PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
La Reforma Pensional en Colombia
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
Multiemployer Pension Plans in Mergers and Acquisitions — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE 2.0 Act - Navigating New Retirement Plan Provisions in 2024 - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0: Leveraging Opportunities Employees Want Most
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ESG Investing by Retirement Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Qualified Plans — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Virginia Launches New Retirement Savings Program
When people are sick, especially with debilitating illnesses or diseases, it’s natural for them to travel far and wide to get the best medi- cal coverage possible. People who are ill will try to find the best medical coverage...more
On Labor Day fifty years ago, September 2, 1974, President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) into law. It is a combination of tax and labor law incorporating trust law like fiduciary...more
As an ERISA attorney, I always have an open phone policy with plan sponsors, financial advisors, accountants, TPAs, and other attorneys from around the country on questions they may have about their plan or a client’s...more
As many of you know, I offer a Retirement Plan Tune-Up, a legal review for $750 that reviews the documentation, administration, costs, and the fiduciary process of a retirement plan....more
When I write about the need for plan sponsors to understand their responsibilities as plan fiduciaries and their potential liability if they ignore their duties, I hear the same complaints about my ideas. The complaint which...more
What makes a good retirement plan financial advisor? Well, it takes attention to detail, an understanding of what the role to entails, and dedication to the client. In addition, what I find is the way a good financial advisor...more
One of the great things about my iPhone is the alarm that serves as my wake-up call, whether at home or on the road. When it comes to being a retirement plan sponsor, employers never had a wake-up call about their fiduciary...more
Recent lawsuits filed against the group health plans of two large US employers underscore the importance of implementing formal welfare benefit plan governance structures that include fiduciary committees comparable to the...more
Ihave tried Chromium Picolinate for the last 25 years and I didn’t think it makes me lose weight and that Vitamin C hasn’t stopped a cold. The same can be said about statin supplements that haven’t lowered my Cholesterol....more
Life is hard, so is being a 401(k) plan sponsor. It’s a challenging job and there are many ways you can limit those challenges. There are opportunities to make your life easier as a plan sponsor, but you need to know what it...more
401(k) plan sponsors are seeing a string of lawsuits challenging their use of forfeitures to offset matching contributions. In the most recent suit, plaintiffs claimed that a 401(k) plan sponsor violated its fiduciary duties...more
A Summary Plan Description, often referred to as an “SPD”, is a document intended to clearly describe and explain the important provisions of an employee benefit plan. The SPD must be written in such a way that the average...more
The Department of Labor’s final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice to retirement investors will be effective this September 23. Where a fiduciary recommendation results in additional compensation for...more
As a solo ERISA attorney am try- ing to sift through the emails, robo calls, and LinkedIn invita- tions from people who are trying to sell me something. I’m a big fan of good marketing and most of what I see sucks. Whether...more
When I started my practice in 2010, the idea was that my content would create referral sources from advisors and Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) using my articles to help retain and recruit plan sponsor clients....more
As someone who has been fired and has been fired, it’s never a pleasant experience. Even firing a gardener who wasn’t doing their job wasn’t fun for me. Yet, there are so many reasons why you have to fire your retirement plan...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new regulation defining fiduciary “investment advice” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended, and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of...more
Today, employees are more likely than ever to seek new employment opportunities and change jobs. These employees may leave a company before becoming fully vested in their qualified retirement plan benefits – which may result...more
When people in the retirement industry ask me about my National ERISA practice, one question is whether I do any third-party administration (TPA) work. When asked, my line is always that I don’t “because I stick to what I...more
From the 2010 outset of its project to extend ERISA fiduciary status broadly to financial intermediaries, including insurance agents, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has consistently relied on the evolution of the private...more
It doesn’t grow on trees, it’s not in the water (especially good bagels), and it doesn’t happen by accident. It didn’t happen overnight, it didn’t happen in a vacuum, and it certainly didn’t come out of thin air. A good...more
The US Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service have issued coordinated guidance on the pension-linked emergency savings account (PLESA), a new in-plan emergency savings account feature created by the SECURE 2.0 Act...more
I ’ve always been a big fan of 1970’s cinema and one forgotten classic is The Sting, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw. The title to the movie refers to the exact moment when the con artist finishes the...more
Employee benefits law is mostly drawn from two federal sources—the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA. Just what is “ERISA,” though? Its official reference is the “Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.” That means the...more
The Department of Labor ("DOL") recently issued a regulatory package that includes a final rule updating ERISA's definition of an investment advice fiduciary and amending certain related prohibited transaction exemptions...more