Happy Friday, readers! It’s a common saying in the retirement plan industry that the back-end of the savings effort (i.e., spending down accumulated assets in a sustainable and efficient way) is far more complicated than the accumulation effort. This is because plan participants all have different longevity expectations, different beliefs about how they would like to live in retirement, and different conclusions about how to weigh longevity risk versus the risk of under-consumption. Making matters even more difficult, survey data shows that plan sponsors are not necessarily thinking strictly about annuities when contemplating the addition of an in-plan retirement income option. Despite this, recordkeepers and asset managers most commonly point to an annuity-based product as being top-of-mind for plan sponsor clients. Will 2019 deliver greater clarity on this vexing topic?

Admitting no wrongdoing, Reliance Trust will pay $39.8 million to settle the case.

The lawsuit contends that, in most cases, the managed account service added no material value to participants, creating asset allocations 'not materially different than' those of the age appropriate target-date options for participants.

With representation being top of mind in 2020, companies are reconsidering the makeup of their workforces and their retirement plan committees.