…owner or beneficiary for QCD purposes is a person who has attained age 70 ½ or older, and has assets in traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, or “inactive” Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs or Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs. Inactive means there are…
…an experienced 3(16) fiduciary can help reduce stress and make for a smoother audit process. Plan Audit Basics The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires plan sponsors to maintain retirement plans for the exclusive benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries. One way…
…middle ground between outsourcing everything and doing it all yourself. For example, some smaller employers might be quite good at onboarding new employees and may not need help with that. Or their payroll provider may offer some assistance by providing the employer with the information…
…opportunity for rank and file employees to participate while giving owners a more generous savings path. And don’t forget, the IRS provides all employees over the age of 50 the opportunity to make what are called “catch up” contributions. This might be the best named…
At a glance, compliance tests assure that every retirement plan is producing a meaningful benefit to rank and file employees and that it demonstrates a level of fairness in the benefits those same employees get as compared to the benefits achieved by owners and other…
…other factors. So, a simple formula might allocate 3% of compensation to all eligible employees. Participants share on a pro rata basis. A company owner might ask – can we include the contributions we make to social security as a factor in our formula? The…
…save. Some may want a way to contribute a share of profits to their employees’ retirement. Some are looking to provide an incentive for employees to stay around longer. And some need a competitive retirement benefit to attract and retain top talent. If we truly…
…to save at a high enough rate to meet real income needs later in life. An important way to help employees of company-sponsored retirement plans make real progress for themselves is to offer auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features to retirement plans. Both can positively influence retirement…
…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 their savings…
…fiduciary rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) if certain requirements are met. Those rules include a requirement that assets are invested “in an investment product designed to preserve principal and provide a reasonable rate of return.” These are called “Safe…