Continue Reading The 4 “Non-Alt Asset” Things A DC Annuity Can Do
Annuities in DC Plans Are Normal
An important and separate “tool,” if you will, in the professional’s portfolio for use in assessing and understanding the manner in which any lifetime income program will fit into any particular DC plan is simply recognizing that annuities (1) are a necessary element of providing lifetime guarantees under DC plans; (2) are normal; (3) have
Two TRA 86 Changes Still Haunt Small Savers in DC Plans
SECURE and 2.0’s efforts to open up the availability of defined contribution plan balances for personal emergencies, including the establishment of those goofy PLESA accounts, really have their roots in what was-at the time- a pair of thoughtless changes made to the Code under Tax Reform Act of 1986 (the “86 Act). Even then, those particular
The Engineers, Analysts and Operators of DC Lifetime Income
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Engineering, analytical and operations. These are the three distinct and dynamic categories (“stacks”, perhaps?) of knowledge into which the lifetime income markets seem to be organizing itself-out of necessity, I would argue.
We’ve known for a very long time that transforming defined contribution plans into vehicles which facilitate the accumulation and distribution of income
DC Plan Innovation and RLP
Business Wire published a news release today announcing the new strategic relationship between Securian Financial and Custodia Financial regarding Custodia’s Retirement Loan Protection (RLP) program—”a first-of-its-kind, in-plan feature that helps safeguard employees’ retirement savings by automatically protecting 401(k) loans from default when job loss, disability or death occurs.” It is a program a number of
The In-Plan Annuity and the DOL’s New Advisory Opinion 2025-04.
The DOL’s most recent advisory opinion, 2025-04, helpfully affirms two separate legal principles upon which many of the defined contribution lifetime income programs being offered in the market currently rely. The AO is also very useful in the manner in which DOL describes one very specific program, the LIS program offered by Alliance Bernstein, offering
403(b) and the “Democratization” of Its Investments
403(b) plans and lifetime income programs suffer a similar malady: both sorts of arrangements operate in a sort of “exception” environment, where they rely upon atypical application of the standardized qualified plan rules in order to effectively work. This means that these programs are not typically amenable to broad and sweeping policy statements of the
Meaningful Lessons From DOL’s “Withdrawal of Withdrawal” of Plan Annuity Regs
As part of the DOL’s efforts under Executive Order 14192, titled Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation (90 FR 9065, Feb. 6, 2025), the Department undertook to withdraw two seemingly innocuous annuity regulations which, by any cursory review, appeared to have outlived their usefulness. I would suspect that most of us didn’t give those withdrawals a second
Keeping Lifetime Promises: The Power of Well Regulated Capital
If any company in the United States wants to sell you a guarantee that- in return for a premium- they will make monthly payments to you for as long as you are alive, that company simply needs a license from a state to do so.
This really-not-so-simple requirement actually has massive implications. Licensure is a
The Quant and the Enduring Value of Insurer Ratings for Fiduciary Assessments
Executive’s Life’s 1991 collapse made a mockery of the insurance company rating system. Just months prior to its demise, S&P had given that insurer its highest rating (AAA, “Extremely strong capacity to meet financial commitments”) and Moody’s was awarding it one of their highest ratings at a1. An excellent review of this debacle was published