Tag: 401(k) plans

The settlement agreement leaves open a chance to bring a new claim regarding the offering of a money market fund in the plan.

The plaintiffs accused Edward Jones of favoring its own investments and those of its “preferred partners” in its 401(k) plan, at the expense of performance; they also raised questions about excess recordkeeping fees.

The Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 61st Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans finds only 31.4% of 401(k) plan sponsors use participant income replacement ratios as a success measure.

More plan sponsors are making Roth contributions available, automatic enrollment default deferral percentages are increasing, and company match formulas are becoming more generous.

Under the proposed regulations, 401(k) plan sponsors could choose to make additional accounts available for hardship withdrawals.

EBRI and ICI point out that 401(k) account balance growth reflects contributions of employers and workers, in addition to investment returns, and varies with participants’ asset allocation, withdrawals and loan activity.

The complaint specifically calls out the 11 T. Rowe Price target-date funds (TDFs) offered by the plans, saying they are all adviser or retail class funds—as opposed to investor or institutional class funds.

The firm has revamped its Aviator 401(k) program, now adding simplified investment lineups, affordable pricing, and fiduciary support services to its offerings. 

On the majority of trading days, fixed-income funds led, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index.

Cerulli says retirement specialist advisers are becoming more knowledgeable about and comfortable with CITs, and the research firm expects CITs will continue to expand their share of 401(k) plan assets.

Alight Solutions found when offered two loans, 14.4% of participants take advantage of that. When offered three loans, 11.9% do the same.

The lawsuit alleged that Citigroup violated its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by offering and keeping affiliated funds in its 401(k) plans when better-performing, lower-cost funds were available.

The Investment Company Institute also found 401(k) plan participants investing in mutual funds tend to hold lower-cost funds.

The book continues to show that plans with higher average account balances pay lower total fees.

More plans are auto enrolling at a greater than 3% default deferral rate, and 13% of plans are increasing deferrals at more than 1% annually, a PSCA survey found.

It is available to workers 18 years and older who have contributed to a company-sponsored retirement plan or IRA.

However, a federal judge change the class definition for the imprudent investment claims because class representatives were not all invested in the funds challenged.

The 9th Circuit ruled that a prudent fiduciary in the same circumstances as the defendants could view the proposed alternative course of action regarding company stock in Hewlett-Packard's 401(k) plan as likely to cause more harm than good without first conducting a proper investigation.

The suit questions the use of actively managed versus passively managed funds. It also suggests that collective trusts and separate accounts are better vehicles than mutual funds for retirement plans.