On May 7, 2013, the Department of Labor released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) that seeks commentary on requiring a projection of estimated lifetime income to be included in participant statements from defined contribution plans subject to the reporting and disclosure provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA).

- The ANPRM follows on from the Request for Information Regarding Lifetime Income Options for Participants and Beneficiaries in Retirement Plans jointly published by DOL and the Treasury Department in February 2010 (RFI). It takes up the important policy question of how best to educate participants about the adequacy of their defined contribution plan savings for retirement income security.

- Although the ANPRM includes the preliminary text of a potential regulation (and an illustration of its potential application), an ANPRM is not itself a proposed rulemaking. Rather, it is a request for comments on policy, concepts and specific regulatory language in advance of a proposed regulation.