Newsletter Articles

Let's face it. Finding out that the IRS wants to poke around is not going to be the highlight of anyone's day. Voluntarily admitting a mistake to the IRS and asking for forgiveness is probably even lower on the wish list! So hearing about new voluntary corrections...

Although not a new design, there has been renewed interest in the "combo plan" as a way for higher income business owners to turbocharge their retirement savings. The term "combo plan" generally refers to the combination of a defined contribution plan (usually a...

Excuse me, can you tell me what kind of car is best for me? It is impossible to answer that question without getting more information…how will the car be used? What is the budget? For fuel efficiency and driving in a crowded downtown area, maybe a Smart Car is best....

McDonald's may have been the automatic enrollment pioneer 30 years ago, but it wasn't until 2008 when the new Pension Protection Act rules kicked in that it really started to gain serious momentum. Since that time, articles have regularly extolled the virtues and...

For years now, we have been hearing from the Department of Labor (DOL) about the importance of depositing employee 401(k) deferrals and loan payments as quickly as possible. While that continues to be the case, it seems that there is not nearly as much commentary...

The end of the calendar year is fast approaching which means the plan year end for many qualified plans. It will be time for plan sponsors to collect complete employee data to enable their service providers to perform the numerous compliance tests required to retain...

It's four o'clock on Friday afternoon and there's a knock on the door of the Human Resource Manager's office. It's Zachary, a fairly new employee who entered the company's 401(k) plan last month. He's been deferring $40 a week into the plan, which means he has...

While they don't have a book called Retirement Plan Sponsorship for Dummies, they should. So in the interim, here is a checklist that plan sponsors should review that can help them develop good practices and avoid unnecessary liability in their stewardship of...

It's time again to participate in that never ending ritual of qualified retirement plan restatements. As legislation affecting retirement plans is enacted, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires all plan sponsors to restate or "rewrite" their plans to conform to...

The safe harbor 401(k) plan roared onto the scene in 1998 as a new design that allowed company owners and other highly compensated employees to maximize their salary deferrals even when other employees contributed at relatively low levels. Over the last 16 years,...