to supervise sales."  MORE >>