Employer Strategies

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued guidance aimed at making it easier for taxpayers to be automatically enrolled in retirement plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans by their employers, simplifying the correction methods if errors are made.

Political and financial pundits alike have talked about a retirement gap or even crisis for years. But as the demographic skews older the crisis is becoming more real.

As 403(b) plans look more like 401(k)s, plan sponsors are turning to advisers to help with plan design and administration.

Because employees aren't actively engaging in their retirement plans on a regular bases, a slight uptick has been seen in employers including managed account options in their workplace 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

Avoiding the Affordable Care Act's excise tax, set to take effect in 2018, is front-of-mind for many benefits decision-makers.

Commentary: Yes, employers can distribute plan documents electronically, but they must follow the rules, and don’t assume intranet posting is enough — because it is not.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1 announced it had settled an enforcement action over an employer’s use of a restrictive confidentiality agreement.

Young benefit advisers are spearheading many of the efforts that promise to keep the benefits profession relevant in the 21st century. EBA’s 2015 Rising Stars in Advising are not just navigating the benefits industry, they’re paving its new frontier.

Changing the emphasis from the accumulation of retirement assets to a safer and smoother way of distributing those savings will help make employees' lives easier, and help maximize their Social Security benefits.

States should not step in and establish their own exchanges if subsides are ruled illegal on the federal health care marketplace, a recent national study found, but industry experts say that is not the national consensus and point to the wording of poll questions to support the discrepancy.