"What's New: [1] Permanent credit for Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account contributions ... [2] New saver's match for qualified retirement contributions starting with 2027 tax returns filed in 2028."  MORE >>

"These steps should be taken by December 31, 2025: [1] Ensure systems will identify 'High Earners' ... [2] Confirm payroll is set to withhold catch-up contributions for High Earners as after-tax contributions. [3] Determine whether the plan will administer catch-up contributions as deemed elections or require affirmative election. [4] Confirm payroll and plan recordkeeping systems communicate wage data correctly and can segregate contribution types. [5] Communicate with participants."  MORE >>

"The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 introduced a more robust optional statutory safe harbor for a fiduciary's selection of certain lifetime income options for defined contribution plans.... As plan fiduciaries continue to become more comfortable with the SECURE Act safe harbor, it is likely that new guaranteed retirement income products will continue to emerge."  MORE >>

"New York Secure Choice ... mandates and facilitates the creation of Roth IRAs for private-sector employees who do not have access to a qualified retirement plan through their employers. Beginning in March of 2026, New York will require most private-sector employers to register for the Program or certify their exemption from the Program."  MORE >>

"Forward-thinking plan sponsors can respond with non-fiduciary plan design and education strategies ... Sidecar emergency savings.... Student loan repayment benefits ... Retirement reboot campaigns.... Targeted financial wellness.... Sponsors that look beyond the averages -- analyzing specific participant segments and approaching engagement creatively -- can help shift mindsets and narrow participation gaps."  MORE >>

"An effective de-risking approach often involves collaboration among actuaries, annuity consultants and investment professionals to evaluate a plan sponsor's unique circumstances and goals.... Compared to siloed consulting models, an integrated methodology can lead to more efficient execution and better outcomes."  MORE >>

"Private equity funds can now explore new distribution channels through retirement plans. This includes launching collective investment trusts (CITs), target date funds and managed accounts that incorporate PE exposure. Fund managers have the opportunity to design products tailored for long-term retirement investing, potentially unlocking a vast pool of capital from defined contribution plans."  MORE >>

"Enhancing operational efficiency, strengthening compliance and risk functions, and staying competitive with peers are leading reasons in-house counsel cited as primary motivations to implement Al."  MORE >>

"Multitasking, especially in meetings with plan sponsor clients or internal teams alike, quietly erodes trust, clarity, and ultimately, could impact the retirement outcomes of your plan sponsors' participants. However, the solution isn't to police devices or ban technology altogether. Instead, it's about designing meetings that are purposeful, structured, and worthy of attention. In other words: the antidote to distraction is not restriction, but relevance."  MORE >>

"This paper investigates the optimal investment strategies of defined contribution (DC) pension plans under an S-shaped utility function with a path-dependent reference point.... A new approach is proposed to convert the problem into an equivalent one with a single state variable and a fixed reference point, enabling explicit solutions via the martingale method in a complete market."  MORE >>

17 pages. "[T]he PBGC's disavowal of federal protection for retirees after pension risk transfers was never authorized by Congress and conflicts with both the statute and the PBGC's own 1981 position. The authors trace the legal history, legislative intent, and policy implications demonstrating that the law already requires PBGC guarantees to continue even after pension benefits are annuitized. Their analysis calls on regulators and courts to restore this 'forgotten promise' to strengthen the integrity of the U.S. pension system."  MORE >>

"Every dismissal so far rests on one or more reversible errors. The most common: [1] Courts assume PRT annuities are safe -- contrary to market evidence ... [2] Courts misapply ERISA's burden of proof ... [3] Courts ignore prohibited transactions (the strongest claim) ... [4] Courts wrongly treat PBGC loss as irrelevant ... [5] Courts ignore offshore private-credit exposures inside insurer portfolios ... Judges have been asleep at the wheel. Appeals are not just warranted -- they are essential."  MORE >>

"The Sheresky plaintiffs allege that Morgan Stanley improperly lobbied the DOL in an 'ex parte process' for over a year ... They further allege that Morgan Stanley is impermissibly utilizing the Advisory Opinion in the arbitrations to argue that because the DOL's 'official position' is that the Program is not governed by ERISA, the financial advisors' claims are frivolous and must be dropped, and that Morgan Stanley will seek attorneys' fees if the arbitrations proceed." [Sheresky v. Chaves-DeRemer, No. 25-8935 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Oct. 28, 2025)]  MORE >>

"In today's dynamic and often unpredictable business environment, companies sometimes face circumstances that force them to reconsider their existing incentive plans midstream. Unpredictable conditions -- global crises, economic downturns, unforeseen industry disruptions, or governmental policy changes -- pose significant challenges to maintaining standard performance metrics and reward structures. Adjusting incentive plans under such circumstances requires a careful approach that safeguards the credibility of compensation plans, ensures transparency, and upholds governance standards."  MORE >>