"[FASB] approved the recommendation of its Emerging Issues Task Force earlier this month that benefits for market-based cash balance plans, which are legally classified as defined benefit plans, be valued by setting the discount rate equal to the assumed interest crediting rate.... [T]he proposed new accounting calculation would make it simpler and more sensible for plan sponsors to estimate their market-based cash balance pension obligations."  MORE >>

"The IRS and Treasury Department encourage plans to customize a safe harbor explanation by omitting any information that does not apply to the plan. This article highlights the changes that qualified governmental plans should consider making to their Special Tax Notices."  MORE >>

"[T]he department argues that the district court correctly held that the plan sponsor did not breach its fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty because the plaintiff's argument only included a bare allegation that forfeitures were not allocated to pay plan expenses, even though the plan at issue provided for fiduciary discretion over that decision. Instead, the brief explains how a prudent and loyal fiduciary might have concluded that it was important to ensure that plan participants received the contributions expressly promised by the plan in a timely manner." [Barragan v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., No. 24-4529 (D.N.J. Aug. 18, 2025; on appeal to 3d Cir. No. 25-2509)]  MORE >>

"The [DOL's amicus brief], which argued the Lockheed retirees lack standing to challenge the company's pension de-risking transaction, is inconsistent with [ERISA] and would undermine the statute's standards by 'insulating fiduciary conduct from review precisely when judicial oversight is most needed,' Phyllis Borzi and Ali Khawar told the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a Jan. 30 amicus brief backing the Lockheed workers." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"The industry will likely see a multi-pronged approach to developing alternative investment solutions for the DC Plan marketplace. Plan sponsors contemplating a move into alternatives should expect to see iterations of popular asset allocation strategies such as target-date and target-risk funds coming to market with alternative investment exposures already embedded[.]"  MORE >>

"In the last five filing years, the number of ESOPs at privately-held companies has been trending upward. During the same period, the number of ESOPs at publicly-held companies has decreased by 18%. The number of active participants at all ESOPs has grown by 781,872, with most of that coming from privately-held ESOPs."  MORE >>

"Many households have complicated financial situations and may own properties, businesses, collectibles and other assets that they would like to use for retirement, but these assets may not be easily valued or artificially 'converted' into income. If you have any of these types of assets, you may wish to ... use the Actuarial Financial Planner workbooks to value your hard-to-value assets and include them in your Funded Status calculation."  MORE >>

"The standing doctrine advocated by Lockheed is inapplicable to the circumstances here and would license Lockheed or any other plan sponsor to select almost any insurer not in immediate danger of failing in the near future, even those with lower ratings and riskier business models than Athene. And ... with annuity contracts the future can extend for many decades." [Konya v. Lockheed Martin Corp., No. 24-0750 (D. Md. Mar. 28, 2025; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 25-2061)]  MORE >>

"Some retirement savers might experience life-altering losses if retirement plan sponsors and advisers steer them into risky and hard-to-value investments like private equity and cryptocurrencies....[P]rivately traded investments ... may be difficult to sell when workers are ready for retirement and digital collectibles ... have no intrinsic value ... Marketing risky investments to millions of retirement plan participants is a way to bail out billionaires at the expense of ordinary savers ... A speculative bubble like the one in the roaring 1920s might grow and lead to a crash with economywide repercussions."  MORE >>

"[T]he numerator of the EBAR ... is the benefit projected to retirement age divided by current year compensation. ... [T]he compensation amount in the denominator should logically be projected as well with a salary scale which would make sense mathematically but would also lower the EBARs for younger participants with more years to go to retirement thus requiring them to get larger contributions to raise their EBARs and pass testing, something the law writers and interpreters of 401(a)(4) did not seem to want."  MORE >>

"In FY 2025, EBSA closed 878 civil investigations. Of those, 556 investigations (63 percent) produced monetary results for plans or other corrective action, for a total of $714.4 million recovered.... In FY 2025, [EBSA] obtained 297 non-monetary civil corrections, including: [1] removing 15 fiduciaries, [2] barring 24 individuals from serving as fiduciaries, [3] appointing 18 fiduciaries, [4] improving missing participant procedures for 49 plans, and [5] implementing 61 global corrections across multiple ERISA-covered health plans."  MORE >>

"[EO 14372] directs the Secretary to ensure contracts and contract renewals executed after March 8, 2026, contain a new clause aligned with the EO. Contractors subject to the new clause must have executive incentive compensation plans that reward on time deliveries and investments in production capacity rather than achievement of short-term financial metrics. If the DoW determines ... that a contractor does not sufficiently prioritize, invest in or establish acceptable production rates, contractor compensation and executive incentive plans will be scrutinized."  MORE >>