"The proposed rule expands the definition of fiduciary; requires that advice being given to a broader range of retirement investors meet fiduciary standards; and treats more rollover recommendations as fiduciary advice."   MORE >>

"The proposals, if adopted, will require that thought be given to the processes that a fiduciary adviser or agent should use for determining if a fixed indexed annuity is in the best interest of a retirement investor. Insurance companies will probably support insurance agents by providing education, forms and processes, and data to support best interest processes."   MORE >>

"[T]he denial of a rehearing leaves the case where it was; with a directive for the lower court to reconsider the issue(s) already presented, but with the 'new' interpretation of the issue provided by the appellate court. Or -- and as seems likely considering the sweeping impact of this decision, and its argued divergence from similar cases in other districts -- to appeal to a higher court." [ Bugielski v. AT&T Servs., Inc. , No. 21-56196 (9th Cir. Nov. 8, 23)]   MORE >>

"In all four cases, the plans permitted forfeitures to be used to pay for administrative expenses and to reduce future employer contributions, as is permitted under IRS regulations.... Given that the litigation is based on ERISA (rather than the Internal Revenue Code) ... employers may want to eliminate any discretionary language regarding the use of forfeitures and instead mandate that forfeitures first be used to reduce employer contributions and then be used to pay administrative expenses (if any forfeitures remain)."   MORE >>

"For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, only participants with an account balance at the beginning of the year ... are counted for purposes of requiring an audit.... If you are still close to the participant count threshold, consider looking at your terminated participants with account balances and make efforts to force out small account balances as your plan may allow."   MORE >>

"With a glance, an income replacement ratio can help you assess how much progress individuals, groups, or an entire participant population is making toward generating adequate retirement income. This, in turn, can help show if changes to the plan design or participant experience may be worth pursuing."   MORE >>

"[T]he union won enough concessions to make members' defined contribution plans a plausible alternative for securing a comfortable retirement.... The centerpiece of those retirement gains was a 'huge' boost of more than 70% in the annual contributions Ford, GM and Stellantis make to workers' 401(k) accounts by the end of the new contract, to 10% of salaries from 6.4% at present ... The contributions are automatically made and do not require an employee match."   MORE >>

"Collective investment trusts (CITs) have surpassed mutual funds as the top investment vehicle by defined contribution investment-only (DCIO) assets.... CIT providers see lower cost as a top benefit of the vehicle ... The ability to negotiate fees is also ranked as a significant benefit."   MORE >>

"If you have one IRA that is illiquid, you could simply take the RMD for that account from another IRA that is liquid.... You cannot satisfy your RMD for your IRA from a workplace plan or a Roth IRA. Another possibility is to make a tax year IRA contribution if you are eligible to inject some cash into an IRA.... [Y]ou would need to have earned income and you would be limited to the annual IRA contribution allowed. That may not be enough to satisfy the RMD."   MORE >>

"[The authors estimate that] retirees drawing down income from an investment portfolio can now afford to withdraw as much as 4.0% as an initial spending rate ... That figure is the highest safe withdrawal percentage since Morningstar began creating this research in 2021. (The highest starting safe withdrawal rate based on similar assumptions was 3.3% in 2021 and 3.8% in 2022.)"   MORE >>