There is in the SECURE Act a volume of small, odd, technical  details which need to which attention needs to be paid. This statute is a technocrat’s dream. So much in there actually raises fundamental  infrastructure issues of the sort we rarely see. We are all familiar with the 80/20 rule, with the caution of not letting perfection become the enemy of good. Well, these “oddities” raise the exact inverse of the 80/20 rule: through my long years in retirement product development,  the highest risk of failure arise from the lack of understanding of how the smallest of details can tank a multi-million dollar project. The “80” may sound good conceptually and structurally, but it is in the implementation of the detail in the 20 which will determine the success of the project.

Continue Reading Tontines and PEP Late Deferrals Are Among the SECURE Act’s Impactful, Infrastructure Oddities

Under Section 112 of the SECURE Act, sponsors of “cash or deferred arrangements”  arrangements must allow long-term employees working more than 500 but less than 1,000 hours per year to make elective deferrals to their plans. At first glance, one may be under the mistaken impression that this is a rule which applies to all elective deferral plans, whether they be 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans or 457(b) governmental plans.  But impression is likely wrong: the statute, by its terms,  clearly only applies to elective deferrals under 401(k) plans, not 403(b) or other plans.
Continue Reading 403(b) and the SECURE Act: The New 500 Hour, Long Service Rule Does Not Apply to 403(b) Plans

The SECURE Act will make substantial and highly technical changes to some very specific elements of retirement plan laws, many of to which we have been putting a ta good deal of attention to (and written about here) throughout the years-like distribution of 403(b) custodial accounts; aggregating 5500s of unrelated plans; MEPs; and the fiduciary safe harbor for annuity purchases. Before we try wrap our heads around the details of all of these changes, I thought it would be helpful to list-in chronological order-the effective dates for these changes to help in prioritizing what to pay attention to first.
Continue Reading “Effective Dates” Listing for the SECURE Act Provisions