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.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
3/14/2023
/ Business Expenses ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employer Contributions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Small Employers ,
Startups ,
Tax Credits
The current DOL fiduciary rule says that a broker-dealer and its registered representatives (advisors) are fiduciaries to a plan under ERISA if a functional 5-part test is satisfied. This same 5-part test applies to...more
2/22/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
PTEs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retirement Plan
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
2/6/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Deferred Contributions ,
Employer Contributions ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Plan Participants ,
Repeal ,
Retirement ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Taxation
The SECURE Act 2.0 permits plan sponsors to give participants the option of receiving employer contributions on a Roth basis.
This provision is effective on the date of enactment, December 29, 2022.
However, the...more
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
Registered investment advisers, including dual registrant broker-dealers (collectively “advisers”) who provide discretionary investment management services to individual retirement accounts (IRAs), are fiduciaries under the...more
1/17/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standard of Care
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
Now that 2022 is behind us, the final steps in compliance with PTE 2020-02 must be satisfied. Those steps are (i) conducting the annual retrospective review and the resulting report (within six months) and (ii) correcting any...more
Both the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) include prohibited transaction provisions that literally prohibit certain transactions (unless exempted by statute or by a...more
The Department of Labor considers a rollover recommendation to be a recommendation to liquidate the investments in a participant’s 401(k) account or to transfer (and change) securities.
In addition, as explained in...more
The SEC and the DOL have separately issued guidance on rollover recommendations – however, a close examination indicates that the guidance by both agencies is very similar. The SEC’s guidance for broker-dealers is in...more
On September 27, 2022, the SEC announced that it had sanctioned 15 Broker-Dealers and one affiliated RIA for widespread recordkeeping violations of Section 17(a)(1) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17a-4(b)(4) thereunder...more
10/4/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cease and Desist ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Penalties ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
There appear to be conflicting views of whether an investment adviser’s duty of care can be satisfied by disclosures that satisfy the duty of loyalty. That is, if an adviser discloses the receipt of additional compensation...more
9/27/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Duty of Loyalty ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Care ,
Standard of Conduct
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 explained in the preamble to PTE 2020-02.
When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors, that is, retirement plans, participants (including...more
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is explained in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement plans, participants (including rollovers),...more
8/9/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice to retirement plans, participants, and IRAs was described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. The PTE then provides relief for conflicted non-discretionary recommendations to...more
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement plans, participants (including rollovers),...more
7/28/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees), allows broker-dealers and their registered representatives (advisors) to receive conflicted compensation resulting...more
7/27/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investors ,
Mitigation ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement
The DOL’s expanded interpretation of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02. The expanded interpretation applies to all rollover recommendations, including...more
7/12/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan
The DOL’s expanded interpretation of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02. When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement...more
7/6/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02.
When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement plans, participants (including...more
6/22/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement plans, participants (including rollovers),...more