Now that we’ve all survived the fiscal cliff and turned the page on 2012, what does 2013 have in store for the retirement advisor community? There are five legislative and regulatory issues we expect to see this year:
1. Threats to DC plan tax incentives coming from two continuing debates on Capitol Hill — over the nation’s debt limit and about tax reform.
2. Fee disclosure is not over. We expect DOL regulators to look at advisor fees again in 2013, focusing on critical questions about how fees are paid.
3. The definition of a fiduciary and what the advisor’s role in that is. Expect to see a proposed rule from DOL in the second quarter of the year.
4. Lifetime benefits. We know that this issue is an area of great interest to the DOL. We’re moving toward a requirement in this area; probably by March we’ll see a proposed regulation on providing lifetime income estimates on participant statements.
5. Reevaluation of target date funds — in particular, regarding their usage as QDIAs.
Federal regulators and members of Congress will continue to hear the voice of the advisor community loud and clear on each of these critical issues — through NAPA and ASPPA. For example, the “Save My 401k” effort has generated more than 55,000 emails to members of Congress and resulted in numerous TV reports and news stories that get our story out.
Speaking of community, have you joined NAPA’s new LinkedIn group yet? In less than a month, the group has grown to more than 750 retirement plan professionals — many of whom are participating actively in discussion threads. Membership in the group is open to plan advisors and other professionals in the retirement industry, and is not restricted to NAPA members or those with LinkedIn profiles. The group is run and moderated by NAPA Net staff, which means that all posts are topic-appropriate, sales pitches are deleted, and the group consists exclusively of retirement professionals. Join us! Just click here.
And lastly, I encourage you to register for the 2013 NAPA/ASPPA 401(k) Summit coming up in March — and sooner rather than later. Through the end of January, you can still take advantage of the “early bird” discount — and if you’re a NAPA member, you save even more. So join us in Las Vegas March 3-5 — network with 1,500 industry leaders, learn how to grow your business through marketing and business development sessions, and increase your ROI with actionable takeaways from the industry’s biggest and best conference.
