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A more complete and up to date description of how lifetime income can work in a DC plan is in order. Evan Giller (newly Of Counsel with Boutwell and Faye) and I put together the attached piece entitled “Regulatory and Fiduciary Framework for Providing Lifetime Income from Defined Contribution Plans.” It is originally appearing in the New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation – 2013. Published by LexisNexis Matthew Bender. Copyright 2013 New York University.” In the paper, we’ve drawn upon our long experience with retirement plan annuities, mixing it well with all of these new developments.
Continue Reading A Regulatory and Fiduciary Framework for Providing Lifetime Income from Defined Contribution Plans

Now with EPCRS, we are told, being on the verge of release, and with 403(b) audits beginning to enter a new, what I would call “normalized” stage, the 2007 regs will truly be put to the test.Where this will have its impact is when you have to drill down and attempt to apply the regs in detail to any particular fact circumstance….
Continue Reading The EPCRS and Audit Test of the 403(b) Regulations

One of the more difficult questions that has arisen under the 404a-5 participant disclosure rules is related to those pesky "old" 403(b) contracts. In the multiple vendor ERISA world, where a number of vendors have been in and out of the plan over decades, the question becomes whether-and to what extent-the 404a-5 disclosures have to…

A few weeks ago, I blogged on the important role that the Securities Compliance Officer may play in 408(b)(2) compliance. I touched on some of the securities rules which apply to retirement plans outside of the executive compensation context. Attached is a more htorough explanation of those rules, which can hopefully be useful as we…

Traditional annuities are inflexible. Period. You get the monthly benefit you pay for. They provide a very valuable benefit which should be part of anyone’s retirement planning, but this inflexibility can be scary, as it takes away from the participant the ability to address unexpected contingencies. This fear comes from the second point: the funds used to buy the traditional annuity are gone for good. Other than payments made under a survivor annuity, the traditional annuity doesn’t give the participant any access to funds to pay for contingencies, nor does it typically pay a death benefit. So what’s a fiduciary to do?
Continue Reading Addressing Fiduciary Concerns in the Purchase of 401(k) Distributed Annuities: Dealing With The Five “I’s”- Part 2, Inflexibility and Inaccessability