"The December 31, 2026 amendment deadline should not be viewed merely as a document drafting exercise. It represents the final stage of a multi-year implementation process that began with the SECURE Act, continued through the CARES Act and was significantly expanded by SECURE 2.0. For many plans, the most important question ... is whether those amendments accurately reflect the way the plan has actually been operated."  MORE >>

"If a plan sponsor sees a need among its employees, it should consider two more things. First, the complexity of [the rules outlined in IRS Notice 2026-33] is daunting. Second, this is another way for plan benefits to be depleted before the participant retires, leaving him or her short on resources for living after working days are over ... Having said that, long-term care insurance is expensive, and this may be the only way a participant has to afford that coverage. Therefore, QLCDs address what may be an actual need for some people."  MORE >>

"With the new accounts set to officially launch July 4, the Treasury Department and IRS have issued a new safe harbor that generally exempts qualifying contributions from gift tax reporting requirements, reducing administrative burdens for families and other donors."  MORE >>

"Each year, more states require businesses above certain employee thresholds, in many cases starting at 5 or more employees and in some states as low as 1 employee, to either offer a qualified retirement plan or enroll employees in a state-facilitated program, with penalties for noncompliance.... What began as a handful of pilot programs has evolved into a nationwide push to expand retirement access and increase employer responsibility."  MORE >>

"[P]laintiff alleged that the ESOP's OIA ... would be worth more today had those assets been invested in a portfolio including stocks and bonds. The court largely denied the defendants' motion to dismiss.... While the court recognized that there may have been 'good reasons' for maintaining a high OIA cash balance (for example, liquidity to facilitate stock repurchases), it declined to give weight to Defendants' alternative explanations at the pleading stage." [Dawson-Roberts v. Norman S. Wright Mechanical Equipment LLC, No. 26-1171 (N.D. Calif. Jun. 25, 2026)]  MORE >>

"When the same provider runs payroll and administration, everything flows through a single system and a single interpretation of the plan document. That sounds efficient, until the setup is wrong. If eligibility is coded incorrectly or compensation definitions don't align with payroll fields, the error repeats every pay period. There's no independent TPA catching the issue ... What looks like integration is often just duplication of risk."  MORE >>

"As private equity firms seek to standardize operations and strengthen governance across their holdings, Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) and Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) are increasingly emerging as strategic retirement plan solutions. By combining centralized administration, professional fiduciary oversight, and scalable plan management, these arrangements can help private equity firms align retirement plan governance with broader business objectives."  MORE >>

"Some of the clearest uses for AI are language-heavy tasks that already consume staff time. Plan staff answer routine questions, rewrite technical language, sort incoming messages, and hunt for the right policy or procedure. Large language models fit that work. They can summarize documents, classify inquiries, draft plain-language responses, and help staff retrieve plan rules quickly."  MORE >>

"Segal analyzed the administrative expenses reported by DC annuity funds in Form 5500 filings for 2023 and 2024. When segmenting the data by plan type, geography, plan size and participant size, the data not only showed clear patterns in administrative cost, but provided guidelines to help plan sponsors understand the fees they should expect or negotiate for their plans. [This article presents those] findings and outline[s] seven steps trustees of plans with outdated fee structures can take to lower administrative costs."  MORE >>

"President Trump on [June 29] announced in a social media post that he will nominate Keith Sonderling to be the next Secretary of Labor. Sonderling has been serving as Acting Labor Secretary since April, after then-Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned following allegations of misconduct and other improprieties."  MORE >>

"The defendants argued that an unintentional error in counseling cannot support a fiduciary breach claim unless the plan language on the same topic is also ambiguous. The court rejected that argument, reasoning that ERISA imposes an affirmative duty on fiduciaries to convey complete and accurate information material to a beneficiary's circumstances, even when the beneficiary has not asked." [Williams v. Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC Benefits and Investment Committee, No. 24-7593 (N.D. Cal. June 29, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The use of artificial intelligence does not lower the fiduciary standard. It does not allow fiduciaries to outsource judgment. It does not excuse weak oversight. And it does not allow a plan sponsor to say, 'The system made the decision,' as if that ends the discussion.... Fiduciary review cannot stop at cost, convenience or a polished sales presentation. Plan fiduciaries should understand what the tool does, what data it uses, how outputs are reviewed and whether a human remains involved."  MORE >>