Retirement

A new study released by insurance industry researcher LIMRA shows that half of defined contribution employees are still not aware of how much they pay in annual fees and expenses, despite fee disclosure requirements added in 2012.

At the ASPPA 401(k) conference, going on this week in Las Vegas, financial advisers said that too often, plan sponsors pick their recordkeeper and then default to the investments options offered, when it should be the other way around.

There is a general belief that advisers acting as fiduciaries to a 401(k) plan would violate ERISA if they advise participants on IRA rollover opportunities and wind up managing those rolled over funds. That opinion is not surprising, according to ERISA attorney Marcia S. Wagner of the Wagner Law Group. But it is not necessarily correct.

Once the province of only large plans, ERISA Accounts have found their way into the small plan market. And if you’re an advisor working in that market, it can be an important tool for you to add value to plan sponsors.

We’re starting your week with three important facts, developments or conversations from recent and upcoming events. This week, we look at the new IRS guidelines, final ruling from CMS on MLR ratio and what’s going on in Europe with retirement taxes.

Opponents of a European Union financial-transactions tax say pension funds will be hurt even if their home governments don’t sign up.

“Make an Impact,” the theme for the 2013 NAPA/ASPPA 401(k) summit that began yesterday in Las Vegas, may have sounded more like an exhortation to the nearly 1,400 pension professionals attending the event -- but an appeal that many appear to have every intention of acting upon. Threats to the 401(k) from Washington were chronicled in the opening session by ASPPA CEO Brian Graff and others.

Odds are strong that many of your clients’ 401(k) plans could have significantly greater assets even without spectacular investment performance or a dramatic increase in salary deferral rates.

ERISA plans, as financial entities, will be required to clear certain over-the-counter swaps (i.e., not executed on an exchange) at a “derivatives clearing organization.”

Overcoming employee inertia in retirement savings with effective plan design by Unified Trust’s Lee Topley.