QPA Insights
Welcome to QPA Insights, where we’ll share knowledge and insights into ERISA 3 (38) qualified plans. Here our highly experienced team will write on topics plan sponsors and advisers alike will be interested in such as the regulatory environment, tools, plan management, and more.
Feel free to reach out to us at any time if you have questions about what you’ve read or would like to contact the author.
Qualified Plan Advisors: January Newsletter
The late-December COVID-19 relief bill (the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 or the “Appropriations Act”) included various retirement plan-related provisions among its 5,500+ pages. A closer look at those provisions reveals that the most significant relief applies to organizations that might otherwise experience a partial plan termination. This month’s article takes a deep dive into that relief and addresses other important nuggets for plan sponsors to consume, including some student loan repayment relief applicable outside of the retirement plan context.
2021 Retirement Plan Limits
When the IRS announced various 2021 retirement plan limits in October, we knew few limits would change for next year. However, as we get closer to January, it’s important to ensure payroll departments and providers are prepared to apply:
Qualified Plan Advisors: December Newsletter
We were a little hesitant to use the term “Post-COVID-19” in the title of this month’s newsletter. It’s not in our past. We’re still in the midst of the pandemic and many data points suggest some tough months ahead. However, we do know that COVID-19 has shifted how most of us think, work, and communicate. As your organization conducts its business planning and strategy meetings relating to 2020, how will your organization adapt its retirement plan strategy? Here’s a gameplan for ensuring you – and your consultant – adapt the approach in 2021.
5 Benefits of Offering Retirement Accounts
Retirement plans are an important element of any employer's benefits package. In a recent Glassdoor survey, 79% of employees said they would prefer new or additional benefits over a pay increase. The survey also revealed that 401(k) plans, retirement plans, and/or...
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment As we talk to plan participants this fall, it's apparent that they're awash with uncertainty. Throughout the last couple of months - before, during, and after the election - the markets have been trying to tell participants that they shouldn't be as...
Participants Improving Response to Volatility
After an incredibly smooth 2017, the U.S. markets have experienced headline-grabbing volatility early in 2018. Steep market free falls give rise to concerns that participants will exit the market on a dip and fail to re-enter until after the market has recovered. In...
Trending: Increasing Use of Automatic Features
We talk a lot about automatic enrollment and automatic escalation. We also love to study industry data indicating related trends, which helps when our clients ask: "How many employers use automatic enrollment?" Results from a recent Callan survey show that the answer...
Investors With the Best of Intentions to Start the New Year
When asked about their plans for future savings rates, retirement plan participants frequently have the best of intentions. That's even more likely when market performance has been strong. One late-December investor survey indicates this is case as investors looked...
Senate Tax Reform Bill Seeks Different Reforms to Retirement Plans
Some Republican lawmakers had floated a proposal of drastically reducing the annual limit on pre-tax contributions to a defined contribution plan. The QPA November newsletter celebrates that the House tax reform bill does not incorporate that proposal. The House bill...
Will Tax Reform Include Retirement Plan Reform?
You may have heard some unsettling rumors about dramatic changes to 401(k) and 403(b) plan savings limits. Late last month, word leaked that Republicans were considering a significant reduction in the annual cap on pre-tax savings. The proposal would have slashed the...