Download The Action DocIRS rules provide for participant loans and hardship withdrawals from 401k and other plans. They're not required, but rather left to the discretion of the plan sponsor. Today, there's a good bit of debate about how participant loans affect long term retirement outcomes. On one hand, it's not hard to appreciate that employees may be more motivated to enroll in a plan that includes a loan feature since it provides comfort that they'll be able to access ...

Times can get tough for people. With the onset of Hurricane Harvey having decimated parts of the Gulf Coast and Hurricane Irma following its destructive lead, we are reminded that at any point we may find ourselves in hardship. Companies make layoffs, natural disasters occur, emergencies… well, emerge. With nowhere else to turn, some will look to their 401k for their own disaster relief. A withdrawal in the form of a "hardship distribution" is one of the tools that participants ...

There has been much upheaval in the retirement world as of late and it centers around the new fiduciary rule. The New Fiduciary Rule means that many investment professionals that weren't previously considered fiduciaries will now have to take on that role. So, why is that such a bad thing? Well, it's not per se, but the implications of how this may change the way the investors and their companies function may leave them frustrated and tentative towards some future business. But before we get too...

 Download The Action DocWhen it comes to the topic of fiduciary responsibilities for qualified retirement plans, there are three things we know really well: Plan Sponsors are, by definition, a fiduciary of their own plan as they exercise control and act on behalf of the plan. Some number of plan sponsors don’t know this even though we try to do our best to make this clear. There are real and serious consequences for them and for your relationship with them if they don’t execute ...

 Download The Action DocYou already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan and, like other plan designs, it allows employees to take advantage of tax deferrals on contributions and earnings while their money accumulates for retirement.To enjoy this special status, the IRS put in place rules to assure that plans benefit rank and file employees and not just a company’s owners and highly compensated employees. These are called nondiscrimination rules and there are three tes...

 Download The Action DocFor the most part, the news about Defined Benefit plans lately has not been particularly good. Whether a big company could no longer fund its plan or how it was bankrupting their business, headlines have discouraged many businesses from seriously considering a DB plan.But it’s time to take another look because, for smaller, more mature companies, DB plans can be a great vehicle to help employees prepare for retirement.You may be surprised to learn that they are...

Whether it’s your car, your air conditioning or your own health, virtually everything you depend on in life needs a periodic assessment. What’s working, what needs repair? A company’s retirement plan is no different. And the evaluation is no less complex than the one your primary care physician might use.This month’s newsletter is designed to introduce you to the elements that make up a well-functioning retirement plan. And as you’ll discover here, the cheapest plan...

Over the last 30 years, there's been an incredible array of advancements in technology that have impacted various parts of our lives. While not all of them were amazing, many of them inherently improved our quality of life and some allowed us to catapult forward into a world of instantly accessible information on a scale never witnessed. As computer science has seeped into almost every facet of life, there's been an increase in connectivity, productivity, and efficiency. The world of investme...

For many years, plan sponsors have wrestled with the decision to offer loans to their plan participants. Some consider them to be a benefit and even promote them as a legal way to use tax free money while participating in the plan. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 87% of plan participants can take a loan against their retirement account. Of those employees with access to take a loan, about one-fifth borrow against the retirement account. Come retirement, what are the eff...

 Download The Action DocFinancial wellness – it’s essential to saving for retirementIntroducing a workplace retirement plan can be a compelling way for individuals to take control of their retirement savings, but for so many people that don’t have control of their personal situation, the retirement plan at work doesn’t have a chance to be successful without a helping hand and tools to achieve financial wellness.We tend to talk about retirement plans in a vacuum &ndas...