Happy Friday, readers! If you have been following the industry news this week, you’ll already know that there has been some significant action in Congress on retirement-focused legislation. Among the many provisions being considered in the SECURE Act and RESA is a new safe harbor to protect retirement plan fiduciaries when they offered in-plan guaranteed income products. Experts agree that plan sponsors often skip lifetime income products in plan menus because they are concerned about their own liability should the insurance provider fail to meet their payment obligations at some point in the future. You can read all about this evolving topic in the articles collected below.

It also provides a way for retirement plan sponsors to avoid a partial plan termination.

A look at what worked particularly well in 2020 and that could keep propelling growth in 2021.

As an example, if a plan sponsor has not yet started tracking part-time employees to see whether they accumulate 500 hours of service in 2021, they should begin doing so immediately.

Thanks to increases in longevity and lower expected returns from stocks and bonds in the foreseeable future, annuities are now seen as a big part of the solution.