Maintaining Successful Committee Requires Continuous Education, Right People
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In This Issue
Fiduciary and Plan Governance Maintaining Successful Committee Requires Continuous Education, Right People Members of a retirement plan committee serve a critical role in the decision-making process of any company's benefits program, from investment lineup decisions to provider partnerships and, ultimately, upholding ERISA. Not only are committee members key decision-makers, but they are also fiduciaries and must ensure prudent management of the plan. As a result, ongoing education and training for plan committee members are vital, as they must understand the requirements of ERISA, litigation trends, the importance of documentation, and much more. Source: Plansponsor.com How to Teach Fiduciary Responsibility to Plan Committees Sponsors of retirement plans, especially those covered by ERISA, must ensure their retirement plan committee members are trained to understand and execute their fiduciary duties. To do so, plans find fiduciary education and training from regulators, existing providers, and a wide variety of sources. Source: Plansponsor.com When and Why a Second Retirement Plan Committee Makes Sense Designing a retirement plan structure that ensures efficient decision-making and smooth execution of initiatives is crucial for employers, but that ideal plan structure depends on many factors, including an organization's size and needs. While some organizations have a single retirement committee that covers decisions about the plan's investments and administrative matters, others divide the tasks among two committees. Source: Plansponsor.com How to Have a Successful 401k Committee Meeting As a member of a 401k committee, you have a crucial responsibility to ensure that your company's retirement plan functions optimally. One of the key ways to achieve this is by holding regular committee meetings to review and make decisions on various aspects of the plan. However, holding a successful committee meeting takes more than just showing up and discussing topics. This article provides some tips on how to have a successful 401k committee meeting. Source: Cuiwealth.com Forfeiture Litigation Raises New Issues for Plan Fiduciaries Groom Law Group's George M. Sepsakos covers allegations and potential implications of recent lawsuits against plan fiduciaries related to the use of plan forfeitures. Source: 401kspecialistmag.com »» Click here for more Fiduciary and Plan Governance Material Insight: Studies, Research, Analysis, and Papers The Pros and Cons of Remaining in a 401k Plan After Retirement This paper examines whether retirees would benefit from staying in their companies' 401k plans after retirement, versus rolling their savings over to an IRA. The research focused on individuals having low or moderate levels of financial literacy and concluded that many such retirees would likely find it financially rewarding to retain their assets in their 401k plans. Source: Openjournals.libs.uga.edu Complexity, Cost Concerns Have Sponsors on the Fence With In-Plan Income Solutions While the SECURE Act was supposed to help pave the way for the adoption of retirement income solutions in DC plans, new research finds that plan sponsors still have some concerns. This comes as unease about the impact of inflation on retirement savings is raising fears among plan participants that they will run out of money in retirement, according to a new survey by Greenwald Research. Source: Napa-net.org ERISA at 50: What Might the Next 50 Years Bring? The authors share a retrospective look at ERISA's influence and what to expect in the years ahead. They outlined the enactment of ERISA, changes and expansions to ERISA's reach, other significant laws, and ERISA litigation. In conclusion, the authors noted that ERISA preemption faces new questions as more states enact new mandated benefits and assert regulatory authority over certain benefits. Source: Benefitnews.com Economists Refute Biggs-Munnell Plan to Repeal 401k Tax Preferences to Boost Social Security A recent proposal by Andrew Biggs and Alicia Munnell in a brief from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College created a stir in the workplace retirement market that has led to a couple of strong rebuttals this week from fellow economists. Source: 401kspecialistmag.com »» Click here for More Studies, Research, and White Papers 403b Plans Can 403bs and CITs Some Day Be Friends? 403b plans still may not use collective investment trusts, an investment similar to a mutual fund that is subject to fewer regulations and requirements and often carries lower fees for defined contribution retirement plans. But, legislation to permit the pooled investment into 403b plans continues to inchworm its way through Congress. Source: Planadviser.com »» Click here for More 403b Material Court and Legal DOL Lawsuit Alleges TPA Stole $5.5M in Retirement Plan Assets From 17 Clients The DOL has sued Paul Palguta, the owner and president, of RiversEdge Advanced Retirement Solutions LLC for allegedly stealing assets from retirement plans. RiversEdge's retirement plan clients enter into agreements with the firm, allowing Palguta and others at Sewickley, Pennsylvania-based RiversEdge to execute trades and direct the disposition of the plan's assets, according to the complaint filed January 26. Source: Plansponsor.com Five Important ERISA Decisions Rounded Out 2023 Federal appellate courts issued various decisions involving ERISA in the latter half of 2023. Here are five important ERISA decisions that benefit attorneys should know. Source: Hallbenefitslaw.com CoreLogic Clears 401k Excessive Fee Claims Another 401k excessive fee suit has been dismissed because the participant bringing suit suffered no injury, and thus, had no grounds to bring suit according to a federal court. The suit charged that CoreLogic, Inc. together with its plan administrator, breached its duties under ERISA to employees invested in its 401k retirement plan. Source: Napa-net.org »» Click here for more Court and Other Legal Issues Legislative and Washington DC Lawmakers Propose to Give Kids a Head Start in Saving for Retirement A powerful group of Democratic lawmakers has introduced legislation to help children start saving early for retirement by establishing a savings account for every child in America. The bicameral 401Kids Savings Act was introduced Jan. 31 in the Senate (S. 3716). Source: Napa-net.org »» Click here for more on Legislative and Washington Actions Compliance and Regulatory Pension-Linked Emergency Savings Account Guideposts Issued The NHCE's contributions to the PLESA cannot be more than $2,500 (the plan sponsor can make the amount less), and there are restrictions on how it gets invested. PLESAs are an optional provision; the plan sponsor may offer them or not, and they can be removed at any time from the plan. SECURE 2.0 doesn't provide details on how to make this happen, which is why we need guidance. This is a review of the recently issued IRS and DOL guidance. Source: Ferenczylaw.com "Guiding" Student Loan Matches One of the optional provisions in the SECURE 2.0 Act that some employers were very excited about is the provision to allow a 401k match based on a participant's student loan payment rather than deferrals. When asked about what guidance from the Treasury Department they would like to see before deciding on this provision or before implementing it, the responses varied from technical questions such as how to track employees' student loan payments, to regulatory questions such as how this would work with safe harbor plans, to not waiting on guidance but just waiting to work out the technical complexities with their providers. Source: Asppa.org »» Click here for more Compliance and Regulatory Material Marketplace News Steward Partners Elevates Wealth Management and Retirement Planning Services With Pontera New PEP Made Available by Ascensus, American Funds John Hancock Retirement Announces Reorganization Morningstar Retirement, Nuveen Collaborate to Offer TIAA Secure Income Account OneAmerica Announces Rebrand to OneAmerica Financial BlackRock Launches Digital Hub Serving DC Advisor Channel
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