The Mechanics of Moving to a PEP
With a lack of regulatory guidance, plan sponsors can rely on certain existing rules to know the steps to take if they decide to move from a single-employer plan to a pooled employer plan.
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Art by Wenting Li
The goal of the provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act that created pooled employer plans (PEPs) was to encourage employers that didn’t have retirement plans for employees to offer one. But employers that already sponsor a plan may also decide a PEP is a better choice for them and their participants.
Robert Powell
Special to USA TODAY
To some the Roth individual retirement account, which now represents $1 trillion in assets in the U.S. and is the fastest-growing segment of the U.S retirement markets, is the perfect retirement account.
Consider: Contributions (up to $6,000 or $7,000 if you’re 50 or older) are made with after-tax dollars; your money grows tax-free; and withdrawals may be made tax-free after a required holding period.
What’s more, unlike a traditional IRA, there are no required minimum distributions (RMDs) for as long as you live. Plus, the distributions won’t increase federal income tax you might pay on your Social Security benefits. And the Roth IRA is an income-tax free inheritance for your beneficiaries.
Sponsors returning to questions about in-plan annuities
Issues surrounding lifetime income options surface again after virus took precedence
David Ireland said all talk of in-plan annuities stopped in March, in the wake of the pandemic.
One year after the SECURE Act addressed a major roadblock to defined contribution executives offering in-plan annuities, some sponsors as they try to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic are trying to regain the momentum of investigating if these options make sense for their participants.
The coronavirus played a major role in diverting executives attention from an already-complex plan design concept. Some recent research suggests that in-plan lifetime income options remain a tough sell to sponsors and to participants. Other surveys cite some interest, but they cannot tell if the intensity of the interest ranging from very to somewhat would forecast action.
A Chronology of COVID-19 Relief for ERISA Plans
In 2020, the employee benefits world was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following chronology highlights the ongoing relief provided by legislation, regulatory action, and other agency guidance to assist ERISA plan participants, fiduciaries, and sponsors during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic through November 30, 2020. (Superseded agency guidance has been omitted.) We provide a number of links to articles on our blog, Benefits Law Update, which offer additional information about many of these important regulatory changes.
Much of the guidance is temporary, with effects limited to 2020. However, with the pandemic and the declared national emergency extending into 2021, we anticipate that some of these measures will be renewed or extended, and similar relief may be offered in the year to come.
Raymond James Financial Acquires NWPS
Raymond James Financial Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire NWPS Holdings Inc., which does business as NWPS and Northwest Plan Services.
NWPS and Northwest Plan Services provide retirement plan administration, consulting, actuarial and administration services, and are based in Seattle, Washington. The transaction is expected to close before December 31.
The addition of NWPS is meant to allow Raymond James to expand its retirement services offerings, including retirement plan administration services, to advisers and clients. The firm’s leadership says the timing of the acquisition is “opportune,” as the industry prepares for new solutions created by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, such as pooled employer plans (PEPs).