Do savings incentives like tax preferences in defined contribution plans exacerbate the racial saving gap? It’s the subject of a recent working paper titled Who Benefits from Retirement Saving Incentives in the U.S.? Evidence on Racial Gaps in Retirement Wealth Accumulation from researchers at the... READ MORE

On Wednesday, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) introduced a bill to establish a federal auto-IRA for employers with more than 10 employees who do not currently sponsor a retirement plan.  The Automatic IRA Act of 2024 (H.R.7293) would require employees to be... READ MORE

"Guys, try not to suck," TPSU and TRAU's Fred Barstein said by way of advice to his fellow panelists at the opening session of the Viking Cove Institute's Industry Leaders Summit in Phoenix, Ariz. on Friday. The session, simply titled "Convergence," included high-profile industry personalities... READ MORE

While many sectors (and companies) in 401(k) and financial services experiment with artificial intelligence (AI), Financial Finesse is diving right in. The El Segundo, Calif.-based financial wellness firm was an early AI adopter with its pioneering virtual financial coach Aimee, and more... READ MORE

Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Angie Craig reintroduced legislation last week to eliminate federal taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors. The bill would extend full benefits for two decades and reduce the federal debt by a substantial amount, according to the analysis it cited. Craig... READ MORE

A new retirement readiness report initially appeared to find good news—two-thirds of Americans (67%) have at least some money invested in retirement accounts, even if 1 in 4 doesn't know how much they’ve saved. Yet a deeper dive into the numbers revealed the racial savings gap’s extent—and... READ MORE

One provision in particular in SECURE 2.0 is receiving the lion’s share of attention from retirement plan sponsors and participants. Section 110 allows student loan payments to be treated as elective deferrals for purposes of matching contributions. Yet guidance on how it will happen is needed... READ MORE

A financial services trade group opposed to implementing the latest iteration of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule released the results of a survey it recently conducted on potential costs. The Financial Services Institute (FSI), an independent broker-dealer advocacy organization, and... READ MORE

Retirement plan advisors are busy helping their plan sponsor clients (and participants) sift through the 92 mandatory and optional provisions in SECURE 2.0, especially highlighting those most pressing in 2024. One generating interest (if not the most interest) is the student loan matching program... READ MORE