Rebecca Moore
September 29, 2009 — While many investors still do not understand the features of a Roth IRA or know about the conversion opportunity just months away, most said they would look to their financial adviser or account for help, according to a Fidelity survey. —
Continue reading “Investors Turn to Advisers for Roth Conversion Help” »
From the September 17, 2009 EBIA Weekly
Available at: http://www.retirementplans.irs.gov
The IRS has announced a new website to encourage small businesses to establish retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, for their employees. The website, called the IRS Retirement Plans Navigator, is designed to help employers choose the right retirement plan for their business and includes information on maintaining those plans and correcting common plan errors. Among the types of retirement plans available for small businesses are several IRA-based plans that are simpler to administer than 401(k) plans, some of which can include a deferral feature.
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By Money Management Executive
September 29, 2009
Noting that 15% of 401(k) participants have engaged in some form of “leakage,” that is, hardship withdrawals from their plans or failure to roll the money over when changing jobs, between 1998 and 2006, the Government Accountability Office is recommending that Congress eliminate the ban on additional contributions for six months by those who make such withdrawals.
Continue reading “GAO Proposes Changes to 401(k) Hardship Withdrawal Rule” »
Fred Schneyer
September 21, 2009 — Forty-two percent of corporate finance executives said they are very likely to limit high-risk investments for their defined contribution plans, according to a poll by CFO Research Services in collaboration with Prudential Financial. —
Continue reading “DC Sponsors Confront Risk Issues” »
Fred Schneyer
September 23, 2009 — Financial advisers might have significant opportunity helping Americans figure out where their investments are and where they need to go, a Hartford poll suggests. —
Americans in a recent poll were less confident and more conservative about their personal finances than they were a year ago, according to a news release about the Hartford Mutual Funds Findings.
Continue reading “Investors Need Adviser Help to Navigate” »
Fred Schneyer
Not only that, but a Watson Wyatt news release about its poll said the number of companies using lifecycle or target-date funds as their default investment option has increased from 38% in 2006 to 62% currently.
Continue reading “Automatic Enrollment, Target-Date Funds Still Hot Topics” »
By Kristen McNamara
Independent financial advisers will benefit from the rule-making that is under way regarding which financial professionals can advise participants in company-sponsored retirement plans — and which ones can’t.
Phyllis Borzi, assistant secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said this week the department expects to strike a proposal that would have allowed advisers connected to investment companies to provide retirement advice.
Continue reading “Who Can Advise At Company Retirement Plans” »
Retirement plan fee disclosure regulations from the Department of Labor are preferable to legislation because they allow for a comment period from the industry.
Industry experts are hoping the Department of Labor pre-empts Congress in issuing new regulations mandating increased disclosures for retirement plan fees.
Continue reading “Experts Pin Hopes on Labor Department for Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure Regulations” »
September 16, 2009
Bob Eccles, Wayne Jacobsen
A recent spate of so-called 401(k) fee cases has generated anxiety among employers and 401(k) service providers. While the majority of these cases remain undecided, the early returns are positive for employers and service providers. This Client Alert provides a brief overview of the most significant developments and expected future events in these cases.
Continue reading “Early Returns in 401(k) Fee Cases Favor Defendants” »
By Sara Hansard
September 14, 2009, 4:38 PM EST
The Department of Labor is killing a regulation issued in the last days of the Bush administration that would have allowed advisers affiliated with mutual funds, brokerage firms and other companies that sell investments to provide investment advice to 401(k) participants.
“We believe the final investment advice regulation published in the Jan. 21, Federal Register went too far in permitting investment advice arrangements not specifically contemplated by the statutory exemption,” said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, a unit of the Labor Department.
Continue reading “Labor Department nixes Bush rule to let brokers advise 401(k) plans” »