Chuck Thulin, a fine ERISA attorney from Seattle, WA, chaired the DOL practitioner panel at the latest (and very successful) annual meeting of the 5 regional TE/GE Councils, in Baltimore. When I commented that we’d “been there, done that” when discussing some obscure rule, he told me of reading of the Russian language version of
Automatic Workplace Pension
Green Book Further Outlines Automatic IRA Similarity to 403(b)
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Automatic Workplace Pension
The Green Book, published May 11 by the Treasury Department, contains further details on Obama’s workplace pensions first described in his budget proposals (on which we blogged in March). See pages 7-9 of the Treasury report for details.
It really does create a new scheme of individual pensions, much akin to the 403(b) arrangements…
ERISA Challenges for Non-ERISA 403(b) Plans
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Automatic Workplace Pension
We recently blogged on the similarities between the Automatic Workplace Pension being proposed in President Obama’s budget proposal and the original concept of the retirement programs under IRC section 403(b). We noted that while 403(b) programs were initially set up as individual pension plans, it has been the policy of the IRS for over…
The 403(b) Regs Experience Exposes “401(x)” Weakness
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Automatic Workplace Pension
There has been a discussion circulating around Washington for a number of years about the value of establishing a simplified Defined Contribution retirement system commonly referred to as "401(x)". This program would create a single defined contribution program with a single set of rules to replace the "alphabet soup" of DC plans currently in existence.…
Marketplace Lessons for Workplace Pensions
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Automatic Workplace Pension
I was intending to leave this issue alone for a few weeks, and wait until the Workplace Pension proposal (upon which we blogged a few days ago) had a chance to percolate within the retirement industry. But I had the chance to spend a few minutes with David John (David is a senior scholar at…
Obama’s Automatic Workplace Pensions: 403(b) Redux?
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Automatic Workplace Pension
President Obama’s new budget proposes the establishment of a new "Automatic Workplace Pension" (see pages 84 and 85 of the OMB’s budget description and David John’s description at the Heritage Foundation’s site). It is based upon proposals from the Retirement Security Project run by Mark Iwry, David John and William Gale.
There is little doubt…