This week, the Labor Department issued a proposed information collection request, seeking voluntary assistance of plan administrators in developing an online search tool to help workers gain access to lost retirement savings.
The DOL has introduced complex admin costs – to support SECURE 2.0's new automatic transfer rule for small-balance 401(k)s of workers who change jobs – and they should be eliminated, says the ERISA Industry Committee.
The Department of Labor sent its fourth attempt of a new fiduciary rule, which would broaden the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary, to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final review.
Sen. Bernie Sanders released a report on the problems facing the retirement system, as advocates of DB plans and proponents of DC plans squared off in search of solutions for employees without a retirement plan at work.
"The broad-reaching new fiduciary rule regulates retirement accounts far beyond employer-sponsored benefits," said subcommittee Chairman Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., but proponents said the old rules no longer protect investors.
With the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance increasing, the federal government has an important role to play in creating a federal public option for employers as an alternative, says the Center for American Progress.
The new legislation is the most extensive update in retirement law in the past 15 years, however, there are distinct areas that Congress should address for a more effective retirement income system, says the Brookings Institution.
Unlike emergency savings accounts that employers have rolled out over the past few years, these new SECURE 2.0 pension-linked accounts have auto-enrollment but employees must be given the chance to opt out.
The IRS has issued initial guidance to help plan sponsors implement the new pension-linked emergency savings accounts - and is open to comments in order to limit participant abuse of sidecar account matching contributions.
A second judge ruled the DOL's 5-part test to determine what defines "fiduciary" should be struck down, which was a victory for the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice, an advocacy group for insurance distributors.
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