News

Summer Newsletter Sneak Peek In this edition, we explore missing participants in retirement plans, the benefits of safe harbor plans, and provide an overview of cash balance plans. Click on the button below to read the entire article...

Spring Newsletter Sneak Peek In this edition, we explore the various players involved with retirement plan administration, mergers and acquisitions and their effect on retirement plans, and the newly issued guidance from the DOL on cybersecurity. Click on the button...

Winter Newsletter Sneak Peek In this edition, we explore multiple employer plans, relief provided under the most recent federal stimulus bill, and proper handling of salary deferral contributions, including DOL COVID-19 relief. Click on the button below to read the...

2021 Cost of Living Adjustments On October 26, 2020, the IRS announced the COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENTS affecting the dollar limitations for retirement plans. Contribution and benefit increases are intended to allow participant contributions and benefits to keep up with...

Electronic Delivery Could Save Billions On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced the publication of a final rule that will allow employers to communicate the required retirement plan disclosures...

SECURE  Act The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was signed into Law on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act represents some of the most significant changes to retirement plan law since the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006,...

The economy continues at its strong pace, keeping unemployment rates at its lowest rate in nearly 50 years. While this is usually good news, employee financial vulnerability is clouding this sunny forecast. The repercussions are impacting their ability to save for...

Automatic Enrollment is on the Rise With the future of Social Security in question, it is becoming ever increasingly important for workers to self-prepare for post-retirement living. Studies show that approximately one out of every three eligible workers...    Read...

It's Testing Season! Qualified plans must perform annual testing to be sure that the plan doesn’t unfairly discriminate in favor of "highly compensated employees" (HCEs) or exceed the contribution limits set forth by the IRS. Depending on your plan provisions, it...

Hardships Get a Little Easier Earlier this year, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 was passed by Congress and signed into law.  While this law made several changes that impact retirement plans, one provision changing the rules around hardship distributions is...

The Retirement Income Gap Many American workers participate in company retirement plans, methodically contributing to their accounts over time to fund for life after work. Beyond benefiting from employer-funded plans, retirees commonly draw from additional savings...

Who is an Employee? MAINTAINING A RETIREMENT PLAN FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES IS NO EASY TASK. At various points during the year, employers and HR departments field participant questions, help with enrollments, deliver notices and statements, and participate in the...

Navigating Distributions The first quarter of the calendar year typically sees an uptick in the number of retirement plan distributions and participant loans. This year may be even busier than most, given the relief announced by the IRS for victims of the recent...

End of the Year Checklist As the year-end approaches, our to-do lists can be lengthy. There are holidays to prepare for, employee performance reviews to complete, and, oh, wait, there is also the year-end data collection package from your TPA! We have once again...

Fiduciary – The New “F” Word There has been much upheaval in the retirement world as of late and it centers around the new fiduciary rule. The New Fiduciary Rule means that many investment professionals that weren't previously considered fiduciaries will now have to...

The latest news regarding retirement plans has centered around service provider fees. While fees are a highly important aspect of managing an employer-sponsored retirement plan, they are not the only metric of your overall retirement plan’s health. A low-cost...

With communication mediums like email, text, and IM’s becoming the standard in business industries worldwide, plan sponsors are becoming increasingly interested in abandoning paper processes for a more electronic means of communication with plan participants and...

It is estimated that uncashed checks account for billions of dollars, representing a fortune of uncollected funds belonging to plan participants or beneficiaries that they are not able to use and also represent serious issues for fiduciaries. Uncashed distribution...

A 401(k) plan permits employees to defer a portion of their salaries on a pre-tax basis with the objective of accumulating assets for retirement. Additional assets are accumulated if the employer makes contributions to the participant’s account. Click on the button...

If you have a 401(k) plan, you’ve likely had participants ask about taking loans from their accounts. If you haven’t yet, it is only a matter of time. While the concept of taking a loan is pretty straightforward—you borrow money, you repay it with interest—there are...

On April 8, 2016 the Department of Labor (DOL) issued final guidance that greatly expands the types of retirement investment advice that will be subject to the fiduciary duty rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The so-called...

Sooner or later, almost all 401(k) plans will face the “fun” of dealing with forfeitures. Just like every other plan-related operational item, there are specific rules that provide guidance on the “who, what, why, when and where” of using forfeitures. What is a...

If your firm has a profit sharing plan, a 401(k) plan or some other tax-qualified retirement plan, then you have been given a Form 5500 to sign and file every year since your business adopted the plan. While the form looks like most other IRS forms, the information...

More and more businesses are hiring part-time, seasonal or temporary employees (collectively referred to in this newsletter as “part-time employees”). Employers believe the advantages to using this alternative workforce include lower wages and significant savings in...

Determining Retirement Plan Compensation When it comes to operating your retirement plan, determining the compensation that should be used for each participant can be really confusing. It seems like it should be simple, but the reality is quite different. In fact, the...