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The SECURE Act: How This Brand New Law Affects Your Retirement Accounts
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The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...more
The DOL’s fiduciary regulation was scheduled to become effective this September 23. The exemptions were scheduled to become partially effective this September 23 and fully effective September 23, 2025....more
The US Department of Labor has released its package of proposed changes to the regulation defining nondiscretionary fiduciary advice and to the exemptions for conflicts and compensation for investment recommendations to...more
UPDATE: On August 8, I posted this blog article in contemplation of the DOL sending a new fiduciary proposal package to the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) in the White House. One month later, to the day, the receipt of...more
The DOL has not appealed the decision in the Florida Federal District Court that vacated its fiduciary “re-interpretation.” That re-interpretation, in effect, said that ongoing investment advice to a rollover IRA could be...more
Are you looking for a way to decrease your income tax obligation after retirement while supporting your alma mater or a favorite charity? A charitable gift annuity may be the right answer for you....more
Sales of fee-based annuities have soared in recent years. However, the financial planners and investment advisers that use them with clients may be unknowingly exposing themselves to future enforcement action from state...more
At the very end of 2022, President Biden signed the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package which includes the SECURE 2.0 Act. SECURE 2.0 builds on The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019...more
This is an odd topic for a family law blog until I started to think about. Today’s on line Marketwatch website featured an article by Chris Farrell about whether retirees should consider rolling assets from defined...more
The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will...more
In a little more than 35 years, 401(k) plans have become the dominant employer-sponsored retirement plan. 401(k) plans place the investment risk and reward squarely on the participant. The employee’s ultimate benefit is...more
The introduction to my last post, SECURE Act Part 1, explained: There are two parts of the SECURE Act that I believe will have the greatest impact on my clients: plan sponsors and plan service providers. The first includes...more
Often times in a divorce matter, the two biggest assets the parties have are their house and retirement accounts. While everyone was busy with the recent holiday rush, President Trump signed the SECURE Act into law as part of...more
People complain a lot about life these days, but one fun fact is that people are living longer than they did just 20 years ago. Thankfully, the Internal revenue Service (IRS) noticed too....more
Annuity issuers have reason to celebrate a recent decision of the Superior Court of California for San Diego County, shutting down a factoring company’s attempt to purchase an individual retirement annuity (IRA or the...more
As reported in our November 28 client alert, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Annuity Suitability Working Group (Suitability WG) circulated the proposed Suitability and Best Interest Standard of...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. ...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. Recall...more
Last month, we wrote about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This paper continues that discussion. I emphasize to the reader that...more
For the past two months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. We continue that discussion here. As in the past,...more
Previously, I wrote about potential litigation under the Department of Labor’s then proposed fiduciary rule (see Expect Focus, Vol. II, 2015). I predicted the following as to sales of index annuities to IRAs if the rule was...more
In February of 2015, the Department of Treasury issued a reported entitled “General Explanation of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2016 Revenue Proposals” (the “General Explanation”). The General Explanation is several...more
On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its final rule expanding the definition of the “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and modifying the...more
On November 4, 2016, Judge Moss in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the U.S. Department of Labor’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed claims brought by the National Association for Fixed...more