Jul 29, 2013 | Cash Balance Plans, defined benefit plans
As explained in our previous post (#3 in this series), cash balance plans are often easier for business owners (your clients) to understand and offer more flexibility than many other types of retirement plans. And in our second post we clarified how cash balance plans...
Jul 15, 2013 | Cash Balance Plans, defined benefit plans
Updated 1/1/2019: In our previous post (#2 in this series) we looked at the wealth-accumulation advantages of cash balance plans. Discussing these advantages with business owners (your clients) is essential to selling a cash balance plan. But because clients “live...
Jul 6, 2013 | Cash Balance Plans, defined benefit plans
Updated 1/1/2019: Our previous post defined cash balance plans and explained their structure and how they work. Now let’s focus on the key advantages of using a cash balance plan, and who are its primary candidates. As a financial advisor you’ll want to...
Jun 24, 2013 | Cash Balance Plans, defined benefit plans
As a financial advisor to owners of independent companies, you’ve heard about cash balance plans. Although the number of these plans has increased sharply in recent years, many business owners and their advisors know relatively little about them. So let’s review the...
Apr 19, 2013 | 401k Plans, Roth 401k, Target Date Funds
In February the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued new guidance for plan fiduciaries regarding Target Date Funds (TDFs), a relatively new and increasingly popular destination for retirement plan contributions. Although...
Apr 5, 2013 | 401k Plans, 403b Plans, 457b Plans, automatic enrollment, QDIA (Qualifed Default Investment Alternative)
Automatic enrollment (AE) in company retirement plans can help workers increase their retirement savings, but it presents a challenge: How should the employer invest the dollars of employees who do not affirmatively choose an investment vehicle for their contributions...
Apr 2, 2013 | 401k Plans, Roth 401k
The Joint Committee on Taxation recently clarified provisions relating to the expanded in-plan Roth conversions. As discussed in our March 11 post, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 expanded in-plan Roth conversions to include all pre-tax accounts, whether or...
Mar 18, 2013 | 401k Plans
If you’re an owner or top earner at your company you might think that being an HCE is simply a matter of whether your salary exceeds a certain limit. In fact there’s more to it than that. Knowing the details can help owners and other HCEs avoid unwanted...
Mar 11, 2013 | 401k Plans, 403b Plans, 457b Plans, Roth 401k
As part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) signed by President Obama in early January, all 401k, 403b, and 457b retirement savings plans now have the option to allow participants to convert some or all of their pre-tax contributions (namely, pre-tax 401k...
Mar 7, 2013 | 401k Plans, IRA (Individual Retirement Accounts), Roth 401k
In our previous post we looked at the concept of the Roth 401k, which is simply the option to contribute dollars on an after-tax basis to a traditional 401k plan (assuming that the plan sponsor has amended the plan document to allow such contributions, as required by...