September 2024
Plan Cybersecurity
September’s special coverage series considers the current cybersecurity needs and focus areas for employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Special Coverage
Cybersecurity Best Practices for Retirement Plans
The game is continually evolving for keeping plan data and systems safe. In this special coverage article, experts discuss how...
Keys to Guarding Retirement Plan Data Against Human Error
Mistakes managing employer-sponsored plan data often expose vulnerabilities that can be exploited by bad actors.
AI Is Here. Fiduciaries Must Remain Diligent
Experts discuss how the benefits of artificial intelligence for 401(k) plan administration and management also come with risks to be...
Cybercriminals Pose Threat via Executive Accounts
Executives’ workplace retirement plan accounts provide the authority and access hackers need to attack other databases.
Cybersecurity Insurance Considerations
Expert Steve Taylor gives his views on cybersecurity insurance, as breaches proliferate in financial services.
6 Steps to Help Participants Safeguard DC Assets
McKinsey cybersecurity experts give tactics to protect against scammers.
Past Special Coverage
Health Care and HSAs
Opportunities abound to help clients effectively plan for rising medical expenses and maximize tax-advantaged savings opportunities for health care costs in retirement.
Long-Term Care’s Unexpected Costs and Their Effect on Retirement Security
About 80% of 65-year-olds will need some form of long-term care, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston...
Medicare Awareness Is Crucial Missing Piece in Retirement Planning
Working seniors need professional advice when making coverage decisions, but only 21% of retirees with advisers receive health care planning,...
HSAs Continue to Gain Steam, Top $146B in Assets
Health savings account adoption spans socioeconomic spectrum, according to a survey from the Devenir Group.
Practice Management
A look at some of the biggest challenges facing, and best practices to manage, retirement plan advisory practices.
Who’s On Deck? Solving the Succession Planning Crisis at Advisory Firms
Advisers too often risk ‘both value and continuity’ out of attachment to the business and aversion to change.
Selecting the Right Platforms for a Successful Practice
To make sense of the many available options, plan advisers need to know what they are looking for.
Deepfaked Fiduciary: The Real AI Threat Nobody’s Talking About
Adviser Neil Plein explains how fiduciaries can be prepared to minimize the risk to their practices from increasingly sophisticated scams...
Tackling Succession Misalignment in Advisory Firms
Three-quarters of RIA and broker/dealer firm owner respondents said they lack a clear plan of succession, which could alienate future...
Staffing Up: The When and How for Retirement Plan Advisory Firms
The timing and process of hiring new additions requires significant attention and care from firm leaders.
I Used to Be Skeptical About Financial Wellness. Here’s What Changed My Mind.
Financial Finesse President Todd Lacey makes a case for integrating financial wellness into an advisory practice.
Managed Accounts
This series explores the growing role of managed accounts in defined contribution plans, examining how they work during accumulation and distribution phases, their availability via recordkeepers, and what predictions experts have for their further evolution.
Bringing Advice to the Masses
When offered, managed accounts can provide a full financial planning experience—from accumulation through retirement.
Industry Access to Managed Account Platforms
Availability for participants is determined by recordkeeper partnerships
Could Managed Accounts Replace TDFs as Plan QDIAs?
Despite target-date funds’ ubiquity, there are selected use cases for managed accounts as qualified default investment alternatives.
What’s Next for Managed Accounts?
Technological evolutions could help the personalized options become more efficient—and more popular.
Do Private Markets Present a Lucrative Opportunity ‘Fraught With Peril’?
Jerry Schlichter says fiduciaries’ responsibilities have been complicated by provider desires to make private market investments available via 401(k) plan...
Artificial Intelligence
The rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence is set to transform the retirement plan and advisory industry, with implications from regulation to product development to participant engagement.
Regulators Urged to Take Risk-Based Approach Toward AI
A recent SEC-hosted roundtable addressing artificial intelligence highlighted the risks and rewards of its usage in financial services.
AI and the Future of Participant Services
Use cases for both generative and agentic artificial intelligence continue to expand, especially in areas like participant education and personalized...
Embracing AI to More Efficiently Process Retirement Plan Documents
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere, with seemingly endless applications. However, many in the retirement plan industry are still figuring...
