PRC In the News
DOL moving forward on fiduciary rule
Labor Department officials are determined to produce a new standard of fiduciary duty for anyone giving retirement investment advice, once they process concerns raised in thousands of comment letters and four days of hearings on their proposal.
Speakers encourage fiduciary role for advice on DC lump sums, IRA rollovers
People giving advice to defined contribution plan participants about lump-sum distributions and rollovers to individual retirement accounts should be covered by a new fiduciary standard, several speakers said Wednesday at a Department of Labor hearing on the proposed rule.
Rising costs usher in pension ‘de-risking’ cycle
Many Connecticut workers probably think of a pension as something their parents had, or something they’ll never get. Indeed, as companies have frozen or curtailed their pensions or “defined-benefit” plans, the number of Connecticut private-sector workers and retirees with a single-employer pension (519,000) has plummeted 42 percent over the last decade, federal data shows.
Ascension pension settlement highlights vulnerability of ‘church plans’
Ascension, the Edmundson-based parent company of the nation’s largest nonprofit health system, has agreed to settle a 2013 class-action lawsuit that alleged it improperly maintained employee pensions plans.
There’s a glimmer of hope that the retirement system isn’t broken for good
The generations from the late baby boomers to Generation X to millennials live in a different world, where only a few big companies still offer traditional pensions. For the vast majority of retirees, 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans are, besides Social Security, the only game in town.
IRS and Treasury say no more lump-sum offers
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury have done a wonderful thing. They announced last month that they intend to amend regulations in order to prohibit companies from “de-risking” their defined benefit plans by offering a lump-sum option for retirees already receiving benefits. In other words, defined benefit plans will not be able to replace […]
IRS deepens focus on lifetime income with lump-sum ban
The Internal Revenue Service’s unexpected decision July 9 to ban lump-sum payments to retirees has plan sponsors keeping one eye open for further regulation but still considering those payouts for other plan participants.
House-Passed Highway Bill Would Extend Transfers of Excess Pension Assets
The House passed funding legislation that includes a section that would extend for four years provisions allowing employers to transfer excess pension plan assets to retiree-health accounts and group-term life insurance accounts.
Some Lump-Sum Pension Buyouts Banned
The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department have banned lump-sum pension buyouts, like the ones offered to GM and Ford retired employees, starting July 9, 2015, according to a notice from the two agencies.
Retirement Plans At Every Employer! Is Your State Next?
Paid sick leave, raising the minimum wage, commuter benefits. What’s next on the list of items employers are going to have to offer their employees? Retirement benefits.
Curtailing Lump Sum Pension Payouts?
I applaud the IRS and Treasury for clamping down on lump-sum pension payouts. America’s pensions are in peril and the last thing it needs is more lump sum payouts which will exacerbate pension poverty.
Treasury Curtails Lump Sum Pension Payouts
In a sudden move, the Treasury Department said it will stop allowing employers to offer certain workers the option to take out their pensions in a lump sum. Notice 2015-49, Use of Lump Sum Payments to Replace Lifetime Income Being Received By Retirees Under Defined Benefit Pension Plans, applies as of July 9, 2015.
