John Iekel

Spring cleaning is well underway. But that need not be limited to closets, kitchens, and garages—it can serve retirement plans and their administrators too. And one such prime function is addressing missing participants.  Missing participants—former employees whose benefits remain in the plan but... READ MORE

The IRS on April 16 issued guidance on certain specified required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2024. It adds that the final regulations it plans to issue related to RMDs will apply for purposes of determining RMDs for calendar years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025.  The guidance is... READ MORE

Legislation that would put the interests of participants and their beneficiaries ahead of “nonpecuniary” interests when assets of publicly funded retirement plans are invested is closer to enactment in Georgia. And the ball has just begun rolling on a similar measure in Louisiana.  The Peachtree... READ MORE

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 8 that Central States is returning approximately $127 million in excess funds it received through the PBGC’s Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program.  The Central States pension plan, at the... READ MORE

A variety of factors slow some individuals’ retirement saving, if not impede it outright—and one of them is student loan debt. A recent NTSA webinar looked at a step some entities pursue that affects those with loans as well as retirement saving—student loan forgiveness.    In a March 27 NTSA... READ MORE

Add private-sector employees in Alaska and Wisconsin to those covered by state-run plans if their employers do not offer a retirement plan. Maybe.  That is, if the governments of both states enact bills that would create state-run retirement savings plans for private-sector employees who do not... READ MORE

The Treasury Department, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) have announced that they are extending the period during which they will accept comments on the effectiveness of existing reporting and disclosure... READ MORE

Washington is the latest state to run a retirement program that will provide coverage for private-sector employees whose employers do not. On March 27, Pat Sullivan, Executive Director of Legislative Affairs in Inslee’s office, issued an announcement that SB 6069 was among the bills the Gov. Jay... READ MORE

The Georgia Senate may create a committee to study the creation of Peach State Saves, a retirement saving program.  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (R-Rome) on March 20 introduced in the state senate SR 807, a resolution that would create the Senate Peach State Saves... READ MORE