Moving Toward AI, Both Ethically and Responsibly
As AI is integrated into financial services, the industry must grapple with how to review and manage oversight.
Bringing AI to Practice Management
Firms seek to solve bottlenecks and streamline opportunities by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence.
Making Decisions About AI Adoption
Firms express cautious optimism about artificial intelligence tools in a recent survey.
Retirement Income Planning
We explore the topic of retirement income planning—from the products being offered and supported in the marketplace, to the regulatory environment influencing these products, to current best thinking—and best strategies—for how to draw savings down.
What to Know About Adding Income to a Plan Lineup
How the regulatory landscape dictates the selection of a retirement income solution—and how advisers can frame the discussion with clients.
Does the 4% Rule Still Stand?
The spending rule has been around for 30 years, but experts are rethinking traditional drawdown approaches in light of longevity...
Understanding and Evaluating Retirement Income Solutions
With retirement income products increasing in popularity, plan fiduciaries must select appropriate options to offer to workers from a growing...
Comparing Insured and Non-Insured Payout Options
A recent issue brief from the American Academy of Actuaries examines the insured and non-insured options currently available that can...
Beyond the Annuity Puzzle: Rewiring the Psychology of Lifetime Income
A closer look at what has been limited, so far, annuity adoption by plan sponsors and participants.
Recordkeeper and Adviser Co-Opetition
This month, our special coverage series looks at the industry “coopetition” between recordkeepers and advisers, discussing the opportunities and tensions as each party seeks to deliver value to retirement plan sponsors and participants while maintaining its competitive edge.
A Dual Quest for Participant Assets
How can both recordkeepers and advisers work with participants, and what should those relationships look like?
What Recordkeepers Want From Advisers
The crux of a good partnership with an adviser is the willingness to work together, including an open dialogue about...
What Makes the Best Dynamic Adviser-Recordkeeper Partnerships?
Advisers tell us what they look for in recordkeepers, from a willing approach to administrative grunt work to the ‘critical’...
SECURE 2.0 Implementation
This month, our special coverage examines the continued implementation of SECURE 2.0. Although the act was passed in 2022, the industry is still in the thick of managing the various provisions as they take effect.
SECURE 2.0 Auto-Enrollment Requirement Takes Effect in 2025
Beginning this year, businesses with 10 or more employees must implement automatic enrollment and contribution escalation for new 401(k) and...
What to Know About Part-Time Employee Eligibility for Retirement Plans
Effective January 1, the SECURE 2.0 Act makes part-time employees who have met service criteria eligible for employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Keeping Up With SECURE 2.0 Changes
Advisers discuss how they manage adoption of plan provisions with clients.
Understanding SECURE 2.0 Student Loan Matching and Educational Benefits
Employers have options to offer student loan benefits to employees and do not need to wait for further IRS guidance...
SECURE 2.0 Provisions Should Boost Adviser Revenue in 2025
Two-thirds of plan advisers say the newly enacted provisions will increase their revenue, in addition to increasing employee participation, according...
TDF Growth and Innovation
This month’s special coverage series considers the evolution of target date funds as well as some of their strongest competitors for defined contribution investing.
How TDFs Are Evolving
Personalizing glide paths by drawing on data from recordkeepers may help lead to better participant outcomes.
Beyond TDFs
A look at some of the leading defined contribution investment solutions competing with target date funds.
Nuts & Bolts: Best Practices in Target-Date-Fund Selection
Industry experts discuss key considerations when picking the right TDFs for a plan.
Catching Up With PIMCO’s Personalized Target-Date Funds
The firm continues to pitch its myTDF, a personalized target-date-fund solution in market since 2023, as a way for plan...
Q&A: Seeking a More Perfect TDF
Philip Chao discusses his near-10-year path to creating a personalized target-date fund investment option for plan sponsors.
TDFs With Annuity Options Set to Proliferate
2025 will likely see new entrants offering hybrid annuity TDFs, while existing players will announce more recordkeeper partnerships and asset...
2024 Year in Review
In December, we review the year that was and look ahead to what’s to come in 2025 in plan advisement, the retirement sector and markets.
