Download The Action DocSome business owners may come to you asking for information on a 401K or a cash balance plan. They may know of these from prior experience, or friendly advice, or they may have done their homework about different retirement plans. As retirement plan experts, we have many plan designs and options to offer depending on what we determine may be a best fit for your clients. The temptation is to quote them what they ask for. We think the better approach is to first invest a lit...

Download The Action DocYou already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan that 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 non-discrimination rules to assure that plans benefit rank and file employees and not just a company’s owners and highly compensated employees. We know that the goal of many company owners is to maximize how much they can contr...

For many new Plan Sponsors, and even those savvy at running company retirement plans, understanding plan design can be daunting. Industry terminology, IRS code sections, and complicated illustrations can make understanding difficult.As a retirement plan service provider, we try to ensure that your plan design is the most optimal for your group of employees. Since employee demographics can change, it’s a good idea to understand the basics and review your design from time to time.Permitted D...

All 401(k) plan contributions have deposit deadlines, and it’s up to 401(k) fiduciaries to meet them. Yet, many are unclear about the deadlines applicable to their 401(k) plan. That confusion can easily lead to late contributions.Most of the confusion surrounds the deadline to deposit amounts withheld from employee wages, i.e., 401(k) pre-tax, 401(k) Roth, and/or participant loan repayments. Passed into law in 2004, the Department of Labor (DOL) set forth the rules to comply with the safe ...

The economy continues at its strong pace, keeping unemployment at its lowest rate in nearly 50 years. While this is usually good news, employee financial vulnerability is clouding this sunny forecast. The repercussions are impacting their ability to save for retirement.Millennials are the most stressed by their financial situations, followed by Gen X and Baby Boomers according to PWC’s 8th annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey released in June 2019. More than 80% of the employees surve...

When it comes to retirement plans, there are many ways to distribute a company’s profit sharing contribution. It may be as straightforward as a proportional, or “pro rata,” share to each eligible participant or it can be based on a formula that considers age or other factors.

Though some employers may not think so, the truth is that in today's world 401(k) plans are subject to fraudulent activity and that the often-overlooked retirement plan can be the perfect place for it to occur. For example, in late 2017, several news outlets reported a scheme targeting individual 401(k) accounts. The U.S. Attorney's office in Colorado had filed a lawsuit to recover up to $2 million in losses due to fraudulent distributions from retirement plan accounts. The lawsuit, file...

With the future of Social Security in question, it is becoming ever increasingly important for workers to self- prepare for post-retirement living. Studies show that approximately one out of every three eligible workers choose NOT to participate in their employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. Offering automatic enrollment in your 401(k) plan is a way for you, as Plan Sponsor, to help lend a hand to employees that are not fully aware of the significance of having a post-retirement source of revenue.Plan...

Download The Action DocEvery retirement plan design begins with a study of a company’s payroll. It’s the essential information that drives thinking around how to optimize tax and savings potential for both business owners and their employees.Once a plan is installed, we rely on payroll data to determine eligibility, vesting, and of course, contributions. Accurate and complete data is something we assume of course, but in the real world, information is not always timely or completely ...

As an investment professional, you may already know a great deal about how behavioral bias affects how investors make decisions and how they perceive their account performance. We know, of course, that behavioral finance tells us that many people are influenced by their emotions, their aversion to risk, their own social peer group, and sometimes by a skewed perception of control or investment skill.