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John Iekel
By John Iekel | 2/19/2014
If they have not already, small businesses with retirement plans must report on them to the IRS soon. To help, the IRS has updated its Publication 560, “Retirement Plans for Small Business Plans” for 2013 returns. New this year: • Compensation limit increased for 2013. For 2013, the maximum...
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By John Iekel | 2/19/2014
Variable annuities are part of many Americans’ efforts to save for retirement. But they can be complicated, so the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has provided some information on the basics of variable annuities in its Investor Bulletin, “Variable Annuities — an Introduction.”...
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By John Iekel | 2/14/2014
In remarks at a recent conference on income inequality, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the incoming Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, may have tipped his hand on how he will treat employer-provided retirement plans, advocating the simplification and consolidation of “the array” of current...
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By John Iekel | 2/11/2014
The words have barely faded from the teleprompter, but retirement experts have wasted no time in expressing caution regarding the "myRA" retirement accounts President Obama unveiled in his State of the Union Address. Chris Carosa of Fiduciary News provides a comprehensive list of 10 reasons to be...
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By John Iekel | 2/11/2014
Participants in AOL’s 401(k) plan learned last week that their employer match would be delivered in a lump sum in the following year instead of per pay period. But the idea was consumed in the firestorm it ignited, and AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong quickly recanted. According to the...
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By John Iekel | 2/7/2014
The “USA Retirement Funds” legislation introduced Jan 30 by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) includes a provision that would aid legislatively the Department of Labor’s regulatory effort to redefine the term “fiduciary.” The bill would express the “sense of Congress” that advising a plan participant to...
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By John Iekel | 2/7/2014
Recent guidance from the IRS and a pointed reminder from FINRA illustrate the increased frequency and importance of rollovers, not to mention the fact that they are piquing the interest of federal regulators and industry groups.When a rollover takes place from a non-Roth balance to a Roth balance...
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By John Iekel | 2/6/2014
Municipal bankruptcies like Detroit’s bring into sharp relief the effect such financial strains can have on pensions, as well as the effect of what local and state governments do. But there is good news — most states have taken steps to protect public-sector pensions. In fact, according to...
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By John Iekel | 2/5/2014
More than 50 million employees in the United States participate in a 401(k) plan, and recent research shows strong employee interest in contributing part of one’s salary to achieve a comfortable retirement. Employers have a variety of features they can incorporate in the plans they offer, and they...
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By John Iekel | 2/4/2014
If you have clients who have multiple IRAs, take note: They need to tread carefully regarding rollovers. In a Jan. 28 ruling in Bobrow v. Commissioner, the Tax Court reminds us that holders of multiple IRAs are limited to one tax-free rollover in a single year. Not only that, holders of multiple...
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By John Iekel | 1/31/2014
Employers are the key to a plan Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) unveiled Jan. 30 to dispel what he calls the “dark clouds” of retirement insecurity. Under Harkin’s “Universal, Secure and Adaptable (USA) Retirement Funds Act,” employers would be required to offer a new kind of retirement account. At a...
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By John Iekel | 1/29/2014
Your clients offer 401(k) plans, and all have 401(k) plan committees. Those committees have fiduciary responsibility, and it’s in your clients’ interest to make sure they are fulfilling their duties. They can do that through meetings of those committees and quarterly reviews, our friends at the...
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By John Iekel | 1/25/2014
The Form 5500 provides much more than simple data about a plan’s assets and number of participants — it also shows what a plan is not doing. Or doing erroneously. The IRS examined 50 Forms 5500 filed by DC plans with less than $250,000 in assets and identified issues that the forms brought to light...
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By John Iekel | 1/23/2014
Your clients made retirement plans available to their employees, and like most plan sponsors, they chose to allow participants to take loans from their accounts. Seemed like an innocuous enough provision at first. But then came the Great Recession and the tepid recovery in its wake. Presto! Lots of...
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By John Iekel | 1/23/2014
“I’m a fiduciary? What does that mean?” Strange as it may seem, there are plenty of plan sponsors who ask that question — more than half of them, in fact, according to Unified Trust Company CEO Dr. Gregory W. Kasten. In a Jan. 15 ASPPA webcast, “Breaking Down the Many Fiduciary Roles, Obligations...
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By John Iekel | 1/21/2014
On the Department of Labor’s radar screen: requiring DC plan administrators to adjust the benefit statements they distribute to provide lifetime income illustrations based on current and projected account balances. So a recent study by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute is particularly well-...
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By John Iekel | 1/17/2014
Target date funds reflect that flexibility and engagement have become firmly entrenched aspects of retirement plan management for both participants and plan sponsors. In a Jan. 14 NAPA webinar, “Target Date Trends and Evaluation,” T. Rowe Price’s Jerome A. Clark discussed how TDFs reflect greater...
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By John Iekel | 1/15/2014
You may know about the “butterfly effect” — essentially an action that ends up resulting in an unintended consequence, affecting things not originally in the line of fire. So goes the effort to reduce plan fees. It saves plans money, but it also is resulting in an increasing number of retirement...
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By John Iekel | 1/14/2014
Plan participants’ access to investment education and advice should not be the price of protecting them from unfair and deceptive practices. The New Democrat Coalition, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, urged Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez to follow that principle in a Jan...
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By John Iekel | 1/14/2014
For an increasing number of Americans, the word “retired” is a bit of a misnomer. Perhaps “redirected” is more like it. Demographics and the lingering aftermath of economic stresses on employers are major drivers behind a trend in which workers who are displaced — involuntarily or voluntarily —...
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