For more than 15 years, the American Bar Association Tax Section has provided me consistent opportunities to work directly with government officials on retirement plan-related matters.

Retirement plan fiduciaries have experienced significant changes over the last decade. We can attribute some of those changes to the Department of Labor’s regulatory and enforcement agenda, including the impact of increasing fee transparency, expanding the definition of fiduciary, and emphasizing the importance of cybersecurity.

While we work to assess opportunities provided by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 and await related governmental agency guidance, two additional developments merit additional discussion. Congress, President Biden, and the Federal courts have all had fiduciary items on their mind.

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 will expand the retirement plan toolkit available to employers that desire to enhance the plans available for their employees. As the new provisions become effective and as employers plan for the future, questions naturally arise.

The SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022 provides plan sponsors with a number of additional tools to enhance the attractiveness and effectiveness of their retirement plans.

In December of 2019, before COVID was in our daily vocabulary, President Trump signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act. The SECURE Act sought to increase access to retirement savings accounts and to protect American workers from outliving their retirement assets.

It has been widely reported that the Department of Labor (DOL) has published its new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) final regulation. Depending on one’s perspective, that characterization ranges from somewhat accurate to quite inaccurate.

As we work closely with plan sponsors and participants in a challenging environment, we encounter common themes on the regulatory, plan administration, M&A, and data security fronts. We’ll provide fiduciary education around those items and an update on potential regulatory and legislative changes coming soon.

We’ve not been so lucky in 2022, as inflation has run rampant, equity markets have struggled mightily, and bond markets have offered no place to hide.

With litigation ramping up, the courts are providing guidance that will help #fiduciaries protect their plans and themselves. Our experts get into the details on this topic in this month’s Qualified Plan Advocate Newsletter. Check it out!