Best Practices for 401k Committees
|
Newsletter Sponsor Register for the Most Important Retirement Plan Professionals' Event of the Year: 2015NAFE Head to Las Vegas for the 2015 NIPA Annual Forum & Expo (2015NAFE), May 3-6. This event helps you learn new ways to increase revenue by strengthening and expanding your business. The 2015NAFE will offer educational tracks providing learning opportunities for your entire office staff, including the new Business Topics track. Register by April 2 to save $100!
In This Issue
Items of Special Interest to Service Providers
Best Practices for 401k Committees Summary: Helping your clients set up a committee to clearly define and document a process of plan oversight is an effective way to help them limit the liability associated with managing a 401k plan, and provide tremendous value. Article reviews some "best practices."
Source: 401kbestpractices.com
Private Industry Converging on Fiduciary Solution Ahead of Regulators Summary: Interview with Brian Hamburger, the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of MarketCounsel, a business and regulatory compliance consulting firm. Hamburger is an active advocate for a fiduciary standard and his firm recently came out with an 11 point 'Best Practices for Advisers and Brokers Seeking to Meet True Fiduciary Standard.'
Source: Fiduciarynews.com
403(b) Plans Summary: A chart prepared by McKay Hochman that compares the features of code §403(b) and code §401(k) plans.
Source: Mhco.com
Beneficiary Rights When a 403(b) Participant Dies Summary: It's not unusual for questions to arise about options for the beneficiaries of 403(b) accounts, including non-spouse beneficiaries' ability to "stretch" the distributions from the deceased's account over the beneficiary's lifetime. This is a reviews of basic of beneficiary rights.
Source: Ntsa-net.org
Fiduciary and Plan Governance Material
Three Things Every Plan Committee Member Should Know Summary: Plan investment committee members come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes drawn exclusively from staff of the employer sponsoring the plan, sometimes not. More importantly, they are frequently tapped for this important role for reasons that may have little to do with their background or expertise in the matters that will come before the committee. Here are three important things that every plan committee member should know before they sit down at their first committee meeting.
Source: Napa-net.org
Insight: Studies, Research and White Papers
Shining a Spotlight on Investment Advice Summary: Managed account and automated advice services have made significant inroads in DC plans. However, plan sponsors often have had limited or insufficient information to evaluate and monitor automated advice engines, despite having fiduciary responsibility over advice provided to participants. Article offers some simple investigative strategies to make more thorough evaluations, potentially improving participant outcomes and reducing fiduciary risk.
Source: Pimco.com
Five Ways Retirement Is Changing Summary: Canada is seeing transformative change taking place in the way that people think about retirement, and in how they should plan for it, both financially and in every other area of life. Two dynamic new forces of change are increasing longevity and shifting demographics. Article outlines five key changes that are re-visioning retirement.
Source: Benefitscanada.com
Target-Date Funds
Target-Date Fund Inflows Not What They Used to Be: Morningstar Summary: In the fourth quarter of 2014, target-date funds had nearly $6.5 billion in asset inflows, about half the historical three-year quarterly average of $13 billion. A key reason for the weak growth is that fewer new retirement plans are putting target-date funds into their lineups. Plus, more plans are moving assets into collective trusts or custom target-date strategies.
Source: Thinkadvisor.com
Plan Automation
Getting Auto-Enrollment Implementation Right Summary: Implementing automatic enrollment without thinking through plan design can result in compliance and administrative issues. Plan failures due to automatic enrollment, either breaking the law or operational failures, happen. So plan sponsors should put language in their plan document that is easy to follow and not burdensome to live with.
Source: Plansponsor.com
Automatic Enrollment, Employer Match Rates and Employee Compensation in 401k Plans Summary: This study examines the relationship between automatic enrollment and employee compensation. A significant negative correlation exists between the generosity of the employer match structure and the automatic enrollment provision. However, study finds no evidence that total compensation costs or DC costs differ between firms with and without automatic enrollment, and no evidence that DC costs crowd out other forms of compensation.
Source: Ssrn.com
Court and Legal
2015 Q1 Retirement Plan Litigation Update Summary: Two page quarterly update of new and on-going retirement plan litigation prepared by Portfolio Evaluations, Inc.
Source: Porteval.com
Santomenno Court Case a Window Into Debate Over DOL Fiduciary Rulemaking Summary: As the industry waits for the DOL to re-propose its fiduciary rule, a case at the appellate level last year provides an interesting preview of the upcoming debate. What makes this case so interesting is how the plaintiffs, defendants, and the DOL itself, via its amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs, addressed the past, present, and future of the DOL's fiduciary rule.
Source: Fi360.com
Ninth Circuit Concludes Beneficiary Designation Form Not a Plan Document Summary: In Becker v. Mays-Williams, the Ninth Circuit was confronted with the issue of determining whether decedent Asa Williams, a long-time participant in his employer's ERISA governed retirement savings plans, effectively changed his beneficiary designation from his ex-wife to his son from an earlier marriage. The Court concluded that to resolve the question, it would have to address a matter of first impression for the Ninth Circuit, whether beneficiary designation forms are plan documents.
Source: Erisa-employeebenefitslitigationblog.com
Northern Trust to Pay $36mm to Settle ERISA Suit Summary: Northern Trust Co. has agreed to pay $36 million to settle claims by plaintiffs in two 401k plans alleging the firm mismanaged investments in its securities lending business and charged excessive fees.
Source: Benefitspro.com
Compliance and Regulatory Related
2015 Q1 Retirement Plan Regulatory Update Summary: Two page quarterly update of new and on-going regulatory issues related to retirement plans prepared by Portfolio Evaluations, Inc.
Source: Porteval.com
Is Your 401k Plan Up to Snuff? Watch Out for These Audit Red Flags Summary: Four emerging potential 401k trouble spots are becoming a greater focus at the DOL. One involves self-directed brokerage accounts that allow participants to purchase individual securities. The other three trouble spots involve administrative procedures to address.
Source: Bizactions.com
Marketplace News Employee Fiduciary Retains V2 Marketing for Inbound Marketing Cetera to Offer Envestnet's Practice Management Platform ERISA Attorney Tom Clark Joins the Wagner Law Group
This eNewsletter is a digest of information published by a variety of web-based sources on 401k and related issues and is published as a service to our users. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC is not the author of the material unless specifically noted. Articles are copyrighted to their publishers. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact the source site immediately. All links were tested before this eNewsletter was e-mailed to you to ensure that they are still functional, but publishers do move or delete articles. Therefore, we can't guarantee that the links provided will remain operational. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC does not endorse and disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of the material linked to in this newsletter. Reliance on this material should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. THIS NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE INVESTMENT, TAX, ACCOUNTING OR LEGAL ADVICE. Copyright © 2015 by 401khelpcenter.com, LLC. All rights reserved. No reproductions without prior authorization, but you are free to email this copy (in its entirety) along to colleagues or clients. This newsletter may not be posted to any website. 401khelpcenter.com, LLC
|
