Get Your Fiduciary Right – Before it gets You
Named Fiduciary "Mother of All Fiduciaries" Companies are not required to sponsor a retirement plan for their employees. However, the act of sponsoring a retirement plan does mean that the Plan Sponsor (read company) is now subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). At its origin, ERISA was comprised of approximately 280 pages, some 43 years later we have a library of rules, regulations, laws and guidance to help interpret ERISA. Every retiremen
Annual 401(k) Plan Notices
Instead of sending out an article this month we are sending out to our 401(k) participants the QDIA notice, Summary Plan Description, Summary of Material Modifications (SMM), Summary Annual Report (SAR), and where applicable a Match notice. For those with a Plan year ending on December 31st, these notifications should be landing in your inbox or mailbox by Dec. 1st. In this short letter we would like to give you a brief description of what each of these notices are.
QDIA
Fiduciary Hierarchy
With more and more lawsuits coming against retirement plans, it is important for Plan Sponsors to understand the level of Fiduciary responsibility that they assume if they are the 402 Managing Fiduciary. However, the Plan Sponsor can delegate this responsibility under ERISA 405. Learn more Here.
Cart Before The Horse
Tax reform is a popular topic these days. After all, who doesn’t find the idea of lower taxes appealing? It seems as though virtually every politician is the champion of fair taxes and touts themselves as the only one with the capability to ensure that we will enjoy lower taxes under their tenure in office. Regardless of promises and hype, we hope the tax reform that is underway in Washington will indeed yield a meaningful improvement in the tax structure for individuals a
Tax Reform and Your 401(k)
The initial tax plan has finally been released this morning. As with anything that affects so many people there has been enormous speculation concerning what the tax plan will and won’t include, who will be hurt and who will benefit. Part of the rumor mill has included the idea that pre-tax 401(k) contributions by 401(k) participants will be limited to $2,400/year. In effect, the deduction would have made 401(k) contributions a “Roth” contribution – meaning you would pay t
