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Monday, June 21, 2021

Now and again, the price action on Wall Street can surprise even the most seasoned investors. Look no further than when President Biden in late April proposed an increase in the tax on capital gains to 39.6% from 20% for those...

 

Monday, June 14, 2021

It can be exhausting trying to keep up with the whims of Wall Street. Lately, the financial markets have been fixated on federal taxes and what may be proposed on Capitol Hill in the weeks and months ahead. Wall Street’s focus on...

 

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Will your retirement dreams match your reality? That's perhaps the most critical question to ask people who are currently retired. Was your retirement what you expected, or was it something else? For more than 30 years, the Employee...

 

Monday, June 7, 2021

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America affecting millions of unsuspecting individuals each year. A dishonest person who has your Social Security number can use it to obtain tax and other financial and personal...

 

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Recently, you may have seen reports that a record-low number of homes are available for sale—roughly 1.03 million nationwide. If you compare that to the average number of homes for sale during the past 10 years, it's no surprise...

 

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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

The SECURE Act offers additional tax credits for retirement plan startup costs and automatic enrollment. Stay updated on how these may affect you. Who is eligible for the tax credits? Business owners who have 100 or less employees who...

 

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Previously, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year had been automatically extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021.1 More time for all However...

 

Friday, April 16, 2021

July Conduct a review of second quarter payroll and plan deposit dates to ensure compliance with the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules regarding timely deposit of participant contributions and loan repayments. Verify that...

 

Friday, April 9, 2021

Do you feel like you spent the last year gripping the steering wheel and waiting to see what would happen? You aren’t alone. Still, as we collectively look ahead and the chaos wanes, bits of good news are emerging. In the...

 

Friday, April 2, 2021

Knowledge is retirement power According to the latest Fidelity Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate (2020), an average retired couple age 65 may need approximately $295,000 saved (after tax) to cover health care expenses in retirement. Of...

 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Let’s play a little fill-in-the-blank game. Complete the following sentence: Those poor _________ (Millennials, GenXers, Boomers)! They really got the short end of the retirement stick, especially in light of the pandemic. Which...

 

Friday, March 26, 2021

Cultivating a realistic budget can help you harvest a better financial future Spring is here and it’s time to think about growth potential—for both your garden and your journey toward financial wellness! The following steps...

 

Friday, March 26, 2021

Q: Our business was hanging on in spite of COVID-19, but then our area was hit by wildfires. Can employees who participate in our 401(k) plan take money out of their accounts under the COVID relief provisions? A: No, but there may be...

 

Friday, March 19, 2021

When you get to a certain age, you may find yourself daydreaming about retiring early, or at least before the “traditional” age of 65. It’s only natural—the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to rethink...

 

Friday, March 12, 2021

Here are some easy ways to protect the environment and improve your budget at the same time. Wash your clothes in cold water. They get just as clean, but without the energy needed to heat the water. Take shorter showers. Shaving even...

 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

How serious is the problem of financial stress? Seventy - Seven percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck ,1 41% give themselves a C, D, or F in personal finance,2 according to citations in a recent white paper from Financial...

 

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Many Plan Sponsors understand that plan design has a big impact on participation and savings rates in their retirement plan. However, most fail to correlate how the plan design can have a big impact for plan sponsors depending on the...

 

Friday, March 24, 2017

Follow Hardship Distribution Rules to Keep Plan Status While many employees today understand the importance of retirement readiness, some plan participants may seek a 401(k) hardship distribution to accommodate crucial, more immediate...

 

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Now is the perfect time for planning to find ways to increase employee participation and savings rates in your company retirement plan. A well-designed 401(k) plan can play a significant role in helping you and your employees...

 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Do investors rely on emotion when investing? Many behavioral economists and psychologists believe they do. As much as we recognize the need to save, many small obstacles tend to get in the way. It turns out the decisions we make about...

 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Fostering retirement plan engagement is important, especially since it's a sure first step to helping create successful outcomes for participants. According to Milliman, the key is integrating your participant education and...

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Few, if any, retirement plan sponsors want to face an audit, yet a successful private retirement system necessitates occasional employer audits by the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans (EP) compliance program. Plan...

 

Friday, February 10, 2017

No one likes to make mistakes—especially retirement plan mistakes that can result in costly fines or even litigation. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service/Department of Labor collected nearly $600 million for plan restorations,...

 

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

No matter the business or service, no one likes paying excessive fees. This is especially true with retirement plans. Participants are setting aside money for retirement, and the last thing they want is to have those precious dollars...

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Eighteen years ago, the retirement industry rolled out automatic enrollment to help combat employee inertia, increase participation in workplace retirement plans, and foster higher savings rates. Still, a surprising number of plan...

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

While the de facto options for most retirement plans are target date funds (TDFs) and risk-based funds, not all QDIAs are created equal. When evaluating funds and providers, watch out for red flags, such as unreasonably high fees or...

 

Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Internal Revenue Service today announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans for the 2017 tax year. Many of the pension plan limits remain unchanged from 2016 to 2017.Listed below are the...

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

The Safe Harbor plan makes it easy for business owners to maximize contributions to their own accounts while reducing some of the limitations associated with adhering to IRS testing. The Safe Harbor Plan allows you to: Contribute the...

 

Monday, September 26, 2016

Did you know that a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan is not actually a separate plan from the traditional 401(k), rather it is an optional provision that can be added to the 401(k) plan document? Electing to be a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan is...

 

Monday, September 12, 2016

Ongoing communication with your retirement plan participants can often help boost contributions and retirement readiness. While much of this type of messaging is optional, there are some instances when participant notifications are a...

 

Monday, September 12, 2016

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor amended The Pension Protection Act of 2006 to establish Safe Harbor Rules for the selection of annuity providers for defined contribution plans. The details were intended to provide fiduciaries...

 

Monday, September 12, 2016

There are many behavioral barriers to saving for retirement, but have you ever likened those hurdles to picking fruit salad over cake? This light-hearted analogy kicks off Curious Behaviors That Can Ruin Your Retirement, an interactive...

 

Monday, August 15, 2016

Are your employees prepared for retirement? Why does it matter? Organizations can face unintended consequences when retirement-eligible employees remain working because they have not saved enough in their company's retirement plan....

 

Monday, August 15, 2016

This summer so far has been anything but quiet. Between the June Brexit vote, several headline-grabbing jobs reports, the winding path of oil prices, and all-time highs for stocks, there has been a lot of activity to absorb in these...

 

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

At the midyear point of 2016, LPL Research proposes a vote of confidence: in the economy, the market, and most importantly, in our ability as investors to remain focused on our long-term goals. This is not always easy. We may be entering th

 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2016. In general, the pension plan limitations...