"The proposed rule does not require fiduciaries to offer investments with allocations to alternative assets. However, the preamble includes extensive investment and market research supporting the benefits of institutional-quality investment diversity, and provides helpful guidance to plan fiduciaries to assist in their evaluation of such investments. Fiduciaries who wish to consider a broader universe of investments but do not have the requisite expertise should determine whether their investment consultants and advisors have such expertise and engage with them as appropriate, to determine what is best for their plan and their participants."  MORE >>

"The proposed regulation, through detailed examples, provides a roadmap to plan fiduciaries for investing in alternative assets, but also provides an asset-neutral 'process-based safe harbor' to guide plan fiduciaries in selecting DIAs. In providing the safe harbor, the DOL asserts that plan fiduciaries will enjoy reduced litigation risk -- another aim of the President's Executive Order. While the proposed regulation's safe harbor is helpful, there is an open question as to how effective it can be in taming the firehose of litigation that has been plaguing plans and plan fiduciaries for decades."  MORE >>

"The proposed rule gives fiduciaries 'maximum discretion' to include alternative assets on plan menus. Following the safe harbor's six-factor framework is likely to establish a presumption of prudence. Plan sponsors and their counsel should begin aligning investment selection and monitoring processes with the six-factor framework now."  MORE >>

"Mississippi's program ... makes participation voluntary -- the state would make the program available to employees age 18 and older whose private-sector employers do not have a retirement plan, but those employees must make a voluntary choice to participate in it and contribute to a payroll deduction account."  MORE >>

"A federal judge in Chicago certified a class of former employees suing the consulting firm West Monroe Partners, allowing their claims to proceed collectively based on allegations that the company undervalued its stock and shortchanged workers cashing out of its defined contribution employee stock ownership plan....Weeks after those employees were paid out, West Monroe sold a 50% stake in the company to a private equity firm at $1,616 per share -- more than three times the earlier valuation, raising questions about whether employees were paid fair market value." [Daly v. West Monroe Partners, Inc., No. 21-6805 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 27, 2026)]  MORE >>

"While news of the proposed rule has been met with celebration, some are examining how the process would work and its general bearing to participants."  MORE >>

"America's retirement laws have one crystal clear social purpose -- to let more Americans retire with dignity. It's a new day for those 90 million Americans and their families. The [DOL] has taken its thumb off the scale. Our laws and regulations do not permit us to disfavor (or to favor) specific investments or investment types. The Department is now fully out of the game of picking winners and losers."  MORE >>

"[T]he Fourth Circuit held that ERISA fiduciary lawsuits claiming monetary compensation with respect to a participant-directed DC plan present issues of fact -- whether and to what extent each particular participant was (or was not) injured -- that make class action certification generally unsuitable.... [T]his holding might also be applied much more broadly, e.g., in an 'excessive fee' litigation. And -- to put it bluntly -- if you blow up class certification/class actions, you significantly weaken the ability of plaintiffs' lawyers to bring big-dollar lawsuits, requiring them (instead) to sue sponsors 'one plaintiff at a time.' " [Trauernicht v. Genworth Fin. Inc., No. 24-1880 (4th Cir. Mar. 10, 2026)]  MORE >>

"This legal alert provides an overview of Trump accounts, employer contributions, trustee obligations, initial and rollover contributions, investments, and state tax implications.... Although the proposed regulations and the Notice provide valuable information for employers, the [DOL] has not yet confirmed that Trump accounts will be exempt from ERISA, similar to health savings accounts and payroll deduction IRAs."  MORE >>

"The proposed regulations would apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, with final rules expected in early 2027.... The IRS has expressly reserved further rules governing contribution administration, investments, distributions, reporting, and employer contribution programs. As a result, Trump accounts are authorized but not fully operational and stakeholders should expect additional regulatory detail before broader program implementation can proceed."  MORE >>