Moving Beyond SECURE 2.0
Retirement plan advisers discuss how they’re wrapping up 2024 with clients and preparing for the year ahead.
Economic and Market Outlooks for the Year Ahead
Next year’s outlook emphasizes growth from easing policies, AI and infrastructure.
401(k)s and the Courts in 2025
Plan forfeiture court decisions, Loper Bright’s use and potential DOL guidance shifts are all on the table, according to ERISA...
How to Assess Workforce Priorities Amid Regulatory and Economic Shifts
Experts at a WTW panel recommended employers remain adaptable to workplace demands.
Hub Projects Compliance, Due Diligence, Well-Being Will Be Essential to Plan Success in 2025
The employee benefits provider’s annual outlook also anticipates active and passive investment ‘mirroring’ in plans to mitigate risk.
5 Marketing Tips for 401(k) Advisers in 2025
Rebecca Hourihan recommends New Year’s resolutions for plan advisers.
Multiple Employer Plans, Pooled Employer Plans and Startup Plans
In November, we consider the growth and evolution of the market for MEPs, PEPs and startup retirement plans.
Tracking the Evolution of PEPs
Pooled employer plans have gained traction in their nearly four years of existence, and their use cases are evolving beyond...
Finding the Best Fit Between PEPs and State-Run Plans
Experts discuss which small plan solution is most appropriate for different types of businesses.
What Is Driving Plan Startups?
Providers credit state mandates and tax incentives, but others point to adviser interest in small plans and more uptake for...
Mercer: Trump, New Congress Will Likely Continue Bipartisan Work to Expand 401(k) Coverage
Mercer’s policy lead says bipartisan work should continue to expand employer-sponsored retirement plan coverage, but tax treatment of such plans...
Mapping State Retirement Programs
Georgetown University’s Center for Retirement Initiatives provides a color-coded map of where U.S. state-led retirement programs stand today.
MEPs and PEPs in the Pooled Marketplace
Although pooled employer plans get most of the headlines, multiple employer plans continue to play an important role in the...
DCIO and Investment Menus
This month’s special coverage considers the defined contribution investment products, services and trends that are shaping participant outcomes.
TDFs: Set, But Not Forgotten
TDFs may be ‘set it and forget it’ investment vehicles, but they continue to evolve to meet plan sponsor needs...
CIT Growth Continues With Adviser Backing
As more plan sponsors turn to collective investment trusts to reduce costs, industry experts see both opportunities and challenges.
DC Plan Experts See Slow, Steady Progress in Plan Personalization
Solutions such as managed accounts and custom TDFs are evolving, but challenges to uptake remain, according to industry players.
Asset Managers Exploring Fresh Avenues to Bring Alts Into DC Plans
Per Cerulli, asset managers are leveraging CITs and interval funds to try and get into DC plans; an adviser sees...
Why Falling Interest Rates May Help Stable Value’s Play
A stable value proponent explains why the ‘rate of change’ of interest rates is as important as the changes themselves...
Plan Advisers’ Value in 4 Charts
PLANADVISER asks plan sponsors about the services they get from their adviser team.
Retirement Plan Litigation
Retirement plan litigation is getting no rest in 2024, with lawsuits focused on new areas of retirement plan design and legal developments including a Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Chevron doctrine. This month, we consider various topics related to 401(k)s and the courts.
Major 401(k) Litigators Are ‘Back in Action,’ With More Entering the Fray
After a lull in filings last year, 2024 is seeing an uptick, including from law firms not previously active in...
Top Advisers: Diligence About 401(k) Plan Litigation as Crucial as Ever
Plan advisers share their expertise on what types of plans are most at risk for 401(k) litigation and how they...
Are District Court Rulings the ‘Final End’ For DOL’s Fiduciary Rule?
Two federal courts in Texas halted the DOL’s new fiduciary rule. An appeal is likely, but ERISA experts say Congress...
The High Price of Discovery in ERISA Class Action
An ERISA consultant and expert witness in 401(k) litigation details how advisers can best prepare for potential class action suits.
‘Emerging’ Health Plan Litigation Signals Need for Plan Adviser Diligence
A Wells Fargo health plan lawsuit is a reminder for plan advisers and sponsors to carefully consider and document their...