An Appraisal: ERISA at 40
Forty years ago President Gerald Ford signed into law the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, better known as ERISA. Congress’ overarching goal in writing the law was to protect the interests of workplace retirement plan participants and their beneficiaries. The results have been mixed, although many of the shortcomings in the nation’s private […]
State and Local Pension Plans: Coping with Funding Challenges
Strictly by the numbers, pension plans sponsored by state and local governments do not look to be in great shape. Many plan sponsors have not been making full annual contributions to the plans, and partly as a result the average funded ratio for those plans has fallen to 71 percent from 90 percent since 2004. […]
An Inside Look at How America Saves
It should not be that difficult. For a defined contribution plan to work for you, says Jean Young, senior research analyst at Vanguard Group and lead author of its periodic report on retirement plan participant behavior, How America Saves, you simply need to save enough and invest appropriately. Unfortunately, Young said at the 2014 SVIA […]
Roundtable: The Outlook for Retirement Income Security
One could argue that the private retirement system in the U.S. is improving. Average account balances in defined contribution plans have been rising lately, to somewhere around $90,000 to $100,000 depending upon which set of data you use. The growing trend of automatically enrolling workers in their plans is undoubtedly capturing some workers who in […]
Plan Litigation: When Stable Value Becomes a Target
For three decades following passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in 1974, defined contribution plans largely escaped the eye of class-action plaintiffs’ attorneys. That all changed in 2006, when an Illinois-based law firm began filing lawsuits against plan service providers, typically alleging some violation of ERISA based on the fees being charged to […]
Stable Value Fund Group Makes Pitch to Risk-Averse Millennials
Better return potential with lower risk helps millennials stay conservative while capturing some growth, an advocate of the funds says. Click here to read more
Stable Value – The Safe Investment Choice in Your 401k Plan
Many of you have an investment option available in your 401k plan that you have never considered using – but you should. It goes by many names: Stable Value, Fixed Income Fund, GIC (Guaranteed Investment Contract), Capital Preservation Fund, Principal Protection Fund, Fixed Interest Fund, Guaranteed Fund, Stable Interest Fund. All of these types of […]
Money Market Fund Rule Amendments: Implications and Options
Download PDF The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted to approve changes to Rule 2a-7 and other provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940 that govern money market funds. These changes present a prime opportunity to review principal preservation options to ensure they are providing participants the optimum balance of safety of principal, […]
Stable Value vs. Fixed Income: There is a Difference
Morgan Stanley Plan Perspectives If you invest in a money market fund outside of your 401(k) plan, you’ve no doubt noticed that your returns have been negligible over the past several years. In fact, money market fund yields continue to be at record lows, providing investors with returns that average 0.1 – 0.2% Read the full article here
