401(k) rule change would ease small companies’ path to joint plans

Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.

401(k) rule change would ease small companies’ path to joint plans
Small businesses would find it easier to offer 401(k) plans to their workers to help them prepare for retirement under the regulation proposed by the Labor Department, according to this article on The Wall Street Journal. The proposed rule would allow small companies with a common owner or from the same industry trade group to band together and create multi-employer retirement plans. Creating multi-employer plans would enable companies to reduce administrative and investment fees.

Department-of-Labor-Bloomberg

How will a couple’s retirement look when there’s a big age gap?
Age gaps between spouses can be a crucial factor when they start planning for retirement, according to this article from the Washington Post. The age gap should be considered when making financial decisions, such as the age to retire and to file Social Security as well as planning how to save and invest for the golden years, according to the article. “Especially if the younger partner is a woman, an age difference can mean you need your money to last longer. Women outlive men on average, which adds additional years to retirement.”

Whose record will my Social Security benefit be based on?
A wife who intends to file for Social Security when she reaches full retirement age will receive whichever is higher between her Primary Insurance Amount and 50% of her husband's PIA, if her spouse is already on Social Security, according to this Q&A article on Forbes. If her husband hasn't filed for his own retirement benefit at the time she submits her application, she will receive her own retirement benefit and may later on get additional benefit once the husband starts collecting his own retirement benefit.

There's no magic number for self-funding long-term care
Clients who opt for self-funding long-term care are likely to save more, as the cost is increasing faster than inflation, writes an expert for Morningstar. "To gauge asset adequacy for long-term care costs, the first step should be to make a reasonable estimate of what those expenses might be," writes the expert. "Then, armed with a view of those expenses, you can assess whether the amount that's left over in your portfolio after you've covered your other expenses is sufficient to fund them."

This article originally appeared in Employee Benefit News.
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Retirement income 401(k) Small business Social Security DoL
MORE FROM EMPLOYEE BENEFIT NEWS