The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022. SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022—the “enactment date”.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some are mandatory and...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022—the “enactment date”.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor. One of the most...more
The DOL expanded its interpretation of fiduciary advice in the Preamble to PTE 2020-02 and as a result, many more broker-dealers and their registered representatives (investment professionals) are fiduciaries for their...more
9/13/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Investment ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Self-Correction Programs ,
Standard of Care
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. The PTE then provides relief for conflicted non-discretionary recommendations (for example, rollover recommendations), if its...more
5/17/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Plan Participants ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. The PTE then provides relief for conflicted non-discretionary recommendations (for example, rollover recommendations), if its...more
5/10/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Pensions ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
There is nothing a plan sponsor or ERISA fiduciary can do to prevent allegations of fiduciary breach; however, there are many things they can do to be prepared to rebut such claims. Unfortunately, because of “headline news,”...more
The DOL’s new fiduciary “rule” became effective on February 16, 2021. The rule is a combination of a new and expansive definition of fiduciary advice (and status) and an exemption from the prohibitions of ERISA and the...more
10/7/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
Plan Participants ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers
When a participant experiences a distribution event (e.g., terminating service with the employer), and when the participant does not affirmatively elect to take the distribution, a plan document may require that an account...more
9/9/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
Missing Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
Recommendations to retirement plan participants to roll their accounts from a plan to an individual retirement account or annuity will often be viewed as fiduciary advice under new Department of Labor (DOL) guidance. That...more
The Department of Labor’s Proposed Prohibited Transaction Exemption and Its Impact on Recommendations to Plans, Participants and IRAs (Part 3): Investment Adviser Considerations -
On December 18, 2020, the DOL issued its...more
1/27/2021
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
Plan Participants ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Regulation BI
On December 18, 2020, the Department of Labor published its expansion of the fiduciary interpretation and exemption for conflicted advice in the Federal Register. (Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02, Improving...more
1/13/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Rollover Equity ,
Title I
The SEC’s Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) applies to recommendations by a broker-dealer to “retail customers.” As the term suggests, a retail customer is a “natural person” (or the legal representative of a natural person)...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 created a new type of plan that may begin operating in 2021 called a pooled employer plan (PEP). A PEP is a plan in which multiple unrelated...more
There are two parts of the SECURE Act that I believe will have the greatest impact on plan sponsors and service providers.
• The first part includes the provisions on retirement income, including the safe harbor for...more
1/8/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) ,
New Legislation ,
Pooled Registration Pension Plans ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act
The SEC has issued its final Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), Form CRS Regulation, RIA Interpretation and Solely Incidental Interpretation. I am discussing the SEC’s guidance in a series of articles entitled “Best Interest...more
11/14/2019
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Lessons Learned from Litigation (#4)—The Johns Hopkins Case -
This is the twelfth in a series of articles about Best Practices for Plan Sponsors. To be clear, “best practices” are not the same as legal requirements....more
By now you have probably seen a number of articles about the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019) and its safe harbor for guaranteed retirement income in 401(k) plans. Some have...more