Our blog of May 26 on "Distributed Custodial Accounts" generated a number of comments, which require a bit of a "follow-on." Ellie Lowder, one of the grand dames of the 403(b) world, agreed with my assessment. She mentioned that she had discussions with the IRS on this point. Staff just couldn’t see how distributions of
Plan Distributed Annuities
The Case For “Distributed Custodial Accounts” From Terminated 403(b) Plans
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Lifetime Income
What Happened
One of the biggest disappointments arising from the issuance of the 403(b) regs has been the inability of employers to effectively terminate their plans. At first, the IRS caused quite a favorable stir when it announced that the regs would specifically classify the termination of a 403(b) plan as a distributable event, and…
The New Generation of Annuities: Balancing Flexibility, Stability and the Pooling of Interests
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income
I mentioned in a posting last week that we will take some time on this blog to work through a number of the legal and technical issues related to annuitizing out of 401(k) plans. This, in effect, allows the 401(k) plan to offer the best features of the Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution plans without…
401(k) Annuities: “Defined Benefit” Guarantees Using a 401(k) Account
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Lifetime Income, Lifetime Income Published Papers
It is back to the future, in an odd sort of way. There is growing trade press coverage on the interests of 401(k) plans and plan participants on turning a portion of participants’ account balances into a "defined benefit-like" guaranteed income stream. Follow, for example, this link to Plan Advisor.com.
There are really two ways…