The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
As a plan fiduciary, I still can’t believe it. A Third Party Administrator (TPA) we terminated was trying to hold us up for valuations and a Form 5500 we paid for, as part of, annual administration. It was $80,000....more
While the Department of Labor (DOL) has been focusing on missing participants, expect them to question plan sponsors about missing participants and the automatic rollover provider that they use...more
401(k) Plan Sponsors Should Focus On What The Government Is Focusing On - In the movie Casino, Robert DeNiro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein wanted to take on the Nevada Gaming Board after they denied his request for his license....more
The snowball effect is a term for a process that starts from something that is small and builds upon itself, becoming larger and also perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous. The idea is that an avalanche can be started...more
The one drawback in the fee disclosure regulations was that the Department of Labor (DOL) never bothered to develop a model fee disclosure form for plan providers, I understand the hesitancy of the DOL because it’s hard to...more
Big Concepts That 401(k) Plan Providers Forget About. Whether it was working for others or working for charitable organizations, it seems that there is a culture out there that seems to forget why these businesses and...more
I always talk about how plan sponsors need to work with experienced financial advisors, third party administration (TPA) firms, and ERISA attorneys on their plan needs. Like with reasonable fees, I believe that the term...more
It’s great that the Department of Labor (DOL) has finally embraced the electronic disclosure of important ERISA notices. It took them a long time, but when your business is trying to protect participant rights, this is what...more
My experience at law school could probably be summed up by one event. For first-year law students, there is an event that everyone participates in and it’s called Moot Court where students argue a fictional appellate case in...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
After being on the verge of enactment last spring but failing to pass, the SECURE Act is now law. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 – the SECURE Act – was enacted on December 20, 2019 as...more
On December 20, 2019, after months of uncertainty, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act finally became law. The SECURE Act makes numerous changes to both the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (the “Appropriations Act”), a comprehensive government funding bill that includes substantial employee benefits-related...more
Retirement plans with more than 100 participants require a CPA audit for their Form 5500. However, small plans with less than 100 participants may sometimes require an audit. This often happens when more than 5% of the Plan’s...more
As an ERISA attorney for almost 21 years (my career can get its own drink), I have seen a lot of strange things that plan sponsors have done to risk the ire of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor...more
Chutzpah is nerve, shameless audacity. The best example of chutzpah is someone who kills their parents and asks the court for leniency because they’re an orphan. I’ve been in this business of ours for the past 20 plus...more
The Help Plan Providers Need And What They Don't. Avoid the people who want to sell you everything. When you're in business as a retirement plan provider, you will see that there is a surge of humanity that wants to...more
A Plan Advisor Should Be Careful About Their TPA Referrals. They need to. There was a time when a 401(k) financial advisor could get 75 to 100 basis point working on a plan, those were the days of wine and roses. Now...more
Mistakes An Employer Needs To Avoid When Starting A 401(k) Plan. It's important to get off the right foot. I'm a firm believer that you need to get off on the right foot if you start something new. Otherwise, you have a...more
Free Advice In Dealing With A TPA's Business Challenges. It's free. I always joke that when my wife discusses to people what I do as an ERISA attorney, she claims she has no idea. Imagine if I was a third party...more
A friend of mine called me up a few weeks back and was telling me a story how he had a debate with Jeff Richie from Vantage Benefits at a conference a few years back. Richie claimed he had some writing from the Department of...more
That Fiduciary Warranty Is Not Worth The Paper it's Printed On. They are pretty much worthless. A 401(k) plan sponsor is also a plan fiduciary and they have the responsibility to prudently run their plan. One major...more
In light of the recent settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and a health plan third-party administrator (TPA), plan fiduciaries and TPAs should re-examine, or even re-negotiate, portions of their current TPA...more
I remember as a kid that there was move to use margarine because of the cholesterol that was in butter. Who can forget those talking Parkay carton commercials? Of course, we later learn that many margarines had high amounts...more