[Guidance Overview]

Proposed Extension of Interest Rate Stabilization Percentages for Single Employer Plans

"Delaying the widening of the corridor means that the present value of future benefit obligations does not increase until a later specified date, and companies do not have to increase their required plan contributions until that point. Lower plan contributions increase companies' taxable income, which results in increased Treasury revenue. JCT estimated that this provision would result in a net increase of $2.9 billion for the U.S. Treasury." [IN11735, Aug. 31, 2021]   MORE >>

Congressional Research Service [CRS]

[Sponsor]

ERISApedia.com – Operational Benchmark Reports

Show clients/prospects your value add with our best in class Operational Benchmark Reports. To get a free Benchmark Report email or call Maureen Pesek ( mpesek@erisapedia.com / 612-444-3665)

[Guidance Overview]

Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors, Part 64: Compliance with PTE 2020-02 -- Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

"In some cases, broker-dealers have modified their Reg BI conflicts disclosures for this purpose. Those disclosures can be a good starting point for the 2020-02 disclosures, but more may be required. The same can be said of Form ADV disclosures."   MORE >>

FredReish.com

Emerging Issues in 401(k) Fee Litigation

"[T]wo elements of [this complaint] are somewhat unusual. First, plaintiff's theory that two share classes included in the fund menu were not 'prudent, in terms of cost' because of the availability of revenue sharing in an alternative share class (that plaintiff asserts should have been selected), even though that alternative share class carried a higher sticker price. And, second, plaintiff's attack on the plan's managed account arrangement." [Reichert v. Juniper Networks, No. 21-6213 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Aug. 11, 2021)]   MORE >>

October Three Consulting

Dog Days of Summer Pave the Way for Continuing Rise in ERISA Litigation

"Three important [ERISA] breach of fiduciary decisions came down this summer.... [1] [T]he Second Circuit affirmed the trial result in favor of the fiduciaries but reversed on the district court's earlier dismissal at the pleadings stage of a prudence claim ... [2] The Seventh Circuit ... decided whether ERISA preempts state corporate law/breach of fiduciary claims against company officers and directors who also serve in an ERISA fiduciary capacity, as permitted by ERISA's 'two-hat' principles.... [3] [T]he Fifth Circuit provided fiduciaries and plan sponsors some comfort by confirming again that a plan sponsor's authority to amend its plan does not implicate fiduciary duties." [ Sacerdote v. New York Univ. , No. 18-2707 (2d Cir. Aug. 16, 2021); Halperin v. Richards , No. 20-2793 (7th Cir. Jul. 28, 2021); and Jackson v. AT&T Retirement Savings Plan , No. 20-30255 (5th Cir. Aug. 16, 2021)]   MORE >>

Miller & Chevalier

Fiduciary Responsibilities Triggered by Recordkeeper Consolidation

"When a new record keeper has acquired a prior record keeper's business, the plan sponsor clients of the acquired record keeper ... haven't chosen to hire the buyer and may not even have received much communication about what is happening.... Fiduciaries have a legal responsibility to make sure that their plans have obtained competent services at a reasonable cost, which means that they need to take steps to determine whether staying put or finding a new record keeper is in the interest of plan participants."   MORE >>

Carol Buckmann, via RPA Convergence

How Might Investing in Private Equity Funds Affect Retirement Savings Accounts?

"Under most reasonable assumptions ... average retirement savings would increase when 401(k) plans include PE investments ... Under the most optimistic scenario ... PE investments could boost average account balances by nearly 10 percent over a full career.... [S]imulated impacts vary widely, with some savers doing substantially better than the average and others doing substantially worse."   MORE >>

Urban Institute

The 2021 OASDI Trustees Report

"Employment, earnings, interest rates, and GDP dropped substantially in the second calendar quarter of 2020 and are assumed to rise gradually thereafter toward recovery by 2023, with the level of worker productivity and thus GDP assumed to be permanently lowered by 1 percent. In addition, the pandemic and recession are assumed to lead to elevated mortality rates over the period 2020 through 2023 and delays in births and immigration in the near term. Taken together, these data and assumptions cause the reserve depletion date for the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds under the intermediate assumptions to change from 2035, shown in the 2020 report, to 2034 for this report. These changes also result in a small but significant reduction in the actuarial balance for the OASDI program."   MORE >>

U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA]

Social Security Trust Funds Take a Step Backward

"[T]he data and projections presented include the Trustees' best estimates of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 recession ... [T]he finances of both programs have been significantly affected, as employment, earnings, interest rates and GDP dropped substantially in the second quarter of 2020. And while these economic indicators are presumed to rise gradually toward full recovery by 2023, the level of worker productivity and GDP assumed are projected to be permanently lowered by 1%[.]"   MORE >>

American Retirement Association [ARA]

FAS87 ASC715 Discount Rates and Moody's Rates, August 31, 2021

An unofficial monthly report of the Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages and Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages (used as benchmarks by some corporate pension plans).   MORE >>

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Townsend Joins DOL as Retirement Advisor to Secretary of Labor

"Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is joining the [DOL] to help advance state and federal efforts to expand retirement savings programs.... Townsend most recently served as Executive Director of Retirement for All, a grassroots advocacy foundation to create universal retirement plans for all. From 2018 to 2019, she was Director of Retirement Security at the Economic Policy Institute, and she has served as a research professor at Georgetown University, where she founded the Center for Retirement Initiatives."   MORE >>

American Retirement Association [ARA]

[Opinion]

Potential Benefits of Universal Access to Retirement Savings: An Analysis of National Options to Expand Coverage (PDF)

55 pages. "Universal access to retirement savings options would give all workers the opportunity to save, and evidence from other countries, from individual states, and from private sector plans suggests that many would begin to do so, especially when encouraged using default options, such as automatic enrollment."   MORE >>

Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives

[Opinion]

ARPA Is 'Actuarial Equivalent of a Guillotine'

"So why aren't plan participants ... having their monthly pension amounts restored to pre-MPRA levels and getting large checks to make up for past reductions? It would reduce asset values in those plans -- but isn't that a good thing when applying for bailout money?"   MORE >>

Burypensions

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Grant Mulkey Joins Stinson's Labor, Employment & Benefits Practice in Washington, D.C.

Stinson

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Opening and Amending IRAs

November 2, 2021 WEBCAST

Ascensus

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IRS 'Issue Snapshots' Show Continued Focus on 403(b) Plan Compliance

Mercer

The 403(b) 'Qualified Plan Distribution Annuity Contract' Under SECURE Act Section 109

Business of Benefits

Retirement Readiness Among Older Workers 2021 (PDF)

Insured Retirement Institute [IRI]