Ted Godbout

Legislation approved recently by the U.S. House of Representatives would restrict the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements – potentially including their use in workplace retirement plans.    Many retirement plans include provisions requiring employees and plan participants to arbitrate any... READ MORE

Nominated to serve as Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia addressed numerous questions Sept. 19 about his past record representing various employer interests, as well as whether he would recuse himself in the forthcoming revamp of the DOL’s conflict of interest rule.  Scalia's comments came during a... READ MORE

Under a new proposal put forward by an influential Democratic member of Congress, retirement assets could be factored into a new tax regime targeting higher-income taxpayers. Labeling it as a proposal to help pay for a Social Security overhaul, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the ranking member on the... READ MORE

Congress returned to work this week with an extensive to-do list, but questions remain about whether the most consequential retirement policy legislation since the 2006 Pension Protection Act will make the cut. Before adjourning, the House of Representatives approved the bipartisan Setting Every... READ MORE

A recent study on investors’ usage of digital channels to interact with their financial institutions reveals some surprising and some not-so-surprising findings.  In “Financial attention through multiple digital channels,” Vanguard studied their clients’ use of digital channels – desktop or laptop... READ MORE

Estimates showing astronomical health care costs in retirement can be quite intimidating, giving the impression health care will be unaffordable in retirement. But a recent report argues there’s a simpler, more logical way to plan for these costs.  Given that health care costs are incurred over... READ MORE

Just before departing for Congress’ summer recess, a member of the Senate Finance Committee reintroduced ambitious legislation to provide for automatic IRA arrangements.  Introduced in the Senate by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the Automatic IRA Act of 2019 (S. 2370) would require employers with... READ MORE

Many kids and parents face a dilemma as they grapple with paying for college while trying to simultaneously save for retirement, according to two new studies.    According to T. Rowe Price’s 2019 “Parents, Kids & Money Survey” — which sampled 1,005 parents of 8- to 14-year-olds and their kids... READ MORE

As the world’s largest retirement market, current trends in the U.S. will have a disproportionate impact on leading financial services firms over the next two decades, says a new report.  While noting that retirement “is and will continue to be” one of the largest growth opportunities for wealth... READ MORE